KANE — The mileage and activity of Kane Borough Police was questioned at Wednesday’s meeting of borough council.
Councilman Denny Drost questioned odometer readings logged by the police officers, citing varying amounts of mileage between them.
Questioning Mayor William “Yogi” Osmer, Drost asked, “I mean we have eighteen miles of streets right Yogi? Seventeen or eighteen?” Moving on to question Chief Heath Boyer, “When I only see less than eighteen on here, I’m thinking that we’re not out on the streets and around town enough. Is that a fair statement?”
Boyer replied outlining the various duties that the officers undertake, including investigations, court duties, phone calls to follow-up on citizen concerns and completing reports. He also went on to explain that officers could switch vehicles during their shift which could cause mileage to appear low or have to take trips into Smethport for court or the juvenile center that could cause mileage to appear high.
Drost went on asking, “Do you tell your officers that they have to make at least two passes patrolling the town on their shifts,” to which Boyer responded, “No.” “Well, I’ve had some people come to me saying when they needed to find a police officer they couldn’t find one,” stated Drost.
Boyer responded, “Well, it’s 911. I will answer the radio and if I don’t answer the radio, 911 calls my cell phone that sits in my chest pocket. Even if I’m on an incident, I will still pull it out to see what it is.” He went on, “If it’s 911, I will pick that up and determine if that’s an emergency or not.”
Boyer went on to describe that despite Kane being a small town, the fact that officers are moving around would make it difficult to “find” them, again referencing the ability of citizens to call 911 for issues.
“That’s what 911 is for. I mean we’ll prioritize it if you have a question. I will prioritize it and give a call once I’m in the office or back in my car,” stated Boyer. He went on to point out that any call to the borough police department number would automatically be routed through the 911 center after a set amount of rings.
Drost went on further, asking if Boyer instructed his officers to patrol the main street (Fraley Street) and businesses referencing conversations that he had with store owners that didn’t know any of the officers’ names.
“I used to go up there,” stated Boyer, “but after they did the street repairs, they took away my parking space up by Goodwill.”
Osmer spoke up asking why officers didn’t park at the borough building and walk as they did during his service as a police officer. Boyer agreed that this could be done but expressed his concerns over past comments about cruisers being parked at the borough building during shift hours.
Council debated the issue for several minutes with some views supporting walking from the borough building and others supporting re-designation of the parking spot on Fraley Street. Councilman David Walker spoke up stating, “They need a designated spot,” to which Payne replied, “We will have one.”
Walker closed the discussion when he stated, “Everybody, you all want to criticize. Listen, let’s go without a police department for a few weeks and see what happens.”
Borough Manager Don Payne agreed saying, “That’s right Dave, we complain about what we don’t have. Let’s think about what we do have. I agree.”
During his report to council, Payne described a request was made for Kane Innovations to have the administrative center for the rural community college based out of the Kane area. “They had eight (requests for proposals) and I think we had the best one,” he said. Turning back to Councilwoman Melanie Clabaugh, he finished his update saying, “I think because of the work you did, Melanie, we have a good chance.”
Under new business, the only item brought to the council’s attention was the discussion of renaming the skate park near Hacker and Easton streets after Elijah J. “Eli” McCloskey, formerly of Kane, who passed away earlier this year in Pittsburgh.
During last week’s workshop a resident brought the request to council citing Eli’s love for the park and BMX Freestyle bike riding and that naming it in his honor would be a fitting tribute to his family and memory. Council unanimously moved to sign a resolution to rename the park.
The next borough council meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 8.
