Trooper substation to stay in village; agreement by 4 governments seals deal

KEESEVILLE -- Municipal leaders from four communities have worked out an agreement to guarantee the continued presence of the State Police substation in Keeseville.

At a meeting at the Keeseville Civic Center, Town Supervisors Gerald Morrow of Chesterfield, Sandra Senecal of AuSable and Ricky Nolan of Black Brook met with Keeseville Mayor Meegan Rock to discuss sharing the costs of the State Police satellite station, which is located at the Keeseville Civic Center.

Rock offered an agreement where Keeseville could continue to provide office and garage space and utilities for the station, while the three towns would contribute $2,000 each to help offset the cost in a four-way split.

Space to house two patrol cars was also secured. Rock had previously asked State Police to remove the cars due to a space shortage for village equipment.

But while inventorying the Civic Center building, Rock discovered an unused bay, into which the village shifted one of its vehicles. That freed up space for State Police.

APPROVALS NEEDED

The agreement has to be approved by all three town councils during their July meetings, but Morrow, Nolan and Senecal all said it shouldn't be an issue. All three towns will need to tap their contingency funds and then include the funds in future budgets.

"I don't have a problem with it," Morrow said. "My town board already supported it (through a resolution). If we had to go out and look for a space, it would be much higher than $2,000."

The towns of Chesterfield and AuSable each pay the village $500 toward the substation costs, while Black Brook pays nothing.

Nolan said his Town Council hadn't been aware the other municipalities contributed funds. He had assumed the costs were borne by State Police.

"I don't have a problem with this," Nolan said. "I firmly believe the State Police should stay here, too."

Senecal said the situation "just needed to be worked out. The two towns (Chesterfield and AuSable) work very well together, and we want to work with the village."

GYM TO OPEN

Rock took the opportunity to give Morrow and Senecal a tour of the Civic Center, discussing plans to open the gym as a community space next winter. Rock hopes that will help get youths off the streets.