Woodbury voices support for its police force amid online jabs

Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani opened the July 18 town board meeting with a moment of silence for the person killed during attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, and used the opportunity to call for peace among our leaders.

“We pray for people that understand that violence is not the answer. The answer to look for is how each of us can learn to be open to other perspectives other opinions or differences to learn to listen to each other,” said Luciani.

While the supervisor emphasized the importance of acknowledging different views, the board stood together in support of the Woodbury Police Department. Sporting T-shirts stating, “We support our police department,” the town showed solidarity with the department and spoke out against comments shared on social media as well as other outlets disparaging it.

Luciani, responding to the comments, stated, “Honestly, I am so upset. I feel there’s a huge disservice that’s happening to our community. We are all elected officials, and we’re here to do a job. These distractions, these pot-stirring things that are happening are taking away from what our service is to do for the community.”

Luciani went on to praise the police department, along with the other town departments and the town board for the work they do.

The police department did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding this incident.

During the meeting, the board scheduled a public hearing for August 1 to review a proposed local law to amend the town’s existing ethics code. The town is looking to update the law’s nepotism section, which, the town attorney explained, is oddly written, has no enforcement mechanism, and is too narrow in scope. He shared that the town counsel has reviewed different codes from other municipalities and copied a law that is used in several areas. He explained that the current code covers only part-time and full-time employees, whereas the new policy would include seasonal employees, contractors, board members, etc.

“Essentially, we’re trying to make a simpler and broader provision,” the attorney said.

On infrastructure matters, town engineer Jason Pitingaro provided an update on Ridge Road. He explained that the project is largely funded by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration and that part of the grant process includes submitting environmental materials. Pitingaro shared that his team has begun the final design for the project and is waiting on approval from environmental agencies to continue.

The town of Woodbury has also approved a new contract with Forerunner Tech to operate its telephone system, which it shares with the village. Luciani explained that the initial phone contract, covering them and the village, was established in 2016 and was renewed in 2021 for an additional four years. With the contract due to expire in November, the town and village agreed to move forward with a new contract with Forerunner Tech.

Councilman Brandon Calore also shared that the town has new brochures to highlight Woodbury’s local businesses that are already in local hotels as well as Woodbury Common.

“Your town board’s hope with this brochure is to steer some of the millions and millions of visitors that come to the Common each year to our find ‘mom and pop’ shops and to really explore what Woodbury has to offer.”