County legislators dealt with two law enforcement-related contracts at Monday's Public Service Committee meeting that, as one member put it, are "mysteries" because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
It is unknown whether there will be on-campus learning at county schools this fall, but the Sheriff's Office is expected to provide School Resources Officers to six campuses if students return to classrooms, so that contract needs to be in place.
Right now, it doesn't look like Live Nation will host any concerts at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center but in case they do, the contract for the Sheriff's Office needs to be in place.
The committee recommended both contracts be approved.
For SROs, three school districts -- Alexander, Byron-Bergen, and Pavilion -- employ deputies year-round and reimburse the county for that expense. Those SROs remain employed by their respective districts.
Pembroke, Oakfield-Alabama, and BOCES use SROs for only 10 months during the year, so the Sheriff's Office gets reimbursed for those deputies' salaries for only those 10 months.
The year-around school districts have continued to use their SROs even during the lockdown, even during the summer, but it's uncertain what will happen with the partial-year SROs if students don't return to campus in the fall.
Currently, the Sheriff's Office has three open road patrol positions. Rather than hire and train new officers, the three deputies who are SROs in Pembroke, O-A, and BOCES are fulfilling those duties, so the cost to the county of not getting those salaries covered by the school districts is a wash.
As for Darien Lake, there's no expense to the county if there are no concerts and Live Nation pays for any deputies put on duty at concerts.
However, discussion of the concert season had legislators asking about the impact that closure of Darien Lake -- the theme park, concert venue, and hotel -- would have on county revenue. The county derives significant revenue from sales tax at the theme park as well as gas tax for people who travel into Genesee County for the park and subsequently buy gas here. The bed tax from the hotel is about a third of the bed tax revenue for the county, said County Manager Jay Gsell.
Chairwoman Rochelle Stein told the committee that based on her communication with industry and state officials, Darien Lake is part of an amusement park lobbying group trying to get the governor's office to authorize theme parks to reopen.
She said Darien Lake has drafted a thick binder of guidelines the park would follow if it reopened.
"They've put their safety plan in front of the governor's office," Stein said. "There is a whole lobbying arm of the amusement park industry that as a group is trying to convince the governor to let them reopen. So far, that has fallen on deaf ears."
Photo: The socially distanced Public Service Committee meeting.
