On Monday night, retiring Lancaster Justice Timothy J. Dwan recommended that the Town put the Police Department together at one site. Currently, the police work out of a facility on Pavement Road and the detectives work out of a facility on Walden Avenue. The Judge suggested that both divisions work temporarily out of the Walden Avenue facility until a permanent solution is reached.
Town Board Member Ron Ruffino told the judge that the town was still involved in a lawsuit that prevented them from doing so.
The suit he referred to is Howell, et al. v. Giza, Montour, Ruffino, and Stempniak. It sought to make the defendants reimburse the taxpayers for the cost of a study on three options for a new police building.
If the defendants lose the suit, they will not lose the building. They will simply have to reimburse taxpayers, out of their own pockets, for the cost of the study.
In no way, shape, or form does the suit prevent the Town from using the building or making improvements to it. As a matter of fact, the town is currently using the building to house the Detective Bureau and town equipment.
If the town wanted to start work on renovating the building for use as a Police Headquarters and Court Facility, they could have started the day the building was purchased and it would not have had any effect on the lawsuit.
So, why hasn’t the town started renovating the building?
No one outside the inner-circle of the Town Board knows why. There’s been a lot of speculation, but that’s all it is, speculation.
But the Attorney and Plaintiffs know, and now the public knows that it isn’t because of Howell v. Giza.
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