OBSERVER Photo by J.M. Lesinski. Pictured, one of the village’s patrol vehicles parked outside the Gowanda Police Department.

GOWANDA — As the new fiscal year begins, a number of changes and alterations to the police and code enforcement officers in the village were noted at the latest village board meeting.

During his report, Officer-in-charge Dennis Feldmann noted a change in procedure regarding the newest hires in the academy. “At the last meeting, the resolution was to sponsor the three gentlemen going to the academy,” Feldmann began. “Due to civil service regulations in Cattaraugus County, I’m asking to change the resolution to hire them.”

To comply with the new standards, the board approved Daniel Paul Salzer, Ryan M. Grey and Ross D.J. Olszewski to be officially hired as trainees in order to be accepted into the rural police training academy. “It’s still at no cost to the village, they’re on their own time,” Feldmann assured the room. “They will not receive any kind of compensation until they return and finish their state mandated training.”

Salzer, Grey and Olszeski, upon successful completion of the academy, would be due to officially join the force in the village this time next year.

The board then also accepted the salary reduction and resignation of Larry Green as the Deputy Officer-in-charge. “Myself and Treasurer Hopkins worked on compensation for Larry Green,” Feldmann stated. “After we came to the conclusion his pay went down from $6.50 an hour for building code to $4.50 for assistant officer-in-charge.”

Green went from code enforcement to deputy officer-in-charge last month, ultimately deciding to remain solely a patrol officer in the end. “Larry requested that he wanted to return to patrol division,” Feldmann said of the matter. “Due to his taking another full-time job.”

Following Feldmann’s comments, Code Enforcement Officer Gary Brecker gave his report, leading with news nobody expected to hear. “One of the biggest eyesores in the village is the Burger King,” Brecker began. “So I got on that, and this morning I was contacted by the owner, who lives in Bennika, California now.”

The long-closed Burger King on the Cattaraugus side of the village seems rather ghostly in appearance, due to how long the structure has been abandoned. “I wrote up several violations, everything from the siding, to the sign, to the grounds, trash,” Brecker noted. “He (the owner) assured me, if he has another week he will get someone from the area to start working on that.”

Brecker added, “He asked me for some names, but I can’t do that because then it looks like I’m getting a cut from that.”

Summing up his report, Brecker left the mic, only to receive some good news of his own from Mayor Dave Smith. “We do have an adjustment for Gary Brecker,” Smith stated. “Since he stepped in March 1 and has been doing all of the code (work), we decided to grant him an additional $500 per month, so in other words, $1,500 retroactive from March 1 to May 31, 2019.”

Brecker’s raise was approved unanimously and was met by applause from those in attendance.

In other news, the board also accepted the resignation of Officer Andy Sulski and Erik Harrington from the Gowanda Police Department. Sulski cited personal reasons, while Harrington was unable to complete his training to become an official officer.

Dennis Feldmann was again officially appointed as officer-in-charge at a one-year term of service, as well as being appointed the police department’s official purchasing agent.

Smith was officially appointed to the police department committee as the village’s police commissioner, while Trustee Wanda Koch was named the official liasion to the police department.