SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley tells NewsChannel 9 he’s “denying” but “not refusing” the Onondaga County Legislature’s narrow votes intended to ultimately close the Jamesville Correctional Facility.
Among a series of resolutions voted on Monday, the Onondaga County Legislature approved a job-related technicality that abolishes corrections officer positions and replaces them with custody deputy positions, effectively consolidating the workforces of the Jamesville Correctional Facility and Justice Center.
That main resolution passed 9-8. Every Democrat and two Republicans, Legislators Mark Olson and Ken Bush, voted against it.
Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley, who took office in January after the plan was announced, asked legislators to vote against it.
He said, “Over and over, what I hear is: ‘What is the hurry?’ They don’t understand the numbers. They don’t understand the discussion. They ask: ‘What is the hurry?’ I ask this group: what is that hurry?”
Sheriff Shelley’s remarks got a standing ovation from deputies and officers gathered at the meeting.
Another vote by the Legislature assigned Sheriff Shelley the responsibility of coming up with the logistics plan, which he says he will not do so until he hears from the State Commission on Corrections.
According to the Sheriff, he will comply with the results of a feasibility study conducted by the state-level commission.
The plan to merge the facilities was announced in December by Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon and outgoing Sheriff Gene Conway.
