Rochester City Council confirmed Thursday that it has filed an appeal for a ruling in favor of the Rochester Police Locust Club on a referendum for a police accountability board.
"It is our hope that the appellate court will allow the votes to be cast and counted so that the voice of the people can be heard,” according a statement from the council. "This vote is too important to push off and to do so would only serve to confuse voters."
A judge ruled in favor of the Rochester Police Locust Club Wednesday, but the referendum for a police accountability board will still appear on the November ballot.
The preliminary injunction does however halt whether those votes will count on Election Day.
Earlier this month, the police union sued the city on a proposed police accountability board form appearing on the ballot that would provide citizen oversight of the Rochester Police Department. City Council approved the referendum back in May.
“In light of the effect that the litigation may have upon the substance of Local Law No. 2, the Petitioners’ request for preliminary injunctive relief barring Local Law No. 2 from being voted upon in the upcoming election on November 5, 2019 is granted,” according to the ruling. “However, the Board of Elections shall authorize and distribute ballots containing the Local Law No. 2 referendum, but is stayed from authorizing the referendum to be voted upon until further order of this or an appellate court.”
Judge John Ark said the petitioners’ legal challenges to the law are multi-pronged and complex as are the respondents’ rebuttals.
“It would be a disservice to the community for the court to render its legal judgement on such important legislation without a thorough analysis of the legality of the statute,” he said in the ruling.
Many ballots with the police accountability board referendum are already printed. Military and overseas ballots are already in the mail, sent on Thursday. Absentee ballots are already printed, which also include the referendum. Those are expected to go out on Friday.
“Until we get a final decision on whether the votes will be cast or not cast, the voters should just go ahead and vote the ballot like they always would,” Doug French, commissioner with the Monroe County Board of Elections, said.
But in a statement from Council President Loretta Scott, she says:
“I am disappointed with today’s court decision and feel that Judge Ark’s ruling to disallow the referendum vote while still printing the proposition on the ballot will be confusing to voters.”
And the Police Accountability Board Alliance also released a statement, saying in part:
“We are confident that the higher court will rule in favor of justice, democracy, and the PAB. City Council has pledged to appeal this decision and it is likely that the appeal will be heard in October.”
Meanwhile the Rochester Police Locust Club, which put forward the lawsuit to stop the referendum, says it is pleased that the stay has been ordered:
"City Council did a disservice to the community and our members by disregarding our input and the input of the police department when crafting legislation for a board that would ultimately discipline police.”
City Council says it will be seeking that appeal. So now it’s a race against time for a decision to be made before October 26, when early voting begins ahead of the election on November 5.
“Which probably would not be heard until October, and with early voting being nine days, it kind of puts us in crunch time here at the Board of Elections,” French said.