Gotta hand it to our County Clerk.


Ruger Lady

New member
I stumbled upon this while looking for pistol classes to brush up on my shooting. Our "socialist" sheriff wanted to take control of who can have a pistol permit in our county but thanks to a tough county clerk, Mrs. Hunter, that wouldn't back down, he didn't get what he wanted. She's one tough cookie. These are the public minutes from the meetings pertaining to just the pistol permit issue. It's a little long, but it was a heated discussion.

STEUBEN COUNTY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Friday, January 7, 2005

b. Pistol Permit Bureau – Sheriff Tweddell stated he would like the Committee's feelings on moving the Pistol Permit Bureau from the County Clerk’s Office to the Sheriff’s Office. Once 911 is up and running, his dispatchers will have more time available to handle this function. Also, they don’t have access to the pistol permit files after hours, which is a public safety issue. He noted he can do this without hiring new people and he can reduce the turn-around time on the new pistol permit applications from 4 to 6 months to 4 to 6 weeks. Discussion followed.
Mrs. Hunter stated she couldn’t agree to this request at this point, but they could look into it. She stated several years ago there was a Memorandum of Understanding between the County Clerk’s Association and the Office of Court Administration. The OCA previously handled all of the pistol permits and several years ago they opted not to handle the paperwork part, just the signature part. It is a court record and they are confidential files that are sealed. She suggests the Committee not jump into this with both feet right away.
Mr. Ahrens stated he contacted Tom Mitchell, Counsel to the NYS Sheriff’s Association, who conducted a statewide poll on how this was handled other Counties. The results were that half of the Counties have the function with the County Clerk's Office and half have the function with the Sheriff's Department. The requirement under the statute is that the investigation must be done by a police agency and it must be filed with the County Clerk.
Mr. Ahrens noted that as far as the Memorandum of Understanding, it was never ratified by this County. The bulk of the revenues are collected upon the issuance of the permit by the courts, so it won't adversely affect the County Clerk's revenue stream. The final filing, no doubt, must be done at the County Clerk’s Office.
Mr. Donnelly stated if they could free up some time for the individual handling the pistol permits, they might not have to hire this additional Desk Clerk. Mrs. Hunter stated that position is totally unrelated to the Desk Clerk position she needs.
Mr. Nielsen stated the ultimate filing place is the County Clerk's Office so the Sheriff wouldn't be able to have access to them anyway. Sheriff Tweddell stated he doesn’t think that is correct. Mrs. Hunter stated that is correct. Mr. Ahrens stated his understanding is the ultimate repository is the County Clerk. Once the judge signs the permit, it is a court order. The Sheriff has to be involved, there is no question of that. Mrs. Hunter stated definitely, and we decided a few years ago to bundle them in 10’s, at the Sheriff's request. Mr. Ahrens stated the County Clerk has to have them on file in her office. Mr. Gehl stated the point the Sheriff made was when they have to send somebody to a house and they don’t know if there are pistols inside. They have to find a way where he can get that information so they know what is going on for the Deputies safety. Mrs. Hunter stated she agrees, but she'd like to discuss it with her State Association first.
Sheriff Tweddell stated he wasn’t going to bring this up but last month he had a court order to pick up a pistol permit from an individual. They contacted the County Clerk’s Office and were told that they didn’t have a record of a pistol permit for that individual. We went to the person’s house and picked up two registered guns; guns that were registered with the County Clerk’s Office. Yet, we had a report from the County Clerk’s Office that there was no record of a permit. This information needs to be accurate and it needs to be included in the 911 system. This is why he's looking at this because we don’t have access to that. If it is in 911, civilians would control it, but if it was in our office, law enforcement personnel would handle it. Considerable discussion followed.
MOTION: DIRECTING THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO FURTHER INVESTIGATE THE LEGAL PROCESS AND REQUIREMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH PISTOL PERMITS FOR PRESENTATION AT THE NEXT MEETING MADE BY MR. NIELSEN. SECONDED BY MR. GEHL. ALL BEING IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIES 4-0.

STEUBEN COUNTY ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, February 8, 2005

G. Law Department
1. Legal Process and Requirements for Pistol Permits – Mr. Ahrens distributed a copy of a memo he sent to Mr. Alger regarding the Pistol Permit issue. In essence, the decision is within the jurisdiction of the Legislature to designate whomsoever they wish to be the licensing officer. However, it would be treated as a court proceeding so they may want the input from the Judiciary as to if they have any preferences. Mr. Ahrens stated the judiciary would act upon the investigation that is done by the Sheriff and approves or disapproves the application. Discussion followed.
Mr. Ahrens stated either office can handle everything up to where it is approved or disapproved by the courts. Then the final document must be filed in the county clerk’s office.
Mr. Nielsen stated everything has to be recorded and filed in the County Clerk’s Office. However, the Sheriff wanted a record of this for his deputies in case there are pistols in the house they are called to. Mr. Gehl stated he wants those deputies to know if there are weapons in a house.
Mrs. Hunter stated she’s willing to provide a listing of the registered pistols on file to the Sheriff. She noted previous the Sheriff had access to the database of the pistol permits. Apparently, when we changed the system over, that wasn’t set up. However, my Deputy contacted Information Technology and they said there would be no problem providing the Sheriff with access to those files. Mr. Peaslee stated they are working on the database right now and it will be ready to be installed next week.
Sheriff Tweddell stated his concern is with the consistency and accuracy of the database. Discussion followed.
MOTION: RECOMMENDING THE LEGISLATURE DESIGNATE THE SHERIFF AS THE LICENSING OFFICER FOR THE ISSUANCE OF THE PISTOL PERMIT APPLICATIONS EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2005, MADE BY DR. BAKER. SECONDED BY MR. GEHL. ALL BEING IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIES 5-0. Resolution Required.

TO THIS DATE, THE LEGISLATURE DISAGREES. THE SHERIFF AND COMPANY LOST. :joia: By the way, Dr. Baker is a DVM. :O_O:
 

Good for her, and us! My father-in-law works at Corning Inc. and lives in Steuben Co. I'm glad his rights won't be infringed upon.
 

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