Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A committee of the whole of the Erie County Legislature meeting to look into the investigation of an incident involving an Erie County Sheriff's Office chief scheduled for Thursday was canceled. One lawmaker says if no information is coming out, it still merits a meeting.
Legislature Chairman Tim Meyers issued this statement last week. "After conversations with Minority Caucus Chair John Mills and members of the Legislature, I've made the decision not to convene a Committee of the Whole on Thursday, April 24th, regarding the incident involving DJ Granville. As confirmed during the Buffalo Common Council's recent Police Oversight Meeting, and in statements from Buffalo Police Commissioner Al Wright and Erie County Sheriff John Garcia, all internal investigations will not be completed until after the Special Prosecutor — the Niagara County District Attorney's Office — concludes their investigation. While we remain firmly committed to transparency and accountability, we must also respect the integrity of the ongoing legal process. The Legislature will revisit this matter once the appropriate investigations have concluded and we are in a position to have a full and informed discussion."
Legislator Jeanne Vinal believes this was done as a courtesy after a Buffalo Common Council hearing into the investigation. "At the buffalo Common Council, so little substantive information was given, and there was a week we were hoping that there he was assuming that there would be information that we could take from that and use that to have our the foundation of ours," explains Vinal, prompting Meyers to cancel the meeting.
Vinal says there are things she'd still like to know "I want to talk about is the use of take home vehicles, especially such expensive take home vehicles, especially when I really don't see the basis for take home vehicles that why are we using take home," says Vinal. "One of the things is, is that it seems that there was not clarity as to whether it was during working hours or not during working hours, and that's because it was a take home vehicle, and because they don't clock in overtime, he has maybe 80% more of his salary in overtime." She says lawmakers should know if there were timesheets for that week as to whether he claimed time during that period." There's been, in some ways, a cover up for a year, you could say, even use that strong of a word, or at least lack of sharing for a year," claims Vinal.
Vinal says there's one school of thought among lawmakers saying they need the information to have the hearing, "whereas I think that's true, but if we can't get the information that is worth a hearing." Vinal says they have sessions twice a month, and would like to bring that up next session. "I see where he's coming from, because his background is in large organizations, and working with managing people in large organizations. So he's probably realistic in the sense that things take time for large organizations to turn things over," notes Vinal. "But on the other hand, mine is more that I think we have to keep our foot on the gas to make sure that people know that they will get answers to the questions, and it won't just be pushed down, and then hopefully we're thinking of something else in three weeks."
Granville was issued three traffic citations.
