The Matter of Rochester Police Locust Club v. City of Rochester

Summary

The Court of Appeals held that Rochester's 1985 repeal of its charter provision governing police discipline made the statewide Civil Service Law procedures applicable and left police discipline subject to collective bargaining. Rochester therefore could not use a 2019 local law to transfer exclusive disciplinary authority to a Police Accountability Board without the union's agreement because the law conflicted with statewide disciplinary and collective-bargaining requirements. The Court also reasoned that the City's former policy favoring executive control could not validate the 2019 law because that policy had been relinquished and would not logically permit transferring authority to an independent civilian board.