ALBANY – Legislation that would allow the villages of Greene and Oxford to promote two local officers to full-time status has been introduced once more in the state senate and assembly.

Officers Norm Shaffer and Ron Martin are valued members of Oxford and Greene’s village police departments, but because they are both over the age of 35, civil service law prohibits them from being hired full-time by either department. In fact, their age precludes them from even taking the competitive civil service exam required for full-time employment.

For the second year running, New York State Senator Tom Libous and Assemblyman Cliff Crouch have introduced bills in Albany which would make an exception for the two village police officers.

According to Crouch, last year’s proposed legislation, which requested that the age requirements be waived to allow Shaffer and Martin to be hired full-time, made it through both houses only to be vetoed by the governor.

“The governor’s office couldn’t allow this to go through,” Crouch explained, because it circumvented civil service law. This year, he said, he and Libous worked directly with the governor’s office on the language of the legislation.