Opinion ID: 745321
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The 120-Day Waiting Period

Text: 43 The defendants cross-appeal the issue of the 120-day waiting period Judge Brieant imposed on them, should they actually abolish the police force. The plaintiffs also appeal the 120-day period, arguing that it is too short. The Judge stated the following regarding this time limit: 44 While the decision to abolish the Police Department is legislative, the manner in which it shall be accomplished is administrative, and this Court has and should exercise its supplemental jurisdiction to avoid the implementation of any local law in a manner which would be arbitrary and capricious, or inflict unusual injury upon any of the persons affected, or the general public. Once it becomes absolutely certain that the Putnam Valley Police Department will be abolished, it will require at least 120 days thereafter in order for the Sheriff of Putnam County, with the support and cooperation of the County Executive and the County Legislature to provide for the necessary funds and personnel and facilities to effectuate the necessary transition smoothly and to prevent a dangerous gap or hiatus in protection of the general public interest against crime and emergencies. 45 The Judge did not specify what state law claim he was subjecting to supplemental jurisdiction. The Judge's use of the terms arbitrary and capricious and administrative suggests an Article 78 proceeding, a New York procedure in which administrative implementations of legislative acts are reviewed. However, [i]t is well established that an article 78 proceeding is not the proper vehicle to test the validity of a legislative act, Kamhi v. Town of Yorktown, 141 A.D.2d 607, 608, 529 N.Y.S.2d 528, 529 (2d Dep't 1988), and the term legislative act, for purposes of Article 78, applies where ... the dispute centers upon a rule of general applicability rather than an ad hoc determination of an individual party's particular rights, Costantakos v. Board of Educ., 105 A.D.2d 825, 825, 482 N.Y.S.2d 27, 28 (2d Dep't 1984) (citing Solnick v. Whalen, 49 N.Y.2d 224, 231-32, 401 N.E.2d 190, 194-95, 425 N.Y.S.2d 68, 72-73 (1980)). The effective date of the proposed action would be a rule of general applicability and so would not be subject to review in an Article 78 proceeding. The proper vehicle for an attack on the threatened action would be a declaratory judgment action, see Kamhi, 141 A.D.2d at 609, 529 N.Y.S.2d at 530, but, as we have seen above, the district court properly rejected the arguments that might have supported a request for a declaratory judgment. 46 Thus, the court erred when it required the defendants to wait 120 days before making an abolition of the police department effective. This holding of the district court is vacated. The defendants may abolish the police force immediately, should they choose to do so. 47