Mirror Lake Retreat in Milan signed an agreement allowing law enforcement to install Flock Safety cameras on camp property along Route 199, according to a document reviewed by the Herald at the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
The agreement, dated Nov. 11, 2023, was signed by camp director Ron Pankey, who said the camp gave permission for the cameras but was surprised when they were installed on a triangle of grass between Tribune Lane and Route 199 — an area he said he did not believe belonged to the camp.
“There was no money exchanged, all it was was permission to do it,” Pankey said in a phone call. “We just thought we’d be good neighbors.”
Pankey originally told the Herald there was no agreement between the camp and the Sheriff’s Office, but later corrected that statement.
“We did give our permission to put those license tag readers up there,” Pankey said.
But when the cameras were installed in June 2025, Pankey said, he was surprised by their location.
“We signed for those to go on our property,” Pankey said. “But when they came out, they were on a spot that we did not believe was our property.”
Pankey cited Dutchess County tax maps, including ParcelAccess, as the reason for his surprise at the cameras’ location.
“The reason I didn’t say [that there was an agreement] previously, is because they got put up on what we believe is not our property,” Pankey said. “We have always been led to believe that that triangle did not belong to us,” said Pankey.
As viewed on ParcelAccess, the location of the cameras appears outside the 0.86-acre parcel that was purchased by the camp in February 2022 to clear and improve visibility of the main camp.
“When those showed up we thought ‘that’s not our property,’ — in talking with the sheriff and the DA, that is our property,” Pankey said. “This was an honest mistake, there was no trying to hide anything.”
According to the Chief Deputy of the Dutchess County’s Sheriff’s Office, Stephen Reverri, ParcelAccess lines are not 100% accurate.
“Property boundaries shown on the Dutchess County ParcelAccess map are for illustrative purposes and should not be treated as absolute facts,” Reverri wrote in an email.
The website for Dutchess County’s Real Property Tax Service Agency states that “the tax maps and the aerial photographs are not perfect depictions of your and your neighbors’ properties. The only way to be certain that there is (or is not) an encroachment is to have a survey done.”
In an emailed response to questions about the placement of the cameras, Dutchess County Communications Director Colleen Pillus said that “final determinations about what property a building or object is situated on would require a survey.”
After Milan officials questioned the placement of the Flock Safety cameras, Reverri was asked whether a survey had been conducted for the property. He responded that “we do not do property surveys,” and that “property site assessments” performed by Flock are used to determine property eligibility.