BATH, N.Y. (WENY) - In an effort to combat the growing problem of school violence, the Steuben County Legislature passed the Safe Schools Initiative of 2022 by a vote of 16-1.

Created in the wake of the mass school shooting at Uvalde, the initiative includes a $110,000 fund created from revenue generated by the county Traffic Diversion program.

Steuben County District Attorney Brooks Baker says, "Almost immediately after that heartbreaking event, the Sheriff and I got together and started talking about what we could do right now to absolutely minimize the risk of this happening here and maximize the safety of the children of Steuben County."

The fund will be used to provide additional training for School Resource Officers for every school in the county, along with new equipment.

The goal is not only to respond quickly and effectively, should an active shooter appear, but to also prevent attacks from happening in the first place.

The single vote against the initiative came from Legislator Steve Maio (D, City of Corning), who is currently serving a 3 year term of probation based upon his August 2022 conviction for the crime of Patronizing a Person for Prostitution in satisfaction of his role in an Indictment that saw Larry Comfort, Sr. sentenced to a 10 year state prison term on drug and prostitution charges.