After months of debate over how Southold should respond when federal immigration agents operate in town, the Town Board settled Tuesday on a detailed protocol that will send local police to the scene of reported enforcement actions, require officers to verify the activity and remain as a peacekeeping presence, and establish a chain of notifications to town officials and affected schools and medical facilities. But it will not be a local law.

Instead, after spending more than an hour Tuesday morning parsing individual words and debating the limits of police authority, the board agreed to put a resolution before the public at its regular meeting Tuesday night that memorializes a response procedure developed by Police Chief Steven Grattan and spells out responsibilities for police, the town supervisor and the Town Board.

A second resolution that would dissolve the temporary Public Safety Task Force and replace it with a standing Public Safety Committee will be addressed at a future work session, town officials said.

“We want a committee, and now we can take our time on creating” it, Councilwoman Anne Smith said near the end of the discussion, while Councilwoman Alexa Suess called adoption of the police procedure the more immediate priority.

“At least we can pass this procedure,” Suess said.

The resolution represents the culmination of a debate that began after federal immigration enforcement actions in Greenport and elsewhere on the North Fork earlier this year prompted calls for Southold to establish clear rules governing the town’s response.

OLA of Eastern Long Island initially proposed a Public Safety and Accountability Local Law, versions of which were also considered in other East End municipalities. The original Southold proposal contemplated a substantial role for local police, including investigating reports of people impersonating federal agents, verifying credentials, coordinating with outside agencies and establishing specialized training.

The proposal was substantially narrowed in successive drafts. By May, it largely focused on reporting immigration enforcement activity to town officials, maintaining a community task force and giving Southold police authority, but not requiring them, to request identification from unidentified people conducting immigration enforcement operations.

Five community members on Southold’s Public Safety Task Force nevertheless urged the Town Board to enact legislation, arguing that putting the policy into law would provide greater transparency, permanence and accountability. Town Attorney Ben Johnson urged a different approach, questioning whether portions of a local law would be enforceable and warning that legislation could create confusion about the limits of the town’s authority.

Over a series of summer work sessions, the board increasingly moved away from legislation and toward a resolution combining police procedures, government notification and public communication. On Aug. 11, the board gave itself two weeks to produce the resolution now scheduled for consideration Tuesday night. The resolution gives Southold police a defined role when outside law enforcement agencies, including ICE, operate in town, while repeatedly emphasizing that local officers are there for public safety, not to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

Grattan said the procedure covers three basic scenarios: the department receives advance notice of an outside agency operation; a member of the public reports one to 911 or police headquarters; or a Southold officer encounters an operation while on patrol.

When police receive a report of an outside agency operation in Southold or Greenport, an officer will be dispatched to verify that it is occurring. Once verified, Southold officers will provide a “peacekeeping and calming presence,” activate their body-worn cameras in accordance with department policy, monitor and attempt to de-escalate confrontations involving bystanders and avoid directing, controlling or positioning themselves in a manner that would impede the outside agency’s operation.

Precisely how to describe what officers could and could not do became one of the morning’s longest debates. An earlier draft said Southold officers would “neither obstruct nor assist” an outside agency operation absent a judicial warrant.

Grattan objected that the language could unnecessarily restrict his officers. If someone attacked another police officer, for example, Southold officers would intervene. He also said there could be circumstances involving a violent offender and a judicial warrant in which assisting with an apprehension would be appropriate.

Board members considered adding references to judicial warrants, “exigent circumstances” and officer discretion before eventually settling on language preserving officers’ responsibility to “act as required by law.”

The resolution also creates a notification system once an operation affecting public safety is verified. Grattan or his designee will notify the town supervisor or the supervisor’s designee. The supervisor will then notify Town Board members, the Greenport mayor and administrators of affected schools, hospitals and clinics.

The board added language specifying that those notifications are for “situational awareness and preparedness only.”

Board members said the procedure should not require officials to notify every school or medical facility every time an outside agency operates somewhere in town. The decision would depend on where and when an operation occurs and who could reasonably be affected by it.

The police chief or his designee would also issue a “timely public statement” containing “nonsensitive” information after a verified operation.

Councilwoman Jill Doherty cautioned that “timely” should not be interpreted as an obligation to immediately alert the public while an enforcement action is unfolding. Depending on circumstances, officials said, information may not be released until the operation has ended and police determine that releasing it will not compromise public or officer safety. All sworn Southold police officers would also receive ongoing de-escalation training.

The resolution establishes another layer of oversight after an incident. The Town Board, acting as the town’s Board of Police Commissioners, would review Southold’s public safety response and make recommendations for additional action if circumstances warrant.

Board members emphasized that the review would not judge whether ICE or another outside agency was justified in conducting its operation, but rather would examine the town’s own performance: whether its response procedures worked, whether communication was effective and whether changes should be made before the next incident.

The board also took pains Tuesday to distinguish between setting town policy and managing the Police Department. Doherty objected to language saying the Town Board was formally “adopting” Grattan’s police procedure or “directing” the chief to implement it, arguing that operational police procedures are the chief’s responsibility.

The board instead agreed to say it “acknowledges” the procedure and settled on language saying the Town Board and police chief “will maintain written public safety response procedures consistent with this resolution.”

The resolution also states that the procedures are to be interpreted consistently with applicable state and federal law and without restricting the Police Department’s authority to investigate crimes or enforce criminal statutes.

Still unresolved is what comes next.

The board had contemplated simultaneously approving a second resolution ending the temporary Public Safety Task Force and creating a permanent Public Safety Committee. The proposed committee would serve largely as a conduit between Town Hall and the community, helping explain the response procedures, educating residents about what to expect during outside agency operations and explaining how incidents should be reported.

But Tuesday’s discussion raised additional questions about who should serve on the committee and precisely how much authority it should have. Members discussed potentially drawing representatives from the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force, Police Advisory Committee and communications committee, along with other community representatives. Doherty stressed that the new body should operate at the direction of the Town Board rather than independently making policy.

Rather than rush that portion through, the board agreed to revisit the committee’s composition and responsibilities at a future work session.