One Picture ...

The Organization Meeting Agenda speaks volumes about the incoming Majority.  It has certainly outdone itself ... eliminating positions that provide real service to the town, residents and businesses only to fill their own larders.  

Eliminated Positions

• Code Enforcement Officer Kevin Hitchcock;
• Town Planner Meghan Webster;
• Town Engineer Rich Benko;
• Staff Accountant Kate Bennett;
• Secretary to the Town Attorney Joan Malone; and
• two DPW Players to be Named Later (2 Laborers).

Yes, I said "two DPW Players to be Named Later".  You see, it's all a big game for DeFruscio, Langley and Company (though we don't know if Ms. DiMartino or Ms. Matters had any hand in any of this ... their campaign call for lower spending limits without prior approval of the Supervisor are unheeded in the Agenda).

Supervisor Langley didn't even have the decency or common courtesy to tell these and other terminated employees face-to-face.  Rather, notification was done by posting the Organizational  Meeting Agenda on the Town's web site! 

Megan Hart gets tasked with notifying the "two DPW Players to be Named Later" that their services are no longer needed.  Why doesn't Supervisor Langley or incoming DPW Commissioner Corellis or Deputy DPW Commissioner Fiacco do this?

Questions

• Why does the Town need Dan Fiacco, or anyone, as a new Deputy Commissioner of Public Works at $47,500 to help run a downsized DPW?  Dave VanWormer ran the larger DPW without a Deputy and ran it quite well by all accounts, at a salary of $72,720.  Now we're paying $116,000 to replace him?  Keeping Dave VanWormer would save the Taxpayers $43,280 per year plus benefits! 
• Will the new Assistant Town Attorney for the Planning Board, Phil Danaher, at an $11,000 increase, take over the duties of the Town Planner and Town Engineer?  Or will the functions be outsourced at $80 – $100+ per hour?  Reps are big on outsourcing, aka, privatizing, aka, building the donor base. 
• Phil Danaher is also Assistant Town Attorney for the Zoning Board of Appeals at $10,000.  Can he really serve as Assistant Town Attorney for BOTH Boards ... potentially giving differing counsel on the same projects depending on the Board?  So the Taxpayers are now paying Phil Danaher a combined salary of $28,000!
• Can Chris DeFruscio even serve as Court Attendant?  Someone on The East Greenbush Gadfly points out that Section 50.5(e) of the Rules of the Chief Judge states “No employee of the Unified Court System may hold an elective office in a political party, or a club or organization related to a political party, except that an employee maybe a delegate to a judicial nominating convention or a member of a county committee other than the executive committee of a county committee.”
• Will Deputy Supervisor Ed Gilbert become even more politically vocal at Town Board Meeting Open PUBLIC Privilege sessions now that he's being paid $3,000?  He was no bargain at no salary, but $3,000?  One wonders whether he speaks for the Supervisor or in furtherance of his own political aspirations.

New Appointments at Higher Salaries

• Comptroller (George Phillips ) at +$9,610
• Attorney to the Town (David Gruenberg, Esq.) at +$3,680
• Liaison for Senior Activities (Janet Witbeck - also Town Historian at $5,000) at +$3,000
• Deputy Town Attorney - NYS V&TL (Craig Crist, Esq.) at +$1,275

Appointments at Lower Salaries (Huh?)

• We get a new Commissioner of Public Works (Anthony Corellis, husband of Denise Corellis, Secretary to the Supervisor) at a decrease of $4,220 (yes, a decrease - perhaps recognizing that he either needs On-the-Job-Training or that he can't do the job without a $47,500 a year Deputy).  Commissioner Corellis will be supervising his niece - Secretary to DPW Commissioner Melissa Nusbaum, which could be a violation of Section 15.(c) of the Ethics Code which states that “No town officer or employee may directly supervise a relative in the performance of the relative’s official powers or duties.”  Technically, “Niece” is not defined as a “Relative” in the Code.  Is Fiacco there as a “buffer” between the Commissioner and his brother?  Expensive “buffer”!

Speaking of the Ethics Code, when will appointments be made to the Board of Ethics?

 

• Senior Court Clerk and Court Clerks (one new appointment as Senior) have $21,835 in Salary Decreases, including an $11,935 pay cut and demotion for Eileen Donahue;
• Incoming Purchasing Agent Mary Beth Cherubino (why does that name sound familiar?) starts at $660 less than her predecessor; and
• Assessor's Office Data Collector Peter Arnos starts at $403 less than his predecessor.

Hat Trick Appointments

Diane Earing scores a hat trick being appointed as:

• Assessor’s Clerk at $15/hr;
• Assess. Review Bd. Secretary at $15/hr; and
•  Planning Board Clerk at $75/Session - Alison Lovely is Secretary to Planning & Zoning at an annual salary plus $75 per Session.  Why a Planning Board Clerk at the same $75 per Session.  Will they both cover the Planning Board Meetings?

Honorable Hat Trick Mentions

Phil Danaher and Janet Witbeck get "Honorable Hat Trick Mentions" scoring two jobs each.  Maybe next year folks! 

The extended Corellis family now has four family members on payroll, the extended Cherubio family has three.

Raises for Current Office Holders

• Director of Finance (Meaghan Hart) +$10,000
• Town Historian (Janet Witbeck - also Liaison for Senior Activities at $3,000) +$2,000
• Secretary to Supervisor (Denise Corellis - wife of new DPW Commissioner Anthony Corellis)  +$2,000

- - - - -

 

We're confident that resume's were solicited and will be shared with the Minority Town Board Members. 

 

Keep your eyes on this crowd.  We certainly will!