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Board delays filling new sanitation post
By John J. Hopkins Times
Plans by the town board to remove supervision of the sanitation department from the highway superintendent's duties were stalled Monday when a resolution to create the post and a second resolution to fill it were tabled.
The sanitation supervision duties were assigned to the highway superintendent in April 1999.
However, the board earlier this year expressed its desire to separate the duties to gain more control of the sanitation department, which board members say generates more public complaints than any other town department.
The board planned to pass two resolutions pertaining to the position at Monday's board meeting. The first was to reassign the supervision duties to the General Crew Chief of the Sanitation Department, and the second to assign Frank Max Jr. to the post.
Both items were on a "waiver" portion of the agenda. Items on the waiver are generally last minute additions that cannot wait for the next scheduled meeting.
A representative of the town clerk's office told the Times that both resolutions were filed around 3 p.m. Monday.
Political observers have questioned the timing of the move, noting that discussions concerning the change became public knowledge soon after the September election primaries.
Max, a sanitation foreman, is chairman of the Town Democratic Committee, and all seven board members are Democrats.
However, when the time came to vote on the first resolution, Councilmember Jeff Swiatek asked to table the resolutions and revisit them at the board's December 27 meeting. Swiatek stated that the proposed changes are an important issue for residents.
"The sanitation department is the only department in town which literally, week after week, affects every single resident," Swiatek said. "Although there may be differences of opinion ... as to what the final result may be, there should not be any doubt in the process."
Swiatek stated the final round of interviews for the post were completed "literally minutes before the meeting began tonight," and suggested that the board should "have the ability" to consider the entire process.
Six persons applied for the position, which was posted by the town in accordance with its collective bargaining agreement with the Town of Cheektowaga Supervisory Unit.
Noting that the new position and appointment would not take effect until January 1, Swiatek said the December 27 meeting offers the board another opportunity to create and fill the post.
"I want to make sure that we're doing this in a procedurally sound manner," Swiatek said.
Councilmember Alice Magierski seconded Swiatek's request. Her second tabled the two resolutions.
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