SUN EDITORIAL: Removing Collins as department liaison sends a poor message
By: DANIEL MEYER
SUN EDITOR
Strike two.
While we know baseball season is still a couple of months away, we thought it was appropriate to use a reference to our national pastime when reviewing how decisions were made during the first month of 2010.
We’re speaking of actions recently taken by the Hamburg Town Board, specifically Supervisor Steven Walters.
We gave Walters, Councilman Kevin Smardz and Councilwoman Amy Ziegler a tongue lashing in this space last week for their short-sighted efforts to suddenly close the town’s fitness center without first gathering feedback from employees of the town who have expertise in all things related to recreation. Their attempt to shut down the facility were halted after Walters recognized the need to gather more input from various entities, specifically town residents who are members of the fitness center.
The jury is still out on what their final decision on that alleged cost-savings measure will be, but their handling of the matter left many taxpayers shaking their heads wondering why their opinions and suggestions were not taken into consideration until they literally screamed and yelled at the board to slow down and take their time before making a decision that will impact the everyday lives of over 300 people who live in this community.
That was strike one.
The second swing-and-a-miss came late last week when Walters bowed down to the demand of Highway Superintendent Thomas Best Sr. that Councilman Joseph Collins be removed as the board’s liasion to the town’s Highway Department.
While Walters calls the removal of Collins a “temporary” transaction, we remain skeptical. From what we can see, Collins was just doing his job in asking questions as he attempted to learn more about certain personnel decisions that Best wanted the board to approve.
Collins does not want to be a rubberstamp for Best or any other department head — he is simply trying to do the right thing for town taxpayers. From what we can gather in talking to him and those who know him best — no pun intended — Collins has no hidden agenda. In fact, we believe it is safe to say that the only thing that Collins is guilty of is having a love for the community that he has called home for his entire life.
Alleged threats of physical confrontation have no place in any municipal meeting setting. The fact that the Town of Hamburg Police Department had to be called to the scene during a meeting of the board last week is pathetic and says a lot about the inability for Best to control his temper. He has since apologized for his actions that evening — specifically his unprofessional outburst during the board’s public meeting — but his actions further drive home the point that Walters made a poor decision in allowing Best’s request to be granted literally days after he made a spectacle of himself.
Throughout the private sector are people who don’t agree with or particularly like certain co-workers. The choice ultimately becomes their own on whether they want to try and rectify the situation or seek other employment. Apparently things are different at Hamburg Town Hall, where politicians can make a scene and voice their displeasure because someone who was elected to office is doing his job.
We genuinely like and respect Walters and have praised him in the past when he has made decisions that benefit the entire community. He has a lengthy list of accomplishments under his belt from his first four years in office.
But we strongly disagree with the decision to remove Collins as the Highway Department’s liasion. It sends a poor message, reeks of arrogance and sets a dangerous precedent for any future disagreements between board members and town employees.
• Strike three... batter’s out? — Be sure to read next week’s edition of The Sun for an editorial on the recent approval of Walters earning a $2,500 per month stipend to oversee the operations of the town’s police force. Details of the unique arrangement can be found this week in a news article published on Page 3.
Next week’s editorial will also focus on Walters’ annual “State of the Town” address.
(Comments? E-mail: meyerdan@thesunnews.net)
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