Increased duties, increase in pay for Town of Hamburg supervisor
By FELICE E. KRYCIA
associate editor The Sun
It took some doing, but after much heated discussion followed by a bit of arguing, the Hamburg Town Board has agreed to pay Town Supervisor Steven Walters $2,500 a month to compensate his additional duties associated with administrative work he is doing for the town’s Police Department.
The proposal was initially defeated Monday (Feb. 1) night following a 2-to-2 vote with Walters abstaining during the board’s work session.
This led to Walters questioning why Councilmen Joseph Collins and Jonathan Gorman voted against the proposal when they appeared to be in favor of the idea when the board met last Monday (Jan. 25) night during executive session.
According to Collins and Gorman, they said they were not prepared to make a decision Monday and were unaware that the motion was going to be presented that night. Collins and Gorman also said they wanted more information related to the figures that Walters has presented to them during last Monday’s executive session.
Councilwoman Amy Ziegler, Councilman Kevin Smardz, Town Attorney Kenneth Farrell and Deputy Town Attorney Brian Doyle countered those claims by saying it had been made very clear during last week’s executive session meeting the board would vote on the proposal during the Feb. 1 work session.
David Bellissimo, who was unsuccessful last year in his candidacy to a seat on the board, questioned the whole process.
“When we campaigned, we agreed to not be political, but I read how political this has become,” Bellissimo said. “I would hope you as elected officials would revisit this motion after this discussion.”
Walters then explained the savings he envisions the town will receive if he continues the additional work he has undertaken with the Town of Hamburg Police Department since Carmen Kesner retired as police chief Jan. 24.
Town officials are currently waiting for the civil service chief’s exam, which is scheduled for March 6.
Following that test, the four applicants for the position — Assistant Police Chiefs John Conlon and Michael Williams and Police Captains Stephen Mikac and Gregory Wickett, will take turns running the department while the town waits for the test results, which could be two to three months, Walters said.
According to Walters, if during all that time they appoint one of the assistant police chiefs to the temporary position of police chief, this will create a domino effect and will cause several command changes as people will have to “backfill the gaps” this would create.
“I worked out the figures several times and if we do this for 20 weeks the cost will be $240,776 and for 25 weeks it would cost $300,970 in salaries,” Walters said.
If Walters continues to put the additional two to three hours a day, five days a week at the department that he is now doing, instead of moving command staff around and receives the $2,500 a month, the salary cost is at $200,894 for 20 weeks and $249,8221 for the 25 weeks.
“This is a $39,882 to $51,148 savings to the town,” said Walters, who added it would also not be fair to the four candidates for the position because the extra duties they all would get would interfere with their time to study for the exam.
“This was an idea that Carmen said he thought made sense back when he told us he was retiring,” said Walters, adding that the additional work is on top of the full-time duties and responsibilities he has as town supervisor, which he said could be equated as almost like overtime.
Gorman came up with a compromise resolution, granting Walters the $2,500 stipend until the board either appoints a police chief or until Feb. 22 — the date of the board’s next meeting — or unless the board extends the payment of the stipend at that time.
After some discussion, the board passed the amended resolution based on Gorman’s suggestion.
Walters currently earns an annual salary of $82,123 as town supervisor, an elected position that carries a four-year term to which he was just re-elected to last November.
In other action from Monday’s work session, the board:
•Removed Richard Taber from the Town of Hamburg Planning Board after Taber failed to provide a certificate of completion or any other document verifying he had taken a minimum of four hours of training in 2009, as required by the town’s local laws.
Taber had been on the board since January 2006.
• Made the following one-year appointments:
Downsizing Preparation Board: Paula Bucci, Mark Drumsta, Terrence MacKinnon, Mary Dosch and Barbara Lipka.
Ice Rink Review Panel: Robert Compise, Bill Gehen, Kristin Johnson, Urmas Lupkin, John McFall, Rick Nowak, Bryan Wittmeyer, Mark DiPasquale, Steven Herman, Gary Klumpp, Joe Marszalek, Mark Melewski and Douglas Schawel.
Veterans Committee: Sandy Hustead, Krista Schneider, Catherine Rybczynski, Mike Lovullo and Sharon Stewart.
Bicentennial Celebration Committee; Greg Biryla, Barbara Lipka, Frank Walsh, Sandy Hustead and Barbara Sullivan.
Senior Services Advisory Board: Gertrude Christ and Catherine Monahan.
Community Development Citizens Advisory Committee: Carl Dinezza.
Domestic Violence Advisory Board: Carolyn Sweeney.
Town Rejuvenation Committee: Barbara Lipka.
• Made the following two-year appointments:
Conservation Advisory Board: Kevin Leffler.
Youth Advisory Board: Brent Doyle.
•Authorised the advertising for bids for the following projects:
Construction of the replacement of the existing waterline that is suspended along the South Park Avenue bridge over the New York State Thruway.
The stabilization for the Hamptonbrook Drive/Eighteen Mile Creek Stream Bank Stabilization Project.
The Howard Road/Waterfalls Village Creek Culvert Extension Project.
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