NEW SCOTLAND — The creation of a new deputy highway supervisor position — and the elimination of a foreman position — caused a stir at January’s town board meeting.

At the town’s organizational meeting on Jan. 1, Chris Van Praag, a highway operator with 15 years of experience, was appointed to serve as deputy highway superintendent. The position comes with responsibilities, but no salary increase, according to Supervisor Douglas LaGrange.

Highway Superintendent Kenneth Guyer asked the board to create the position so that Van Praag could sign in or stand in for him when he was unavailable due to sickness or absence, LaGrange said.

The position includes some of the duties of the former foreman position, which was eliminated by the town board in November at Guyer’s request, according to the department’s restructuring. Two other positions, both vacant, were eliminated, and one position, an operator II, was created.

The employee who had been named foreman under the previous highway superintendent was reassigned as an operator II — a position listed in the town’s salary scale. 

In a letter to the Enterprise editor (see opinion pages), town resident Sharon Boehlke wrote of the November town board meeting, “There was no mention of a reduction in salary for that specific long-time employee.

“When I questioned the decision of reducing the salary of a long-time employee,” her letter continued about the January town board meeting, “I was informed by Supervisor LaGrange that Mr. Guyer had the right to run his department as he saw fit. And furthermore, he stated that the employee was lucky that his job was saved (not an exact quote).”

The difference in salary from the eliminated full-time foreman position and the newly created full-time operator II position is a reduction of $1.30 per hour, LaGrange told The Enterprise. 

“It’s a chunk,” LaGrange said. “It’s subjective, I suppose. Everybody on the highway department, until now, makes more than I do. I work on a dairy farm.”

LaGrange took office in January and now receives a full-time salary as supervisor; before that, his town salary as a board member was part-time.

“We created another position so he could stay. Otherwise, he would have been out of a job,” LaGrange said. “Nobody, including Kenneth Guyer, wanted to see that happen.”

According to the minutes from the November town board meeting, Guyer told the board that nearly all of New Scotland’s neighboring municipalities have deputy highway superintendent positions, and that the Association of Towns of the State of New York also encourages the creation of that position. LaGrange said at that meeting that New Scotland previously had the position, the minutes say.

“There’s a lot that goes on here,” Guyer told The Enterprise this week. “I’m certainly looking out for my department as a whole. My job is to protect all 15 of them.

“This is the start of my fourth year as highway superintendent,” Guyer continued. “After the first three and a half, I wasn’t happy with the direction the department was heading. I wanted a deputy for the protection of myself and the town. I saddens me that a letter was written and voiced so strongly when [the writer] heard the opinion of one employee and one ex-employee. I have 15 employees between the highway and parks. I have to look out for all 15 of them.”

Department appreciation

“I was outraged that our new supervisor would even insinuate such a thing,” Boehlke wrote of the employee being glad to be retained. 

LaGrange said that the town did have enough work for the operator II position to be created.

“He was doing some operator II duties. We’re at a comfortable level, now,” LaGrange said. 

“There’s certainly more than enough work,” Guyer agreed. “This is not a rash decision. The town board supported me. I’m certainly not looking to get rid of anyone.”

“I, for one, treasure our town employees and especially those who risk their lives on cold snowy nights plowing and keeping our roads risk free,” Boehlke wrote. “I was also told after the meeting by some highway department employees that no member of the town board ever comes to the highway garage to see how things are going or to tell the employees what a great job they do for the citizens of New Scotland.”

“That’s totally ridiculous,” LaGrange told The Enterprise. “The town board is very appreciative of our highway department. We’ve done a lot of things to improve the conditions up there. To say that is to not take into account all [the town has done to accommodate employees]. I couldn’t disagree more with that.”

“I don’t think they’re unappreciated,” Guyer said of his staff. “Would you love to make more money at your job? Who wouldn’t? They realize the town board has it tough [keeping employees and residents happy], and bound by their budget. That’s a fine line they have to walk. 

“I do not think that they feel unappreciated,” he concluded of his staff.

Boehlke made reasonable points about the changes in the department, LaGrange said, “but they were answered in a valid, legal way.”

“Ultimately, it’s the highway superintendent’s decision,” LaGrange said. “The vast majority of employees up there support this decision — it’s just a couple that don’t.”