To the Editor:

To save the editor some time adding notes about who I am, allow me to give you the facts about me:

— I am married to Joe Adriance, who was illegally fired from the Knox Transfer Station;

— I ran for Knox town clerk two years ago against Traci Schanz and lost that contest;

— I served on the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board with Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis;

— I was recently appointed to and then unappointed from the Knox Zoning Board of Appeals; several months later, a board member’s wife was appointed to that vacancy.

I am writing in response to the editor’s note on the letter from my husband and Dick Dexter published in last week’s edition, specifically Supervisor Lefkaditis’s response as to “how much has the Town saved by eliminating the patronage jobs of the Hammond/Pokorny era…at the transfer station alone.” [“The town of Knox is wasting your taxpayer dollars,” Letter to the Editor, Oct. 21, 2021]

To set the record straight, Mark [Young, the third transfer-station worker replaced on Jan. 1, 2019 by the Knox Town Board, with the two, later ousted, Democrats voting against the firings] was unanimously appointed by the town board under the Vas “era,” not by Hammond/Pokorny.

No one approached Joe or offered him a job with the town; he applied for and was subsequently interviewed and hired by Gary Salisbury to work at the highway department as a part-time snowplow “wingman.” When Mr. [Lewis] Tubbs passed away, Joe was recommended for and appointed to his position at the transfer station.

Dick, well, what can you say about someone who dedicated 17 years of his life in service to this town? 

The “savings” stated by the supervisor are more likely attributable to the fact that the board did not allow Joe and Dick to work since March 2020 under the false guise of complying with then-Governor Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 worker restrictions. Indeed, there’s a savings when people don’t work (although the town did have to pay some unemployment benefits during that time)!

These were not patronage jobs; Supervisor Lefkaditis simply disliked the people in them. Eliminating the transfer-station attendant positions (Joe and Dick) was the “loophole” that the supervisor finally found to get rid of them when firing them didn’t work.

As was noted at the last town board meeting, their absence from the transfer station and subsequent elimination of their positions has resulted in a shortage of help there. I would go as far as to say the Knox Transfer Station is now unsafe because it is understaffed.

The town board is currently discussing hiring a full-time employee for the transfer station — which with salary, benefits, retirement, and unemployment insurance will quickly eat into the so-called $35,000 in savings that the supervisor boasted about.

One final note about the recently eliminated jobs. The part-time park laborer position was also eliminated at the March meeting, leaving the work there to be done by other full-time town employees.

Like the transfer station, the board is now discussing hiring a full-time employee for park maintenance, emphatically stating that, in order to hire and retain help, the hourly wage must be higher than what was being paid to the part-time employees. The salary conversation was not limited to these positions, but also to the open highway-department positions. 

Superintendent Matthew Schanz stated that they have had only a few applications and that none of them have the required qualifications.

Are these full-time positions necessary? Maybe they are. Are higher salaries warranted to be competitive in the job market? Probably so.

But don’t deceive the taxpayers by telling them there are $35,000 in savings when those savings are temporary. Those dollars (and more) will likely be spent on full-time employees to replace the eliminated positions while also raising salaries to become competitive.

There was an opportunity to transition more responsibilities to Dick and Joe and have them remain part-time employees of the town — that cost would have been less than a full-time employee at the transfer station. On multiple occasions, both former employees offered to take on additional responsibilities to free up the highway department workers; both have commercial driver’s licenses and experience hauling trailers.

Ask your town supervisor and town council members why they didn’t seriously consider or even discuss that option.

The New York State Consolidated Law Chapter 62, Section 29, Article 3 documents that the “Powers and duties of supervisor … shall act as treasurer thereof and shall demand, collect, receive and have the care and custody of moneys belonging to or due the town from every source ….”

The New York State Comptroller’s office, in the Information for Town Officials publication, states “The town supervisor fills a significant role … [is] the treasurer of the town and generally represents the town in the conduct of its financial affairs.” The document goes on to say, “One of the most important duties of the town supervisor is that of fiscal officer.”

I want a town supervisor who has lived in our community and has been an active participant in town government, one who will take into consideration the concerns and opinions of not only the taxpayers that vote for him, but also those who don’t.

What I want is a town supervisor who does not have a personal agenda against people who are not like-minded with him.

Most importantly, though, as a taxpayer, I demand (and I hope all Knox taxpayers do) that our town supervisor be trustworthy to perform his most important duty — the care and custody of our taxpayer dollars.

How can someone who has already proven to be unable to do that with their personal and business finances be entrusted with our taxpayer dollars?

Please vote on Nov. 2 — change only comes about with action. Vote for Russ Pokorny and Brigitte McAuliffe.

Joan Adriance

Knox