Job at risk for highway deputy quot Job at risk until deputy super passes test
Job at risk for highway deputy
"Job at risk until deputy super passes test
RENSSELAERVILLE Residents here are blaming the town supervisor, Jost Nickelsberg, for something over which he has no control replacing the highway deputy superintendent.
A petition signed by 244 residents says, "Our supervisor has an issue with all of our present town employees, and especially the highway department. His proposed budget includes the elimination of some town employees’ positions. The supervisor also is trying to replace our deputy’s position, who has been a dedicated employee of our town for 20 years, with someone outside of our town."
In February, the month after Nickelsberg took office, Albany County, which oversees Civil Service appointments, announced an open-competitive exam to fill the position of the town’s deputy superintendent for highways, a post currently held by Earl "David" Potter. Highway Superintendent G. Jon Chase told The Enterprise he first became aware of the Civil Service exam in June, four months later.
At a special meeting, held one week after the petition was brought to the board, Nickelsberg read a letter from the towns attorney, William Ryan.
"Because the information contained in the petition is erroneous, I thought it would be appropriate to clarify the facts for you," wrote Ryan.
The Albany County Department of Civil Service oversees and enforces the New York State Civil Service Law, and the position of the deputy superintendent is currently classified as competitive under the law.
Following the countys announcement, Ryan sent a memorandum to the town board, stating that Potter was required to take the Civil Service exam or he would lose his job.
Potter failed to take the exam, but the last open-competitive exam yielded a list of only two qualified individuals from which the town must hire short of the three required for an eligible list of candidates.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to clarify the misconception that the town supervisor has any control over the appointment of the deputy superintendent of highways. He does not"it is the highway superintendent who appoints the deputy," Ryan’s letter says.
Albany County will be ordering another exam, and Potter must take the exam if he wishes to keep his position. Potter did not return a call from The Enterprise.
Kerri Battle, director of communications for Albany County, said, "We have no evidence [Potter] refused to take the exam."
Potter, she said, will take the exam early 2007.
Two highway workers plan to retire"
Nickelsberg, who ran on a tax-reducing platform, prepared the towns tentative $2.24 million budget, and has been under fire from some residents; one of the controversial changes proposed in the budget is to cut a full-time highway-department worker.
Many Rensselaerville residents have complained about the condition of town roads this year, and the supervisor has been at odds with the highway superintendent, questioning the costs and competence of the department.
Councilman Gary Chase, a Democrat, son of the highway superintendent, made a motion at the Oct. 16 town board meeting to not lay off a highway employee. The vote was inconclusive.
His motion was supported by the other Democrat on the board and opposed by two of the three Republicans. The third Republican, Councilman J. Robert Lansing, was called on to decide the split vote. Lansing voted no. Councilman Chase, and members of standing-room-only crowd, questioned whether Lansing knew what he had voted on. Jeering residents, frustrated and fed up, began filing out of the hall.
"He didn’t even know what he was voting on," one yelled from the crowd.
Chase persisted.
"We did not adjourn this meeting," Chase yelled.
Chase restated his motion, and Lansing voted in favor.
Whether the motion passed, and whether it was legal, no one knows.
Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week that the board recently discovered that highway worker Ralph Marsh plans on retiring Jan. 4 this coming year, and that Martin Lloyd, another highway worker, also plans on retiring in July.
Highway Superintendent Chase, when asked about Martin and Marsh retiring from the department, told The Enterprise he had no knowledge of their intentions. Marsh did not return a call from The Enterprise.
"We won’t lay anybody off," Nickelsberg told The Enterprise.
Nickelsberg added that the board still needs to vote on whether or not to lay off the worker, but, he said, "That’s where everybody was last I knew, and that is what it looks like is going to happen." He called the recent decision to not lay off a worker a "gain for everybody."
"There’ll be about a $38,000 reduction in the budget this coming year if we don’t re-appoint anyone once they both retire," he said.
Chase told The Enterprise that, if the board did not re-appoint, should workers in his department retire, roads would not get plowed, and fire calls and buses would be delayed. Chase added that the department, which has 10 workers and the highway superintendent, used to have 12 employees, plus the highway superintendent.
