To the Editor:

I have always admired people who have tremendous energy and always seem to be able to do more than one task at a time. However, having such energy and doing more than one task at a time — perforce- — assumes that each of those tasks is done fully and competently.

When our tax dollars are spent on office holders with extensive responsibilities, we assume that that person’s full energies will be devoted to those responsibilities. We do not expect that such office holders will use those positions merely as a taxpayer-funded base from which to advance a full-time political career.

Taking on numerous other tasks unrelated to the core responsibilities for which the office holder was elected ensures that only limited attention can meaningfully be paid to those core responsibilities.

The town of Berne’s highway superintendent is a case in point. State statutes are silent as to whether a town’s highway superintendent is a full- or part-time position. However, Berne’s highway superintendent received a base salary of $53,270 during the 2020 fiscal year. In addition, at its organizational meeting in January 2020,  the town board awarded Mr. Bashwinger an additional pay raise of $3,952 as the “solid-waste coordinator.”

For the 2021 fiscal year, the highway superintendent requested a raise to $65,000 The town’s tentative budget awards the superintendent $60,035, a raise of $6,765 to which must be added $3,952 for whatever it is that he does at the transfer station for four hours a week. That’s a $10,717. Raise!

His salary is now $63,987.00 to which an additional sum of at least $25,000  has to be added for municipal employee benefits. Therefore, Mr. Bashwinger’s cost to Berne taxpayers is $88,987!

That sure as hell sounds like a full-time job to me and I’ll bet the voters of Berne thought so as well when they last voted.

Alas, the town off Berne’s highway superintendent does not and never has worked full-time as our highway superintendent. It is simply impossible for Mr. Bashwinger to devote full time to the highways in Berne! Here’s why:

— Mr. Bashwinger has also been hired by the Albany County Election Commission as a laborer-part time (really?). He is expected to spend 20 hours a week at such work for an annual pay of $21,773.00 a year for fiscal year 2021.That’s 20 hours of compensated time not spent at the highway department for which he receives a full-time salary. His salary from all of his endeavors (at least those that are public) is  $116,750;

— Mr. Bashwinger is also the town of Berne Republican Party chairperson. Without commenting on the competence with which those duties are carried out, it is reasonable to assume that Mr. Bashwinger spends a significant amount of time at those tasks — time not spent at the highway department for which he is being paid a full-time salary;

— Mr. Bashwinger is also the Albany County Republican Party chairperson. This position is unpaid but it is reasonable to assume that a significant portion of Mr. Bashwinger’s time is spent on those duties, especially in an election year — time not spent at the highway department for which he is being paid a full-time salary;

— Mr. Bashwinger is also the vice chairperson of the Berne Ambulance Squad. While some wags have suggested that this title is merely for show and that Mr. Bashwinger only shows up for photo opportunities, let’s assume good faith and assume that his duties at the ambulance squad consume some portion of his time — time not spent at the highway department;

— Mr. Bashwinger has also been elected to the Berne-Knox-Westerlo School Board. This is an important position, which surely takes a significant amount of time away from Mr. Bashwinger’s duties at the highway department and whatever it is that he does at the transfer station.

The conclusion is inescapable. Mr. Bashwinger is not a full-time highway superintendent as many Berne voters reasonably expected when paying him $88,987 when they voted. He does not — and physically cannot — devote his full attention to the town’s highways given all the other responsibilities with which he has intentionally inundated himself.

He is using Berne’s taxpayer money as a base from which to advance a political career — which appears to be his real full-time job. It is inescapable that Berne taxpayers and our highways are the least of his concerns.

As they say:  A jack of all trades is a master of none.

Lawrence Zimmerman

East Berne

Editor’s note: Lawrence Zimmerman is a member of the Berne Planning Board.