Brockport approves village manager position

By a margin of three to one, the position of village manager was created by the Village of Brockport. Trustee Mort Wexler cast the lone dissenting vote at the June 20 board meeting.

"With the potential for the changes to the board that could be occurring tomorrow night with the elections I just don't think we need to approve this now," Wexler said. "The motion should be tabled until the July meeting when the new board is in place."

Trustees Carrie Maziarz and James Whipple and Mayor Josephine Matela were in favor of the motion. Trustee Norman Knapp was excused from the meeting for medical reasons.

"We voted on other motions tonight and didn't table them until the new board is in place ... I don't see any reason to table this one," Maziarz said.

Whipple said the creation of the village manager position follows in the footsteps of what many other municipalities are doing.

"From a customer service perspective, this is a big step in the right direction for the village," Whipple said.

Matela had recently said that village officials were looking at the village manager position as a "way to streamline operations" and that the position would relieve some of the processes from the department heads. The position is modeled after village administrator jobs in other municipalities.

Following the vote, Treasurer Ian Coyle was appointed to the village manager position, effective immediately. The position carries with it an annual salary of $52,000, an increase of about $5,500 from Coyle's present salary.

Residents and taxpayers Linda and Francis Borrayo had previously spoken out at a public hearing about the village manager position and voiced their concerns against its creation.

"You paid no regard to our opinions as taxpayers," Borrayo said after the June 20 vote. "We came to the public hearing, voiced our opinions and you have just showed that you don't care about what the taxpayers say."