by Kristina Gabalski
The Parma Town Board has adopted a local law expanding the residency requirement for the position of deputy highway superintendent.
Local Law No. 2 of 2013 states that the Parma Deputy Highway Superintendent need not be a resident of the town, but must reside in Monroe County.
Town Board members voted unanimously to adopt the law following a public hearing during the April 16 regular meeting of the Town Board.
A large group of people again attended the meeting and most who wanted to speak chose to address board members during the public forum session, as opposed to the public hearing.
Those who spoke continued to express their frustration with board members at choosing to pursue the position of deputy highway superintendent instead of road foreman.
Resident Jim Rinaldi said he is not impressed by the way the town is being run.
He said the Parma Highway Department is the only successful thing in the town, “and it’s the only thing you want to ruin … you work for me,” he told board members, “I don’t work for you.”
Rinaldi also advised board members not to make the deputy highway superintendent position salaried – which would mean there would be no overtime pay. Rinaldi said the town could not expect the deputy superintendent to work 60-70 hours a week in the winter with no overtime.
Al Leone, who has worked as road foreman in the Parma Highway Department for more than 10 years, and who will likely be appointed by Highway Superintendent Brian Speer as Deputy Superintendent, said he has lost more than $50,000 in overtime, legal fees and money held back while the battle over his job title has been waged.
The Town Board has contended that Leone was working as Deputy Highway Superintendent for at least the last five years, Leone says he was hired as a road foreman and that is the only position he has ever held.
He asked council members one at a time if they had been present at an organizational meeting where he took the oath of office as deputy highway superintendent.
Each responded they had not.
“How could I be the deputy highway superintendent,” Leone asked, “when you’ve never seen me take the oath of office?”
Highway Superintendent Brian Speer called the situation frustrating and again told the board the whole issue over the job title could have been avoided if board members had come to him to discuss their concerns.
“If you had talked to me, we could have straightened this out,” Speer told board members. “Your lawyer took your money and turned it into a vendetta to get rid of Al (Leone). I would like to do this job with the cooperation of the town board – the town board will not let that happen.”
During the public hearing, Councilperson Gary Comardo noted that the title of deputy highway superintendent has been used in the organizational meeting minutes of the town board for the last five years.
Councilperson Jim Roose responded again to questions about why the board had chosen to pursue the deputy highway superintendent position. He said he studied both job descriptions and came to the conclusion that the town needed a deputy highway superintendent.
Highway Superintendent Speer said the town could keep the highway road foreman position and he could appoint anyone in the highway department as his deputy. He said the Town of Hamlin has a mechanic in its highway department who serves as deputy highway superintendent.
Town Board members told Superintendent Speer that he would be notified by the town clerk as soon as she receives written notice from the state that the residency law has taken effect. Speer then has five days to appoint a deputy highway superintendent.
