Head of Rec Dept fired?

[andreahaxton]

Lackawanna official replaced
By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter
Published:August 4, 2012, 12:09 AM

Lackawanna's parks and recreation director has been removed from the post after just four months on the job.

Jonathan Haux, appointed in May by Mayor Geoffrey M. Szymanski, was relieved of his duties last week, the mayor confirmed Thursday.

Haux was replaced by longtime Parks and Recreation Department secretary Marcia Cullens.

"You never want to fire someone you hire, but we had to take our city in a different direction," Szymanski said.

Several problems became apparent that led to the change, said the mayor, who wouldn't go into extensive detail.

"Recreation is our most visible department," he said.

The mayor acknowledged the city received complaints this year about its popular softball league, which usually runs smoothly. "There were a lot of hiccups in the softball scheduling," he said.

Cullens is not interested in serving as parks and recreation director on a long-term basis, Szymanski said.

The city will seek to train a new director to succeed her, he added.
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So why don't they just save the taxpayers appr. $40,000/yr and just keep her as the Director.
I know she can do it.

BTW: " but we had to take our City in a different direction "???!!!
How?

[bluethunder]

Since the mayor says recreation is the city's most "visible department" and playgrounds fall in the recreation/parks category. Why doesn't he fire his cousin Department of Public Works Head Tom Love for the years of neglect and refusal to do anything about this issue and truly take the "city in a diffrent direction"????

[WNYresident]

Since the mayor says recreation is the city's most "visible department" and playgrounds fall in the recreation/parks category. Why doesn't he fire his cousin Department of Public Works Head Tom Love for the years of neglect and refusal to do anything about this issue and truly take the "city in a diffrent direction"????

I'm confused... is the park that had the cleanup under the "recreation" department?

[bluethunder]

I'm confused... is the park that had the cleanup under the "recreation" department?

They use DPW guys to do it and any maintenance in this city on playgrounds and parks is done by the DPW and Love dictates what he is or isn't going to do. He lives in Hamburg he doesn't care about what the kids here play on. All the recreation/parks department does is run softball, festivals etc... Messed up isn't it. My guess is Huax probably stepped outside the line to "change status quo" and p'od someone in the process. I mean the mayor's wife gave a plethora of reasons on Facebook. Usually when there is more than one reason someone is covering their butt. Kind of ironic he gets canned after playgrounds were starting to get worked on??? Just saying.....follow the trail.....

[bluethunder]

Hey Jennrose, how much work has been done on playgrounds since this firing???

[WNYresident]

They use DPW guys to do it and any maintenance in this city on playgrounds and parks is done by the DPW and Love dictates what he is or isn't going to do. He lives in Hamburg he doesn't care about what the kids here play on. All the recreation/parks department does is run softball, festivals etc... Messed up isn't it. My guess is Huax probably stepped outside the line to "change status quo" and p'od someone in the process. I mean the mayor's wife gave a plethora of reasons on Facebook. Usually when there is more than one reason someone is covering their butt. Kind of ironic he gets canned after playgrounds were starting to get worked on??? Just saying.....follow the trail.....

What type of budget does the "recreation/parks" department have per year?

[bluethunder]

That's a grey area and no one can ever exactly give you a number. I think people are still waiting for a FOIL on it. The personel and playgrounds 10k per ward are clearly listed in the budget along with the 60k for summer lunch program. The 10k for playgrounds usually gets transfered to another entity. I remmeber Andrea asking for a breakdown on the 100year anniversary festival money. I don't think it ever went anywhere.

[andreahaxton]

That's a grey area and no one can ever exactly give you a number. I think people are still waiting for a FOIL on it. The personel and playgrounds 10k per ward are clearly listed in the budget along with the 60k for summer lunch program. The 10k for playgrounds usually gets transfered to another entity. I remmeber Andrea asking for a breakdown on the 100year anniversary festival money. I don't think it ever went anywhere.

You are right......I did receive a little fluff!
This has been a slush-fund for years! $$$$$$$$$$$$$BIG MONEY! They had $6000.00 in it for "softballs" alone!
Come on..........just how many "balls" do they need?!?

[WNYresident]

That's a grey area and no one can ever exactly give you a number. I think people are still waiting for a FOIL on it. The personel and playgrounds 10k per ward are clearly listed in the budget along with the 60k for summer lunch program. The 10k for playgrounds usually gets transfered to another entity. I remmeber Andrea asking for a breakdown on the 100year anniversary festival money. I don't think it ever went anywhere.

That is odd. Don't you guys have a book keeper at least to monitor your community funds? Items should be in a general ledger to give your community an overview of where the money goes....

[jenrose66]

Hey Jennrose, how much work has been done on playgrounds since this firing???

Honestly, it looks worse than ever! I took the kids there the other day to have a look around...plus with it being in the neighborhood, my kids actually want to go there and play with their friends, and I can say I was discouraged.

I mean, don't get me wrong, as far as broken equipment, obviously that was taken care of so it's safe from that perspective...but it's a garbage pit. Obviously the kids are to blame to an extent for not throwing away their trash, however, the playground "watchers" should actually be watching the kids and if they see the kids leave their lunch they need to tell that child to throw away their trash.

Just as bad as the broken equipment, there are YELLOW JACKETS everywhere! Kids spilled applesauce on a slide and the slide had a swarm of yellow jackets making it un usable. I sat the kids down under a tree away from garbage and as soon as we opened their food we were swarmed, my daughter placed her sandwich down and within 10 seconds it was covered in 4 yellow jackets and I wasn't going to have her eat it after that.

I was going to walk the kids over to the baseball diamond to see if we could sit on the benches and eat what was left without getting swarmed and as we were walking towards the field some woman who worked for the city or county started reprimanding me about leaving the playground with food as that is against federal regulations. I asked her how we were supposed to eat if we were being swarmed by bees...plus I thought the baseball diamond counted as part of the park? But whatever.

Also, I was told by John Haux that the new slide was ordered for Martin Road about a month ago and that has yet to be replaced. The whole situation is sad and disgusting. I tried, but if parents aren't going to teach their kids not to be slobs and the city isn't going to set a good example by cleaning up, I really don't know what else I can do? I'm one person, I can't replace the playground, I can't teach good manners, I don't run city hall...I can complain on this board about what I see but that isn't going to fix anything so I'm at a loss.

[literal]

[QUOTE=jenrose66;982232........some woman who worked for the city or county started reprimanding me about leaving the playground with food as that is against federal regulations. I asked her how we were supposed to eat if we were being swarmed by bees...plus I thought the baseball diamond counted as part of the park? But whatever.[/QUOTE]

If LInda Jaworski-Muldoon is in charge of the playground summer lunch program again this year she would be that "woman." She is Chuck Jaworski's sister......

[getalife123]

If LInda Jaworski-Muldoon is in charge of the playground summer lunch program again this year she would be that "woman." She is Chuck Jaworski's sister......

Linda Jaworski-Muldoon lives in South Buffalo as of a few years ago.

[andreahaxton]

Linda Jaworski-Muldoon lives in South Buffalo as of a few years ago.

The ball diamond benches are part of the Parks and Rec area.......

I am so sorry you felt the frustration......and now you feel the pain of helpless/hopelessness................

I told you about what OUR local laws mandate
I volunteer to help anyway I can.

[andreahaxton]

That is odd. Don't you guys have a book keeper at least to monitor your community funds? Items should be in a general ledger to give your community an overview of where the money goes....

Sort of.......
We got the guy who recently threw a hissy-fit and quit when his salary was cut to $10,000/yr. from $30,000.
He retired in 2007 with over 30 yrs in, and since then still makes $30,000/yr.
He makes his own schedule and says he works part-time 19 hrs/wk.
He alone holds the purse-strings for us and is the comptroller for the City of Lackawanna.
They had a special mtg. to amend their new " cost-saving" City Budget, to give him all his cookies back, last month.......who is doing who the favor?

The Council was trying to force him to quit for real this time by cutting his salary to a $10,000/consulting stipend.
He is probably playing the waiting game till he turns of age where he can make whatever amount he wants again from us.
When is enough....... enough?
He is also taking a job from a young person who needs a break. Nothing personal against anyone.

ThesaurusLegend:
Noun 1. comptroller - someone who maintains and audits business accounts

Who is he working for........us OR............

[jenrose66]

If LInda Jaworski-Muldoon is in charge of the playground summer lunch program again this year she would be that "woman." She is Chuck Jaworski's sister......

Nope, it wasn't her. It was a younger lady...not young, young...probably like my age, so 30ish. I mean she was just doing her job, I get the reasoning for eating at the playground, they want the kids to get exercise and get some food. Honestly though, I see people going there, parking their cars, getting their food and driving away so if it is such a problem maybe they should be policing those people and not giving me grief since I technically wasn't even breaking the rules.

Personally, why don't they just end the food program. It's not like the food is healthy. High fructose laden milk, overly processed meat, yogurts and applesauce full of added sugar. I don't feed my kids like that at home. I guess it's better than having no lunch at all, but it's by no means healthy. But if the playgrounds are becoming a huge garbage pit because of the free lunches, than discontinue them.

I'm torn with the whole playground issue, because I do really want nicer parks and I don't want to just go away because it's that type of apathy that allows the city to keep operating the way they do. On the same breath, a person only has so much free time. I know that I can do a lot more good focusing on the school district and my PTA duties, so you know, where does that leave the playgrounds?