2012 Lackawanna City Council Agendas/Business

[LAsurvivor]

interesting. I wonder what the true motivations on both sides are

Well, let's see...

The Mayor doesn't have his father-in-law sue the council, he hires an outside law firm. Because of the conflict of the mayor's father-in-law, the council will also hire their own lawyer. So the taxpayers will pay 3 lawyers (including the father-in-law's salary) to try to force the council to give the (are you ready for this?) MAYOR'S COUSIN, who reputedly lives in Hamburg, a $20,000 pay raise to add to his $100,000 pension.

By the way, this is for a guy who was not qualified for the position, so they changed the City Charter to lower the qualifications and change the Chief Engineer to Commissioner of Public Works. Now, this happened under Norm, so it was the council who did whatever he told them too. The funny thing is that back in the 1990's, Mayor Staniszewski tried to do this, but she had it voted on by the people. And guess what, the people VOTED IT DOWN. But the arrogance of Norm, Love, and the council at the time made it ok to change the qualifications without the people voting on it because, let's face it, who cares what the people think, right? I mean, if they cared, they would complain more about how our snowplowing went down hill under this guy, or how Love drove his City vehicle every day to his house in Hamburg and to his job at the prison while we paid for his gas, etc. Until people wake up, they will keep taking, taking, taking. And this guy can't even (legally) vote for Geoff, but again, who cares, right?

[highestpropertytaxes]

That explains quite a bit. I had no idea Love was the mayor's cousin. Doesn't the city have bigger issues to address then getting Love re-hired?

[citizenswantchange]

Disputes in Lackawanna, Falls ignoring taxpayers

From the Buffalo news....

Lackawanna’s mayor has followed through on his threat to sue the City Council, and now what was already a mess has turned into an even larger one.

The issue is the huge gash the Council left in the salary for the public works commissioner. Mayor Geoffrey M. Szymanski has filed a complaint in State Supreme Court claiming the Council has usurped his exclusive powers as mayor to hire and fire department heads.

He’s also hired outside counsel, the Bouvier Partnership law firm, to represent his administration in the legal action. Let’s just say, for the record, this cannot be a good use of taxpayer money.

Rather than the two sides working out their differences, the public is getting another installment of the bickering between the Council and the mayor.

Szymanski has vigorously argued against Council efforts to slash the salaries of Public Works Commissioner Thomas N. Love and Comptroller Robert Marciniak. But back in June the Council cut the two salaries from about $30,000 each to just $10,000, in an effort to get them to quit.

Love resigned in mid-November. Marciniak submitted his resignation, but the Council later agreed on a deal that would extend his stay long enough to train his successor. Smart move, given that the city would have been without a fiscal officer legally able to move money between accounts.

Both Love and Marciniak will be fine. Marciniak spent 39 years as a city employee and earns a state pension of more than $40,000 a year. And the man in the crux of the lawsuit, Love, with 38 years as a city employee, is 59 with a state pension for 2012 listed at $84,389.

Neither man can earn more than $30,000 in city pay, the maximum allowed annually under state pension law. But the irony here is that these men actually saved the city money by working for $30,000. Hiring qualified replacements will cost the city far more than the $30,000.

The Lackawanna mayor promoted longtime public works employee Tony DeSantis to temporary commissioner of public works, but that appointment is only for 10 days. The Council and mayor need to return to solid ground and figure out a long-term solution – preferably one that does not involve them suing each other.

And the city’s budget should reflect $58,000 as the full pay for the public works commissioner, as the mayor requested months ago. Lackawanna is going to need that full salary in order to attract a competent commissioner.


I am glad to see that our tax money in this city is being used to get Geoff's cousin his job back rather than fix up playgrounds, roads, ect...ect...I'm glad to see taxpaying dollars fight for nepotism. If he wasn't Geoff's cousin would Geoff take 15,000 to 25,000 of the City's Tax dollars to fight for "the guy I want" in there? Makes you wonder doesn't it? As if the 90,000 dollar pension he receives yearly isn't enough to live off of, he needs a 30,000 dollar a year job in the city. Wake up people half of the citizens here are lucky to make half of that pension in a year, yet we still pay taxes and this is how are hard earned tax dollars are WASTED. A mayor who is fighting for his cousin to get back to 30,000 a year. People should be outraged that between both council and mayor lawyers over 50,000 dollars in our taxes will be used to fight for this job. As i recall Stormin' Norman had the City Charter Changed to fit Tom Love lack of credentials. So why are our tax dollars being wasted on a position which someone previously needed an engineering degree, to now not needing it thanx to Norm. So we pay a bit more hire someone who is an engineer and is qualified. Sure Geoff tommy is qualified in your eyes, but why do we have to pay almost 100,000 a year for an outside engineer ? So 130,000 dollars now being spent on a position which the pay (for non state pension holders) is 58,000 a year??? People in power need to be held accountable Just another tid bit..... would you have had to hire outside council if your father in law wasn't the city attorney as well?

[LAsurvivor]

This is nothing but a blatant money grab for Geoff's family plan. No Friends, just family. Pretty funny stuff, on facebook someone accused Geoff of hiring his father. Besides his wife ranting like a lunatic, his father confirms he doesn't work for the city (he used to) and called the guy "a jerk" for his trouble. Is the guy a jerk when he mistakenly thought Geoff hired his father when it was actually his father-in-law? These people would be better off just shutting up!

Maybe if Geoff worked as hard for the citizens, the city would look a little better! I heard that there is thousands of dollars of playground equipment stored at the city garage that has never been installed under geoff's cousin. But then again, why would he care about the kids in Lackawanna? He lives in Hamburg. I'm sure his kids and the Hamburg kids have playgrounds to play on. We get fields that we are lucky if the grass gets cut, let alone new equipment.

This whole thing is a farce that should be offensive to citizens of a depressed City. Love's pension is at least triple that of the average household income in this City and we are supposed to feel sorry for him? He collected all that money, padded his pension, outside engineers did the work, and now his cousin sues to pad his pockets even more. Shame on you Geoff Szymanski, shame on you!

[andreahaxton]

Well, let's see...

The Mayor doesn't have his father-in-law sue the council, he hires an outside law firm. Because of the conflict of the mayor's father-in-law, the council will also hire their own lawyer. So the taxpayers will pay 3 lawyers (including the father-in-law's salary) to try to force the council to give the (are you ready for this?) MAYOR'S COUSIN, who reputedly lives in Hamburg, a $20,000 pay raise to add to his $100,000 pension.

By the way, this is for a guy who was not qualified for the position, so they changed the City Charter to lower the qualifications and change the Chief Engineer to Commissioner of Public Works. Now, this happened under Norm, so it was the council who did whatever he told them too. The funny thing is that back in the 1990's, Mayor Staniszewski tried to do this, but she had it voted on by the people. And guess what, the people VOTED IT DOWN. But the arrogance of Norm, Love, and the council at the time made it ok to change the qualifications without the people voting on it because, let's face it, who cares what the people think, right? I mean, if they cared, they would complain more about how our snowplowing went down hill under this guy, or how Love drove his City vehicle every day to his house in Hamburg and to his job at the prison while we paid for his gas, etc. Until people wake up, they will keep taking, taking, taking. And this guy can't even (legally) vote for Geoff, but again, who cares, right?

§ 3.11. Mandatory referenda.

A local law shall be submitted for the approval of the electors at the next general election held not less than 60 days after the adoption thereof, and shall become operative according to its terms only upon the approval of a majority of those voting thereon at such election, if such local law:
A. Abolishes or changes the form or composition of the Council, or the vote to which any member of the Council is entitled or delegates or transfers any appointive or legislative power of the Council;

B. Abolishes, transfers or curtails the authority of any department head created by charter, or creates a new elective office;

C. Changes a provision of law relating to public utility franchises;

D. Changes a provision of law relating to the membership or terms of office of the Civil Service Commission of the City;

E. Reduces the salary or compensation of a City officer or employee, increases his or her hours of employment or changes his or her working conditions if such salary, compensation, hours or conditions have been fixed by a state statute and approved by the vote of the qualified electors of such City;

F. Modifies any provision of this section; or is required by the Municipal Home Rule Law to be submitted to referendum.

Sadly, many of the people get their crumbs either on election day or through being a member of the "LA family and friends" job-club..........so they,
clam-up, shut-up, and look the other way when someone like Andrea Haxton brings it to their attention.

Then they make me out to be the bad guy........they have gone around for years and told people I am crazy ( a dear friend of mine who met up with a past Council member in the supermarket told him I was--NOT knowing he knew me). But this is not about me, it never was. It is about freeing the good people of Lackawanna from the tyrannical tentacles of the crooked self-serving poli-tricks once and for all! ENOUGH BS has gone down!

They break the law right under everyone's nose......because they can. They do with and what they want to in their fiefdom of LA. Once again, look around.......the fruits of their labors speak for themselves! And then go drive down Norman's Way off of Martin Road................ Look at the lights, YOU are paying dearly for them for one house. (Don't get me wrong, very happy to see the new home in the development they promised me "so many people are going to build that we are going to hold a lottery for the lots"!)
The current lawsuit scandel BS is a prime example of why people aren't moving into OUR City.
I call it white collar crime!

[Wake Up New York]

Even if you have legitimate complaints about friends and family hiring your missing a point here. Forget who it is but rather what was done. The Mayor appointed someone as Commisioner of Public Works, this appointment received approval by the necessary people and at a salary that was approved of. It does not matter what other positions that this person has held before nor does it matter how much he will be earning as a retirement pay and it sure isnt anyones fault as to what other people will or wont be earning. Now back to the facts just because certain people didnt get what they wanted they decided to attack what they thought they could. The Council does not have the right to just say well we dont like you so we are voting to cut your pay by two thirds. Maybe we should hold a special election and cut the Councils pay by two thirds.

[LAsurvivor]

Even if you have legitimate complaints about friends and family hiring your missing a point here. Forget who it is but rather what was done. The Mayor appointed someone as Commisioner of Public Works, this appointment received approval by the necessary people and at a salary that was approved of. It does not matter what other positions that this person has held before nor does it matter how much he will be earning as a retirement pay and it sure isnt anyones fault as to what other people will or wont be earning. Now back to the facts just because certain people didnt get what they wanted they decided to attack what they thought they could. The Council does not have the right to just say well we dont like you so we are voting to cut your pay by two thirds. Maybe we should hold a special election and cut the Councils pay by two thirds.

I was about to agree with you, and maybe to a certain extent I do. But I think there is a level of frustration about the way business is conducted (or not conducted) that should not be overlooked.

It is known that the Commissioner of DPW lives in Hamburg, in fact he lived in Hamburg for a year WHEN HE WAS THE COUNCILMAN in Lackawanna. Some think that may not be a big deal, but I say "why have the rules then?"

He also has been known to be rude to employees, councilmen, co-workers, and worst of all, residents and taxpayers. He has an attitude that he is above those who live in Lackawanna, but he still wants to collect from us.

Getting to your point, it was stated that he hasn't been attending council meetings even though he is required to. If that is part of his job, and he refuses to do it, then isn't a reduction in his pay justified? Now, I may agree that a two thirds reduction is excessive for just that point, but maybe there are other performance reasons that we don't know about that resulted in their decision. Or, maybe a message needed to be sent and the mayor overreacted with a lawsuit. Perhaps if the mayor would have MANAGED HIS EMPLOYEE PROPERLY this issue could have been resolved without litigation, but I think his judgment is clouded by the family relationship.

Regarding your statement that "this appointment received approval by the necessary people" - No it did not. The City used to have an engineer heading the DPW. Kathy Staniszewski tried to reduce the qualifications from an engineer to a commissioner and as Andrea's post above shows, she put it to referendum for the people to vote on. Guess what, the people voted it down, essentially stating they wanted an engineer. When Norm took over, and it's no secret that Love was his buddy, they had the council rubber stamp a change to commissioner WITHOUT the people voting on it. So, no, this appointment wasn't approved by the necessary people - us! Oh yea, and the pay was boosted up, by the council at that time, and that boost factored into his $100,000 pension he now enjoys.

So while I do agree with some of your points on the surface, as you dig into the history of this position, and the players, there is much more to it than a council lowering a salary (which is within their powers by the way). With that said, it is a part time position, so maybe the lowering the salary just opens the door to streamline operations by letting the full time employees run the department without the interference.

[andreahaxton]

I was about to agree with you, and maybe to a certain extent I do. But I think there is a level of frustration about the way business is conducted (or not conducted) that should not be overlooked.

It is known that the Commissioner of DPW lives in Hamburg, in fact he lived in Hamburg for a year WHEN HE WAS THE COUNCILMAN in Lackawanna. Some think that may not be a big deal, but I say "why have the rules then?"

He also has been known to be rude to employees, councilmen, co-workers, and worst of all, residents and taxpayers. He has an attitude that he is above those who live in Lackawanna, but he still wants to collect from us.

Getting to your point, it was stated that he hasn't been attending council meetings even though he is required to. If that is part of his job, and he refuses to do it, then isn't a reduction in his pay justified? Now, I may agree that a two thirds reduction is excessive for just that point, but maybe there are other performance reasons that we don't know about that resulted in their decision. Or, maybe a message needed to be sent and the mayor overreacted with a lawsuit. Perhaps if the mayor would have MANAGED HIS EMPLOYEE PROPERLY this issue could have been resolved without litigation, but I think his judgment is clouded by the family relationship.

Regarding your statement that "this appointment received approval by the necessary people" - No it did not. The City used to have an engineer heading the DPW. Kathy Staniszewski tried to reduce the qualifications from an engineer to a commissioner and as Andrea's post above shows, she put it to referendum for the people to vote on. Guess what, the people voted it down, essentially stating they wanted an engineer. When Norm took over, and it's no secret that Love was his buddy, they had the council rubber stamp a change to commissioner WITHOUT the people voting on it. So, no, this appointment wasn't approved by the necessary people - us! Oh yea, and the pay was boosted up, by the council at that time, and that boost factored into his $100,000 pension he now enjoys.

So while I do agree with some of your points on the surface, as you dig into the history of this position, and the players, there is much more to it than a council lowering a salary (which is within their powers by the way). With that said, it is a part time position, so maybe the lowering the salary just opens the door to streamline operations by letting the full time employees run the department without the interference.

Ditto!
Ditto!
& DITTO!

We, meaning the entire citizenship of LA.........are allowing the continual breaking of our sacred City Charter/Code LAWS; ie. Mayor Szymanski vs. the Lackawanna City Council (each member was personally served at their residence......can you believe all the $$$$$adding up and they haven't even gotten out of the starting gate!).
P.S.
Anyone want to take a guess at the outside consulting Engineer fees paid out.......say since 2004?
Yep! $$$Cha-ching$$$Cha-CHING! BIGGGGG money they don't tell you about.....and I mean BIG money!
Niagara Falls has a licensed City Engineer on staff who is paid appr. $95,000/yr or so (I personally saw the want-ad for the position in the paper). Can you imagine how much money LA can save the taxpayers by following the law instead of the "Party-Plan"?!?

[Wake Up New York]

Once again you are letting your distain for this person cloud right and wrong. First of all if I'm not mistaken he also owns a home in Lacvkawanna however that has nothing to do with the Councils actions. The Mayor has the authority to appoint the departmental heads. When he does this his appointments are given to the Council they either bless the appointment or not. This procedure was done accordingly, and for the one who wants to constantly live in the past, a decission made by another Mayor during another administration can not be held to this administration (hence why we hold elections). Now the Council could have said that we want the position to be full time and re-instate the full time salary if your assumption of not making to much money is true wouldnt this have cured that problem. Once again you want to bring up how much of a pension he will make from his career as a corrections officer that has absolutely no bearing on this the only purpose is to try and imply to people who dont know better that it is somehow tied into his City position. I also think that you will finf that his attendance at Council meetings was better before they cut his salary, and I will say this for a fact he was on the job a hell of a lot more than 20 hours a week. If this individual is speaking to people in a rude manner then they should be filing complaints with the Mayor and give him a chance to act. Like I said the council has their own agenda and because they now want this individual gone they feel as if it is ok to cut his pay. I believe that they are going to find out differently through the courts. By the way if you pay attention to details isnt it funny how the Council Prez and the Fourth Ward Council member tried to sneak in their canidate into the Second Ward position it failed because the First Ward Councilman said no. They then somehow convinced him to say yes by the next time it came up (whatever happened about those properties with the reverter clauses anybody know). Then they wanted the endorsement of the democratic party for her but was turned down, after that they have had problems with the Mayor's budget, his appointments, basically whatever he does. Now why was this so important to them did you ever hear of trading one regime for another do you really think things are better. Also are the attacks on the Mayors wife somehow related to this ? This guy hasnt even been Mayor for a year lets give this a chance lets see if he can do some good here, remember he did win the election which means the majority of voters wanted him.

[Sunny Lackawanna]

Andrea, Andrea, Andrea! Coming from a woman who was on the Council and did not pay your City taxes that means so much!

[LAsurvivor]

Let me start by saying I didn't mean my comments about the mayors wife to be an attack. As I reread my comments I realize they could be considered harsh but I truly meant it to be funny. She posted so many times I found it comical. I don't know the woman and I apologize if I was offensive. But you have to admit that getting offended that someone criticized the mayor for hiring his father, when it was actually his father in law is pretty funny.

Owning a house in Lackawanna does not establish residency. And I am pretty sure he doesn't. His piece of the co-op doesn't count. That is my disdain for this individual - that he is willing to do whatever he wants with no regard for the rules or the people he serves.

I am all for giving the mayor a chance to do some good, but he has to compromise too. I don't think all the council has done is right, nor do I feel all the mayor has done is wrong but on this topic for the taxpayers to pay for 2 attorneys to pay for this crap is..is..well it's crap.

[getalife123]

Andrea, Andrea, Andrea! Coming from a woman who was on the Council and did not pay your City taxes that means so much!

Enough regarding Andrea already. Your concerns regarding tax dollars collected and spent should be directed towards this broken down city and failing school district.

[bluethunder]

The council didn't have to "convince" or "buy" one of their own to change his vote. The school board did that when it tried to disenfranchise his community by relocating the polls out of minority districts. Guess who the school board clerk is?

[bluethunder]

Enough regarding Andrea already. Your concerns regarding tax dollars collected and spent should be directed towards this broken down city and failing school district.

Well said....

[Sunny Lackawanna]

No, it is not enough about Andrea already! I respect the opinions of everyone here except her. How can someone who lives in a glass house be so opinionated of others while she did a disservice to the residents and her constituents in Lackawanna by not being a good citizen and paying her taxes?. She was as inept as the existing City Council is now!