Residents need to know

[Lee Chowaniec]

No cost to the job seeker.

What is Indeed?

Indeed is a free service to job seekers, where you can upload a resume, create job alert emails, search for jobs, save them and apply to them directly. We include all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages, and employers can even post jobs directly to Indeed that may not be available anywhere else.

Thank you for the tutorial on Indeed and the service they provide. That caused me to go back to the August 23 town board meeting and review the resolution hiring Diana Chamberlain and the town website recording of the meeting.

Prior to resolution vote, councilmember Leary asked Supervisor Ruffino (resolution sponsor) “to tell us how we came to the hiring of Diana Chamberlain - what was the hiring process?”

Supervisor Ruffino responded: We listed the position through Erie County, obtained a list and contacted everybody qualified. After exhausting the list, we put it on Indeed. We interviewed numerous candidates and we came to the conclusion Diana was the best candidate.

That said, it is still not clear to me:

1. Why the position opening was not listed in Town Hall or on the town website – then or even now during the current search. Like Indeed, there is no cost and it allows Lancaster residents a better opportunity to become aware there is a position open in Lancaster – the way it has always been don, and should continue, IMHO!

2. Who is the ‘we’ Supervisor Ruffino refers to that initiated the search, interviewed the candidates, and determined who was ‘best qualified’ to fill the position? It certainly wasn’t the councilmembers as Councilman Leary had to ask, ‘what was the hiring process.’

3. No reason given by the Supervisor for the need of this hiring and/or position specific duties.


I find it interesting that today there are Internet free services like Indeed and low cost digital services utilized by numerous municipalities and Lancaster does not avail itself to live streaming its board meetings.

Transparency / openness/ honesty is so easy for politicos to promise. Delivering, not so much!

The less the public knows and/or questions its public servants, the less accountable / responsible they need be.

Why do we need to know? As taxpayers we are stakeholders in the town. We are equally responsible to act in the best interest of our community.

[mark blazejewski]

Thank you for the tutorial on Indeed and the service they provide. That caused me to go back to the August 23 town board meeting and review the resolution hiring Diana Chamberlain and the town website recording of the meeting.

Prior to resolution vote, councilmember Leary asked Supervisor Ruffino (resolution sponsor) “to tell us how we came to the hiring of Diana Chamberlain - what was the hiring process?”

Supervisor Ruffino responded: We listed the position through Erie County, obtained a list and contacted everybody qualified. After exhausting the list, we put it on Indeed. We interviewed numerous candidates and we came to the conclusion Diana was the best candidate.

That said, it is still not clear to me:

1. Why the position opening was not listed in Town Hall or on the town website – then or even now during the current search. Like Indeed, there is no cost and it allows Lancaster residents a better opportunity to become aware there is a position open in Lancaster – the way it has always been don, and should continue, IMHO!

2. Who is the ‘we’ Supervisor Ruffino refers to that initiated the search, interviewed the candidates, and determined who was ‘best qualified’ to fill the position? It certainly wasn’t the councilmembers as Councilman Leary had to ask, ‘what was the hiring process.’

3. No reason given by the Supervisor for the need of this hiring and/or position specific duties.


I find it interesting that today there are Internet free services like Indeed and low cost digital services utilized by numerous municipalities and Lancaster does not avail itself to live streaming its board meetings.

Transparency / openness/ honesty is so easy for politicos to promise. Delivering, not so much!

The less the public knows and/or questions its public servants, the less accountable / responsible they need be.

Why do we need to know? As taxpayers we are stakeholders in the town. We are equally responsible to act in the best interest of our community.

Just My Opinion:

It may be an old, classic patronage hiring strategy that is in play here, but simply with an updated tactic, just my opinion of course.

Based on some unique insights, I understand that, at least in the past, certain institutions or agencies may have quietly communicated an opening to a desired candidate. Then, to comply with Civil Service Law or other legally-prescribed standards, the position may have been posted in a less-than obvious place, perhaps at a suspiciously a convenient time, and usually with the required duties and skills written in such a way so as to precisely form fit the "resume" of the desired applicant; the perfect patronage position for the perfect political/party hack.

I am not alleging that such is the case instantly, but this use of "Indeed" to the exclusion of the obvious and commonly visited town website, does make me curious to learn more.