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Reference: https://www.lancasterbee.com/article...-of-documents/LIDA: former, new board dispute clear transfer of documents
By Bee Group Newspapers | on February 17, 2022
by JAMES SINNER Editor
The transfer of Lancaster Industrial Development Agency positions, occurring with the start of a new year, has been a complex affair, with some members of the current board, and appointees, strongly alleging a lack of cooperation in the transfer of documents and information from the former.
At their February meeting, during a discussion on paying Leza Braun, who acts in two roles within the LIDA as administration and records management officer and a PILOT billing administrator, the board became disoriented over what the salary and stipend price should be for the latter position. According to Braun, the two separate figures were reflected in the payments of the 2021 appointee holding these same positions, but without any clear documentation, board member Lynne Ruda felt apprehensive on committing.
She remarked, “So we just raised the [administration and records management officer’s] salary from $5,000 to $7,500 for the extra work she [Braun] is taking on, and now you want to raise another salary and add a stipend on top of that?”
“I don’t think we have enough information to make a decision right now,” Ruda added.
“I think we do,” Braun remarked. “I did a lot of work this last month.” She added that this was equal to the proposed payment for the position last year.
According to LIDA Assistant Secretary Jennifer Strong, who is also an attorney, the former breakdown of payments for 2021 should be filed on the board’s website by the former members. Frank Todaro, Erie County Legislator and LIDA treasurer, says the website doesn’t offer a clear view of what those payments were. “We just have a big number, that’s it,” he said.
According to Braun, LIDA employees were also paid through a town resolution, which Strong says is not how things are supposed to be done. “The staff for the IDA should be paid directly from the IDA, not from the town, they’re separate entities,” Strong said.
Until the information can be clearly sorted, the board deferred to create a resolution addressing the matter at their next regular meeting.
Board member David Rinow, speaking on the gaps in their current understanding of LIDA’s past financials, expressed concern over communications with the former board. “They left us with no financial information. I suggest we do something about that,” he said.
However, according to LIDA Board Chair Dino Fudoli, the status of what is known and unknown is in the air. “We don’t know if we don’t have it yet,” he said, then requested that Braun check the boxes and see if any of the financial reports could be found. Braun also said she had a jump drive of spreadsheets which still needed to be checked. She maintained that the former records management officer had only started really sending documents after a February town board meeting, where the matter was addressed.
Fudoli also requested Braun to draft a letter if the information wasn’t found, to be sent to members and appointees of the former board, as an official request for any missing documents.
Rinow, while still expressing concerns over how the current documentation was delivered, assured Braun she will be compensated for her work, once last year’s stipend and salary information is found.
“It was literally a box of files just thrown in there,” said Fudoli, regarding one box of documents in question they were looking at before the meeting.
Cyndi Maciejewski, formerly in Braun’s position, reached out to discuss her thoughts after watching the meeting. From her vantage point, these claims are false. “Back on Jan. 5, the town attorney, Thomas Fowler, had come into the supervisor’s office and he requested files for Leza [Braun]. Immediately, that day, I started distributing materials to her,” she said. “There was no hesitation. There is no reason for me to hold documents.”
When asked if the new LIDA board has everything possible that could be sent from Maciejewski’s end, as a former appointee in the two positions now held by Braun, Maciejewski responded: “Absolutely.” This includes, through email, large amounts of information pertaining to initial documents, instructions on how to do minutes, letterheads, envelopes and information on using the website.
Regarding the box in question, hopefully containing billing information for last year’s LIDA employees, which cannot be located by the new board on their website, and is alleged to be assembled inappropriately, Maciejewski isn’t sure of the contents, but also isn’t sure of the complaint. “That I’m not really clear on either,” she said, adding that these boxes were packed by a few members of the former LIDA, but to her knowledge, were delivered exactly as they were being stored, neatly.
Maciejewski also wanted to firmly establish that cooperation with the new LIDA board has been in play since the turnover took place. “We did not only start sending over letters and documentation after a town board action; it started Jan. 5. Anything I had as secretary was turned over to the incoming secretary,” she said.
Ruda, establishing a different viewpoint from some of the other current LIDA members, confirming Wednesday morning that Maciejewski has been sending any and all pertinent information from her end; even providing records of correspondonce for Ruda to verify.
On the turnover of documents, Lancaster Town Supervisor and former LIDA Chair Ron Ruffino was clear in his outlook: “Pam and Cyndi turned over everything. They were then threatened, basically, by a [town] resolution, which they went ahead and sent emails to the board members showing that they turned everything over.”
According to Ruffino, it’s simply a matter of the new board doing the work of going through the information they already have. “Everything was already given to them,” he reasserted.
Pam Cuviello, the former LIDA CFO, returned a request for comment on Wednesday morning. “They have all of the billing information: the checkbook, the statement – everything that they need. Everything I used on a regular basis.” Cuviello said that this information is both readily available in the correspondence sent through email and a flash drive delivered to Braun. “I think they need to look inward,” Cuviello added, saying again that all information, including billing and rates of pay for employees, has been in the new LIDA board’s possession since mid-January.