I am not a fan of the removal of any elected official.
The less elected officials, the less the people have a say. One of the best things about having an elected Highway person, Clerk, is that they don't have to play politics with the Town Board to get anything done.
Chris Kowal was notorious for this. He'd get his budget, do his work, and that was it. He catered to the people and our streets got plowed, and he didn't have to play politics with the Town Board.
I think that creating a department of public works just creates more politics.