A former part-time Department of Public Works laborer has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city.
Meanwhile, informational packets concerning the case were distributed to several media outlets this week. Thomas McTygue and his brother, Bill, the department’s director, have blamed Mayor Valerie Keehn’s office for distributing the packet outlining the lawsuit. Keehn denies the charges.
Henry L. Smith, 29, of Saratoga Springs, is a former part-time laborer who says in his claim he was passed over for promotion to full-time work because he is black. According to papers filed in August with the state Division of Human Rights, Smith said, (The city) has repeatedly overlooked me for promotion to a full-time position. The latest instance of this happened in June 2006 when it hired a less-qualified white person to fill a full-time position.
Smith was classified part time, but worked full-time hours with no benefits on the DPW’s street crew from March 29, 2004 to June 23, 2006. He started out at $8.50 per hour, which was increased to $9.50 in 2005.
Public Works Director Bill McTygue said the suit is baseless. `We have more minority employees than all the other departments combined,` he said. `I’m confident that the city will prevail.`
The DPW has more than 100 employees, including street crews, the recreation department and water treatment plant. Bill McTygue said he’s unsure exactly how many are minority employees.
He said DPW officials discussed Smith’s attendance record with him in a counseling session and that he left work and never came back. Bill McTygue said Smith was not fired.
He said the DPW has a number of part-time people who work full-time hours. `The city budget can’t afford to make everybody full time,` he said, adding the DPW makes people full time based on their work record with the department.
`I’m curious how this information got out there,` Bill McTygue said. `Obviously this was meant to stir up a problem for our department. This kind of material doesn’t get out there on its own.`
But Keehn said the information did not come from her office. `The DPW ought to be more concerned about how they’re going to handle the case and what their practices are. There was no leak. I don’t think this is confidential information. A case has been brought against the city.
`Who’s trying to hide that from the taxpayers?`
She said taxpayers have a right to know when complaints are filed against the city, because taxpayers must pay the legal fees needed to defend such cases. Each city commissioner and several departments within City Hall had been given copies of the information packet that was anonymously given to the press, Keehn said.
The city has retained an outside attorney, John Aspland of Glens Falls, to handle the matter. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has slated an Oct. 16 hearing in Utica for both sides to present their cases, although Aspland said the date might be pushed back because of scheduling conflicts.
In November 2004, the city agreed to a $100,000 settlement with a black Saratoga Springs resident who was passed over for a firefighter job despite recording a perfect score on a Civil Service exam. Five others who had lower scores were given jobs ahead of him in March 2003.
Taxpayers footed $90,000 of the settlement’s cost.
This is the latest in a string of complaints the DPW and Public Works Commissioner Thomas McTygue have been in the middle of in recent weeks. Last week, Saratoga Springs resident David Bronner filed complaints with the governor’s office seeking to have Thomas McTygue removed from office for allegedly living outside the city. Bronner said McTygue is violating the Public Officer’s Law, which requires elected officials to live in the community in which they serve. McTygue owns property at 175 Clinton St. in Saratoga Springs, but he resides at a farm near Fish Creek in the town of Saratoga.
Last month, developers Anthony Martino and Bob Kenyon filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the removal of a Public Works vehicle blocking access to a 1,700-square-foot plot of land the development company acquired in 1994. The builders plan to construct a duplex on the property, which is located just off the corner of Bingham Street and Martin Avenue.
McTygue had the truck parked to block access to the property on Aug. 7. In light of the recent lawsuit, he is unyielding in his opposition to removing it. `It’s going to stay there,` he said after learning of the suit.
The property lies at the end of a paper street that is an extension of Martin Avenue. A paper street is a street that exists in plans, but has yet to be developed.
McTygue maintains that in order for KenMar to develop the street, they must first get approval from the Public Works department. McTygue said normally paper streets are developed into real streets after developers submit plans that meet city specifications and get permission. He said this street, which would lead nowhere but to the proposed duplex, doesn’t meet city standards. He said he’s blocked access to the lot because Martino and Kenyon are trying to use city-owned property as a `private driveway` into their project. He also accused Kenyon and Martino of clearing trees and brush from city-owned property.
As of this writing, neither issue was resolved.“