A Bethlehem judge recommended Tuesday, Nov. 11, that two Town of Colonie employees accused of misconduct in the paving of the parking lot at the West Albany Rod and Gun Club be suspended for 60 days without pay.
A report completed in June by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that town employees and town materials were used to pave the club’s parking lot with spoils, a composite material of wood, dirt and debris, in a manner that was not in the best interest of town taxpayers. The comptroller found that the administrators — Public Works Operations Supervisor William Neeley and Highway Maintenance Supervisor Thomas Romano — who allowed the paving project to go on were responsible for the significantly higher costs, which were found to be $48,000 more than alternative options.
The town hired Judge Paul Dwyer of Bethlehem as the disciplinary hearing officer when the hearings on Neeley and Romano were conducted in late August, and his findings were just recently issued.
Kathy Wright, United Public Service Employees Union regional coordinator, who is defending the employees, said that if the town went through with Dwyer’s recommendations, Neeley and Romano would appeal the decision.
Director of Town Operations Peter Gannon said he could not comment on whether the town would carry out the recommendations, however, he said, `I anticipate the board will consider it in an executive session before the Nov. 20 Town Board meeting.`
Neeley and Romano were suspended without pay for about five weeks, according to Wright, ending in August. The employees were put back on the payroll, where they remain today. Should the town decide to abide by the recommendations, Wright said the more than 30 days they were already suspended without pay would be deducted from the 60-day suspension.
Wright has said in the past that Neeley and Romano are, `long-term employees with spotless records,` and that she and her clients feel that their disciplinary proceedings are a result of political maneuvering by Supervisor Paula Mahan.
`Honestly we were not surprised that there was a finding. We’ve said from day one this has just been a political ram job,` said Wright. `And we are going to do whatever we have to do to appeal this. We had expected that the entire process will work to the benefit of the town.`
Neeley and Romano have also filed identical Supreme Court Section 78 lawsuits against the town, charging that the supervisor and town board acted in an illegal manner by disciplining them without having the power to do so, as they believe that only the supervisors in their respective departments have that power. They are seeking to have the disciplinary findings dismissed, as well as compensation for the pay they have lost. Those lawsuits are still pending, Wright said.
Dwyer’s recommendations come less than a week after the Colonie Town Board acted to adopt a policy that would designate specific spots where spoils could be dumped.
In response to the newly enacted spoils policy, Wright said the employees did follow a protocol when determining where to deposit the materials.
`There was a process in place that our folks followed,` said Wright. `It sounds like it was simply codified by the board.`
In the new policy, if a designated dumping spot is not available, the spoils will be deposited on the land of a private landowner whose name is taken off a list of people who have filled out a request form, after being approved by all department supervisors involved.
While the new policy was enacted earlier this month, Wright said this is what the employees she is defending were doing all along, although she said there was no previous specific town policy on the dumping of spoils.
`Essentially, that’s what happened in this case. It went to the designated spots, and this was what was left over,` she said. `All [the board members] knew that the spoils were going to the Rod and Gun Club.“