There has been a lot of discussion recently about the commissioner of the Department of Public Works job in Colonie, but none of it has come from the commissioner himself, Jack Cunningham.
I’m somewhat frustrated, Cunningham said. `You read the headlines, and it creates the appearance that I, as an individual, have done something wrong here.`
For much of the debate over whether he could legally hold the commissioner’s position, Cunningham was vacationing in Italy. During that time, the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Court Division on March 31 ruled his appointment was invalid because he is not a resident of the Town of Colonie.
Following the decision, the town removed Cunningham from his post, but then passed a resolution on April 7 that changed the residency requirement to include all of Albany County and modified the job description to be primarily administrative as opposed to engineering. At that meeting, the town reappointed Cunningham as the commissioner of DPW.
`I was disappointed,` Cunningham said of the Appellate Court decision. `I work hard at this job and the decision has nothing to do with the performance of the works, it only has to do with establishing my residency. So it was kind of disappointing that it becomes the issue.`
Cunningham, former town supervisor of Bethlehem, said during that tenure, he hired a commissioner of Public Works who did not live within the town. He said he doesn’t believe the residency of the commissioner’s position has any real bearing on the taxpayers in the town.
`I think as long as the person you have in the job is dedicated to doing the work and is committed to serving the taxpayers in the community they’re working in, then the residency is really not a major issue here,` he said. `My commitment is to try and do the best job I can for the taxpayers of Colonie.`
Cunningham said the town was initially confident it would prevail in the appellate court decision. He said the reason for that confidence was based on the fact that a new issue was raised by complainant Theodore Rickets in the case that was not heard in the Supreme Court. He and his attorneys said the residency requirement fell under the Public Officers Law, which states the public officer must live in town they are serving.
`That was what we went into the Appellate Division and argued they can’t appeal on this because they never reserved the right to argue it in the first place,` he said, adding that the town said they had never been given the right to argue on the law. `That’s why we felt very comfortable we would be successful because that is an ongoing standard that the appellate division has applied across the board.`
While Colonie Republicans did win in court on the decision of residency, there was still an issue over the fact that Cunningham was running a department where they felt a lot of engineering decisions would have to be made. Cunningham said he does not make a single engineering decision nor does any engineering work. And with a combination of the town-designated engineers and the engineering firms the town contract out to, there is no need for him to make any engineering decisions.
In Bethlehem, Cunningham said when he looked for a commissioner of Public Works, he wanted someone who was a good administrator and could look at situations from a broader perspective, as opposed to just engineering. When he worked at Key Bank, Cunningham said, he managed programmers, even though he is not one.
Similarly, Cunningham said, Town Supervisor Paula Mahan wanted to appoint a Public Works commissioner who is an administrator as opposed to an engineer.
`When you get a specialty skill like that transfer to become a manager, it sometimes becomes problematic,` he said. `They tend to look at things from a narrower point of view. The issue of whether we have an engineer in this position is really not relevant to the position itself.`
Cunningham added that there are many other municipalities in New York that have a commissioner of public works that is not an engineer, which makes him wonder why the New York State Society of Professional Engineers isn’t focusing on those areas as well.
Cunningham said it isn’t just engineers that are involved in making decisions, but a number of people who are commenting on plans. Cunningham said simply asking why an engineer is deciding to do something on a project isn’t considered engineering.
`They’re not specific to the engineering of the plan,` he said. `If you take that to the nth degree, that would mean only an engineer could work with an engineer and that’s not even a realistic approach. That would even extend to Paula saying, `Well Paula can’t run this department because she’s not an engineer.`
The reappointment of Cunningham’s position was only for the remainder of his current term, which expires in 2012.“
