Councilman Bob Creighton was a busy man this past week. In addition to hosting a very successful annual golf outing, the Councilman ended up in a sandbox off the fairway, diffusing tantrums from the Supervisor, at last Tuesday’s work session. In May, Creighton had presented a report, further analyzing a plan to restructure Smithtown Government; utilizing four elected Commissioners, in order to better transparency, accountability and save taxpayers some money in the process. It was agreed upon at that May work session, to host Suffolk County Personnel Director, Alan Schneider at a later work session, to better understand if this proposal could improve the way Smithtown operates. However, while Schneider was on hand to present detailed insight, the respected official was welcomed with insults and inappropriate comments from Supervisor Vecchio.
The Restructured Government Proposal:
The updated proposal was presented to Alan Schneider which restructures 24 departments under four Factions: Planning and Development, Human Services, Public Works (includes highway dept.) and Public Safety. The five historical departments; the offices of the Town Attorney, Assessor, Clerk, Comptroller and Tax receiver, would remain unchanged as would the Town Board and the Supervisor. Commissoners serve at the pleasure of the board. Current Smithtown Department heads are union contracted workers. They can not be fired without an official complaint with proof of violations and an expensive hearing. If you need further understanding, just look at the scandals this year with George Beatty and Glenn Jorgensen. Some might argue that these department heads have unprecedented job security!
During the May 5th Town Board Work Session; Creighton requested the boards approval to invite Alan Schneider to a work session. In that same meeting, McCarthy confirmed previous statements that he’d support the idea if it was revenue neutral. Ed Wehrheim assisted Creighton in working out the logistics behind the plan and has gone on record in support of the proposal. Councilwoman Lynne Nowick has asked numerous questions about how this proposed transformation would work, which is just how a very smart woman operates… asking for all the facts before deciding where she stands. Based on the May 5th work session, it would seem clear that all four Town Council Members were curious enough about this plan to want to learn more. Yet, at Tuesday’s session, the Supervisor insisted that Creighton’s proposal has no support.
“There’s been no overwhelming support here to put commissionerships into the town government… I think this is a waste of time… I have no interest in it so I don’t have to listen to it.” – Supervisor Vecchio
After some tit for tat, the County Personnel Director assured the Supervisor that his intent was merely to inform on the proposal and answer potential questions the board may have. Schneider called Creighton’s proposal “doable” stating it would not change responsibilities or the current jobs of individuals in anyway. The theory behind this type of restructuring is to have an administration of government overseeing daily responsibilities.
Councilwoman Nowick asked a number of valued questions to her former colleague. One of which got right down to the bottom line.
“In your experience, how does this increase the efficiency of a town? I see four town’s have done it so there must be a reason.” – Councilwoman Nowick
Schneider used his own personal experience to answer Nowick, explaining what the Town of Islip gained by implementing a similar Commisioner based restructuring. He started by mentioning the benefit of doing away with a troubled Highway Superintendent position as a constant issue in Islip, but quickly moved to discussing the fundamental results.
“It was just very unwieldy for the board to have 22 people reporting to them. Back in 1978, in Islip it did not work well. There were many conflicts among different Council Members… each with a constituency getting into the problems of different department liaison assignments… Each Council Member wanted each department head to come to each office to report about each problem… So they broke it down so that there were only six people. And it turned out to be six very professional people.” – Suffolk County Personnel Director, Alan Schneider
Supervisor Vecchio chimed in on the defensive listing negative actions of two Commisioners in the past, potentially to discredit what the esteemed Personnel Director was saying. Councilman Creighton quickly interrupted the Supervisor to remind the room of the reasoning behind his proposal, and quite possibly to hinder another embarrassing remark in front of the highly revered official.
“We have are own town to be concerned about. We have our own problems, arrests and scandals but that’s not the reason for doing this. It’s to correct the span of control. Under any business model, 23 people answerable to anyone is way out of control. It should be less than that and that is the purpose for this.” – Councilman Bob Creighton
Even after Schneider reiterated to the Supervisor, that he was not there to sway opinions, but to simply educate the board and answer questions, Vecchio continued with slight.
“Well to be honest with you it wasn’t helpful to me because I know about it. I took the time in my lifetime here to study it and how do it. So thank you for coming.” – Supervisor Vecchio
Councilwoman Nowick quickly interjected stating that Schneider’s visit was very helpful and that she got many of her questions answered. Both Councilmen Wehrheim and Creighton added to the gratitude for Schneider’s visit as the work session came to an end. * Councilman McCarthy had to leave for another town related meeting, but did ask some insightful questions earlier on in addition to thanking Schneider prior to leaving.
Whether the Smithtown Commissioner proposal would serve the town for the better or not, is irrelevant to the manner in which a County Official is treated by a town leader. To take out frustrations on a man who is greatly respected throughout Long Island, is a smear on how neighboring communities look at Smithtown. Supervisor Vecchio has repeatedly stated that his government structure works and to bring in town appointed commissioners would only contaminate government with politics and corruption. Yet in the last decade, Smithtown has dealt with investigations of Town Officials, a Building official sentence to jail time, two Superintendents of Highways investigated for political corruption or indicted for major felonies and a major recycling theft scheme. One might argue that based on these events alone, there is room for improvement in the way Town Department heads are accountable. No one is implying that Supervisor Vecchio hasn’t done a good job… However, if the Town has a chance to further improve upon it’s government, those with the ability to do so, also have the responsibility to act. That is after all, the very definition and essence of our Country’s Constitution.