What’s the Truth?
Well if you read the November 27th edition of the Smithtown News you would think Councilman Wehrheim and Creighton were the culprits behind the Town of Smithtown having to go with a Default Budget.
But like that cover story, that would be erroneous.
The Smithtown News piece stated that both Councilmen voted against the budget abstaining commentary as well. That was the truth. However, the article went on to quote Supervisor Vecchio, in which he accused the Councilmen, in great length, of voting against the budget to avoid any responsibility or accountability. With no facts or evidence behind the Supervisors harsh accusations, the “official newspaper of Smithtown” printed the story.
In a phone conversation, Wehrheim said that he was furious about the Supervisor’s commentary that he and Creighton avoided a vote or tried to muddy the process.
“On October 17th, one month before we had to approve the Preliminary Budget this Town Council sent a written memorandum to: Russell K. Barnett, Director of Environment and Waterways, Matthew Gorecki, Sanitation Supervisor (MSF) and Glenn Jorgenson, Highway Superintendent,” said Wehrheim.
He said the memo (listed below) requested their assurance in writing that the proposed restructuring of their departments would have a smooth transition interdepartmentally. “We wanted to make sure vital services would still be provided without a glitch, that the taxpayers would still receive the proper services they deserve,” he continued. That memo was signed by all four Council members.
“We wanted to make sure that the new divisions would work for the public, we wanted their feedback,” Wehrheim explained.
He said he certainly had concerns about the fluidity of services, that leaf/brush pick-up and snow removal would still be done in the most professional manner without any lapses in services. Creighton said this is the job of elected officials, to make sure the various jobs get done in the best manner possible. “We were elected by the people to help run the Town of Smithtown and to do so in the most efficient way both from a cost factor and from a service provider,” he continued.
Unfortunately, those town department heads never responded to any Council members as they were requested to do in that memo. Not only were they requested to respond but they were asked to do so in writing. “If the department heads are allowed to blatantly disregard a request from an elected official, that’s bad news for the town, for the taxpayers, it shows how broken Town Government is,” said Wehrheim. Creighton and Wehrheim were both disgusted by the lack of respect, by the failure of those department heads to honor the request of their request and the request of their peers Councilwoman Nowick and Councilman McCarthy. “Bottom line, we needed that vital information to cast our vote,” demanded Wehrheim.
He said Vecchio was calling he and Creighton irresponsible for voting against the vote when the truth of the matter it was quite the opposite. “It would be grossly unfair to the taxpayers for us to vote on an important document like the Budget without assurances that the taxpayer’s r services would not be disrupted in any manner,” said Wehrheim.
In addition to a lack of response from department heads, the amendments which Wehrheim and Creighton voted against included unexplained pay increases, in addition to the $120,000 in raises listed in the preliminary budget for Town employees. These raises were in addition to union raises, allowing for three pay increases over the course of six months in 2015. Councilmen Creighton expressed major concern for the continuous drawing down of the Town Reserves, which could potentially cause a likely drop in the Town Bond Rating.
“As far as the Budget is concerned, the municipality continues to operate as is, we did not muddy anything; the amendments passed 3 to 2 and the amendments just become part of the preliminary budget,” explained Wehrheim.
Creighton and Wehrheim say Vecchio is trying to give them a black eye but it is the Supervisor and aforementioned department heads who should have ownership of one. “It would be a downright dereliction of our duty for us to vote on a budget with departmental changes that could affects services for the taxpayers without an ounce of information about those changes, despite attempts to ascertain them,” said Wehrheim.
Both Councilmen questioned how they could possibly offer changes to the Budget when they did not have availability or access to critical and pertinent information. The department heads were the architects of the changes, both Councilmen say it was their duty to a) answer the memorandum in writing as requested by the Town Council and b) thoroughly explain those changes and provide assurances they would work to all four Council members.
Why didn’t those Department heads act on the requests of the Town Board? What or who would prompt them to ignore said memo? These are high-paid department heads who ignored the requests of elected officials. Why does a Town Board exist in Smithtown when Department heads don’t communicate with them and sometimes their very own Supervisor doesn’t share vital information with them? Someone has a black eye but it sure isn’t any member of the Town Board. The Truth is the Truth and written proof can be found in that October 17th memorandum.