In a free society, transparency is government’s obligation to share information with citizens. It is at the heart of how citizens hold their public officials accountable. -The definition of transparency in government
On February 3rd, the Smithtown Town Board had a 10 am routine work session, which is for the purpose of disclosing, discussing and reviewing various resolutions, amendments, proposals, personnel matters, finance and other pertinent town agendas. Work sessions are intended to give the Town Board and its Supervisor the chance to get on the proverbial same page. This is vital in a municipality to avoid an abuse of power or miscommunications. All too often, agenda add-ons (or Read Ons) from the Supervisor, make their way to a vote without inclusion during Town Board work sessions and the members of the board opposing these tactics are in the minority.
Hidden within the February 3rd town board agenda, was a resolution to authorize the Comptroller to transfer funds in the amount of $37,654.89 from personnel salaries within the highway department to the Contingency Fund. A vote which would leave the Highway Superintendent without an executive secretary and a recently employed woman out of a job with no notice whatsoever. The work sessions, which are available along with the board meetings via the Smithtown Government website, indicated a thorough breakdown from Councilman Wehrheim, liaison to the highway department, requesting a read-on for the transfer of funds in the amount of $175,000 for Sand/ Salt due to excessive snow removal. One might assume discussions to include a second read-on, like removing funds and a job in the highway department, would be brought to light by Supervisor Vecchio after the Councilman’s request pertaining to same department. However, that was not the case.
Agendas at board meetings follow a specific order to assure transparency. So why was the removal of an employee not included in portion 8, Personnel Matters within this specific agenda? Perhaps the board members would have had the chance to table the motion, until further investigation and discussions could be had. At the very least, they would have had the opportunity to realize what they were voting on.
The board was able to table a different motion; a labor contract executed by the Supervisor and SAG on January 9, 2015 which the board had no information on, until weeks later. There are many reason to table a motion, be it a lack of notification, information or communication. Some may raise questions as to how a labor union contract can be negotiated by employees who report directly to the Supervisor. Others might wonder whether Union members would be better served with a labor attorney negotiating contracts. But most would find it suspicious that a President of a Union gets a raise around the time that a contract is signed. All stipulations aside, the town board ruled the $388,000 labor contract be tabled for further discussion, due to a lack of prior information.
Councilmembers were caught by surprise yet again, at the end of the meeting, when Supervisor Vecchio added a read on to appoint Thomas Unverzagt to the Planning Board to fill the unexpired term of Adam Oshrin. The board was not made aware of Mr. Unverzagt’s credentials, recommendations or interests in the appointment. No mention of this read on was made during the Town Board’s Work Session. Councilmen Wehrheim and Creighton opposed this vote, due to the lack of information. Regardless, the vote was adopted by a vote of 3-2; a clear example of those with the taxpayers interests being a minority in the municipality.