In the Yuletide spirit: Taking County Manager Glatz to task

With Christmas fast approaching, we wonder: What will new County Manager Jeff Glatz have under the tree for the hardworking men and women of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)?

Last Christmas, members of AFSCME Local 182 Niagara County Blue Collar Employees were amazed to find such a giving spirit in New County Manager Jeff Glatz. The first surprise from Old Saint Jeff, was a freeze in the step increases that were taken from their paychecks. The impact on AFSCME was significant, since AFSCME had agreed to a contract only one year earlier that saw new employees receiving 15 percent less in pay than present employees.

This had been a difficult decision, and was only agreed to because we were facing the fourth year out of the last seven with a zero pay increase. We only agreed to lower wages for new employees at the steps given in the contract.
In other words, a new employee, earning $11.13 an hour, will now earn 30 percent less than the veteran employee at $14.46. We now anticipate a similar approach from Glatz on future contracts.

Not Gonna Happen!!

The other bundle we found under the tree from Jeff last year was a notice of layoffs. The 2012 Budget found our ranks with twelve fewer positions. Some were unfilled spots due to retirement.

Glatz cut one of two security equipment technician positions, a job that involved repairing telephones and the telephone system itself. Left with only one Technician to keep the system working, a major failure occurred while that man technician was on vacation this past summer.

Glatz claimed the switches are old and said the county might have to go on Ebay for parts! He now wants to replace the 1,900 telephones, still working on last Friday, I believe, with new hi-tech phones that work on a computer network, at a cost of $3 million.

Is this the right decision for a struggling county government?

Other positions cut – laborers, cleaners and a parts procurement specialist – provided low-cost alternatives to the expensive solutions dreamed up by Glatz.

We can hardly contain our holiday glee and anticipation of this Christmas season.

It should be a better budget this year, since Glatz acts as though money is available for all kinds of pet projects, like the leasing of a new shiny record storage building in centrally located Burt.

Well, it is grey and not very shiny, having been built in 1961, but it does replace the (as described by propaganda man Christian Peck) “dilapidated” one built in 2000.

Having Glatz’s office remodeled, adding walls and doors to keep the worker elves from seeing the jolly man checking his list to see who is naughty or nice is another complete waste of the taxpayer’s money, as is installing a $5,000 door to keep something or someone from entering into the office of the Clerk of the Legislature and the Chairman of the Legislature.

That is after whoever it is gets by the metal detectors, and armed state security guards. It all kind of reminds me of the story of the outrageously priced toilet seats the military purchased some years ago.

There are also rumors of plans to give generous raises to handpicked non-union employees. I cannot confirm nor deny this rumor. Both AFSCME, and CSEA submitted FOIL requests for the salary increases, but were denied their requests by the county Legislature.

And now, The Old Saint Jeff has a grand present for the taxpayers with his closing the C & D Landfill at the Refuse District facility in Lockport.

This operation flies in the face of his plan to secure a spot in the budget for Dawn Timm, whom he has identified as being the one to close the landfill five years prematurely. This will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars more.

The refuse district is included in the Niagara County Comprehensive plan. It is listed as Niagara County Landfill cap, at a cost of $9 million. This is exactly the figure given by Rick Pope, Director of the facility, based on five more years of generating revenue from continuing to accept C & D materials. And now, Rick Pope, the man defiant to closing the Landfill will be sent to the Gulag for his insubordination. Or whatever they come up with after their Witch Hunt.