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Following a bizarre incident at the Feb. 20 meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Niagara Falls Mayor Irene Elia issued an apology to board Secretary Marlene Gigliotti, though that didn't stop board members from voting to send Elia a sharply worded letter of rebuke.
Numerous witnesses report that as the board gathered prior to the meeting, Elia entered the room and struck up a conversation with board member Gloria Tarpinian. Shortly afterward, Gigliotti approached the two women, and Tarpinian asked Elia whether she knew Gigliotti.
At that point, witnesses said, the Mayor held her nose between the thumb and forefinger of one hand while making a "thumbs down" gesture with the other hand.
"You're friends with HER?" Elia asked Tarpinian.
The behavior outraged many on the board, who characterized it as "weird" and "creepy."
"Without Marlene and our advisor Mr. (Guy) Bax, I don't know where our board would be," Board Chairman Vincent Spadorcia told the Reporter. "She does a heck of a job for us and has for a long time."
When the meeting convened, the board unanimously passed a resolution to draft a letter to Elia protesting her actions and demanding an apology. The Mayor already had left the City Hall's committee of the whole room, where the meeting was taking place.
"I guess she got wind of that resolution because early the next morning, she called Marlene to apologize," Spadorcia said. "I talked with the other members, and we decided to go ahead with the letter anyway."
The letter, which also was sent to all members of the City Council and the office of the Corporation Counsel, pulls no punches.
"We found that your comment and gesture was inexcusable, disappointing, embarrassing and unbefitting your position as Mayor of our city," it states. "We are saddened to have to write this type of correspondence; however, your actions were inappropriate and need to be addressed."
A number of people, including staffers at this paper, have reported similarly childish behavior by Elia in the past, but this is the first time such infantile displays have resulted in any official reprimand.
Gigliotti, a 33-year city employee, declined comment on the case, but sources said she did file a report of the incident with her union steward, making it part of the official record.
Those who sit on the board have been more outspoken.
"This is the same woman (Elia) who represents our city to the Governor and Sen. (Hillary) Clinton," one board member said. "What must those people think?"
The incident is not the first time the Mayor has crossed swords with the Zoning Board of Appeals. In May of last year, Elia publicly threatened to replace board members with "more qualified individuals" after they turned down a request for a variance.
Although the board had acted on the advice of legal counsel in the matter--and although Elia has absolutely no power to appoint or remove members from the board--her comments were reported widely in the local media.
"She's just lucky Marlene didn't choose to file a harassment charge against her," one board member said of the most recent incident. "The only reason she apologized was so this wouldn't be made public."