The city of Niagara Falls absorbed yet another defeat in court last week, but this one might actually do taxpayers some good.
State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch's decision that Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello violated the city charter by failing to fill a police captain's position highlighted one of the most serious flaws in the way the city has been run for far too long.
Through the spring, summer and fall, Paul Dyster spent much of his time talking about the importance of restoring faith in the government of Niagara Falls at all levels, from the city's citizenry to its representatives in Albany and Washington, D.C.
If the mayor-to-be is serious about polishing the city's image, cleaning out the corporation counsel's office and staffing it with lawyers willing to work for those who pay their salaries would be an ideal way to start.
Anello's hand-picked mouthpiece, Damon DeCastro, refuses to obey the city charter he is supposed to interpret and enforce. He ignores the city's residency law and ignores the charter's prohibition against continuing in private practice while in office.
DeCastro's insistence on representing the city while remaining in active partnership with James Roscetti, with both representing clients whose interests are at odds with Niagara Falls taxpayers, creates an obvious conflict that would not even be considered, much less tolerated, anyplace else.
Outside conflicts of interest are only part of the problem, though. Long before DeCastro slithered into the position following the retirement of Ron Anton, the corporation counsel's job description had quietly morphed from that of an attorney representing all of city government into a personal attorney for whomever sat in the mayor's office.
City Council members have long complained that the corporation counsel's office assists the administration in treating them like mushrooms -- in the dark and covered in stuff that smells pretty bad.
That belief was validated in court last week, when Justice Kloch ruled that Anello's administration violated the city charter by failing to fill the budgeted position and conspired with the corporation counsel's office to deceive the Council.
The position -- incorrectly described previously in this space as a job in the fire department -- became vacant when Niagara Falls Police Capt. Vince Johnson retired from his post heading the department's juvenile division at the end of May.
Anello chose to disregard the city law requiring that budgeted positions be filled, for reasons that can only be guessed at, particularly with juvenile crime steadily rising in any number of city neighborhoods.
The city was not going to save much money by leaving the post open, since a lieutenant received captain's pay for running each shift. And as Anello has been telling anyone who would listen since the spring, the city's financial condition is less dire than usual, due to revenues from the Seneca Niagara Casino.
Finally, the Niagara Falls Police Captains and Lieutenants Association filed suit in September. The city asked for and received an adjournment.
Before the case came back before Kloch, the corporation counsel's office put a resolution before the City Council that called for a hiring freeze, effective through the end of the year.
The Council, believing the measure would prevent Anello from putting any more of his shrinking inner circle on the city payroll before the end of his single term, went along.
During a Nov. 16 hearing, the union's attorney, Ned Perlman, argued that the actual intention of the freeze was not to save money but to keep the position vacant. City Councilman Chris Robins testified that the Council was never notified that the vacancy even existed, much less that a court case over it was pending.
Chris Mazur of the corporation counsel's office also testified, as did Anello, who tried to convince the judge that the city was prevented from filling a job that had been vacant all summer by a hiring freeze that took effect in October.
The judge didn't come close to buying it.
"The petitioner sent a letter in August demanding that the vacancy be filled, and then waited another month to file its petition," the judge wrote. "It was only then, after litigation had been initiated, that the hiring freeze was instituted." I
n the written decision, the phrase "after the litigation had been initiated" appears in bold type, perhaps to make clear to Anello and his lawyers that Justice Kloch does know how to use a calendar.
After pointing out that testimony at the hearing indicated that the city was operating with a budget surplus, the judge called the administration on its lie.
"Viewed in this light, the hiring freeze most certainly looks like a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the City's duty to fill all vacancies in previously budgeted positions under the City Charter," he wrote, ordering the position filled retroactive to May 31.
"The corporation counsel's office pushed forth the hiring freeze and tried to pull a fast one on the City Council," said Perlman, noting that he believed Robins and Mazur testified truthfully at last month's hearing. He declined to comment on the truthfulness of Anello's sworn testimony.
Were the corporation counsel's office, as run by DeCastro, committed to doing its job instead of doing the mayor's bidding, messes like this wouldn't happen.
If Dyster makes good on the promises made during his campaign, they won't.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 18 2007 |