By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Town of Waterford municipal employees could lend a hand on a short-term basis to the separately governed Town of Waterford Sanitary District No. 1 (WSD), following a discussion held at the Town Board’s Aug. 12 meeting.
Town Chairman Tom Hincz said he would support clerks Tina Mayer and Heather Stratton answering phones, accepting payments and taking meeting minutes for the WSD, so long as that work is not done on Town time.
The discussion comes in the aftermath of the recent abrupt resignation of longtime WSD administrator Debbie Nelson, whose job faced likely downsizing as WSD begins outsourcing a number of bookkeeping, payroll and back office functions to KJ Tax and Accounting.
Hincz had placed discussion of the Town’s relationship with WSD on the Town Board agenda, in an effort to gather input from other members of the Town Board.
“This is on the agenda so we assure everyone that there are no rumors out there,” Hincz said. “We don’t want there to be any issues with the financial coordination between the District and the Town. We want to help, because they (WSD) are going through a bit of a difficult transition.”
Hincz and Dan Dickinson, chairman of the WSD Board, have discussed the feasibility of pooling resources, long term, although a decision is far from official.
“If we would do anything like that, it would be approved by the full Town Board,” Hincz said.
“Nothing has been resolved, either way, but this is an opportunity for the Sanitary District to assist on a short-term basis. We’ll see what long-term possibilities there are.”
Dickinson, who was in the audience at the Town Board meeting, planned to discuss possible short- and long-term arrangements with the Town at WSD’s regular board meeting Aug. 14, held after press deadline.
Town Supervisor Lisa Jeschke said Monday night that she was against offering assistance at this time.
“The Sanitary District has been in a state of limbo for far too long,” Jeschke said. “I don’t think this should fall on the Town Board. I think it needs to stay separate at this time.”
Jeschke also expressed concern with the prospect of a Town employee taking meeting minutes for WSD in closed session.
“I just think it’s too close,” she said. “I think there’s a possibility of a conflict of interest there.”
In response, Dickinson said WSD would only ask Town employees to record minutes of meetings held in open session, so no one working directly for the Town would be privy to WSD personnel discussions or other matters permitted in closed session.
“Everything we do is out in front of the public,” Dickinson noted. “We’re just waiting for things to settle down a bit.”
Since Nelson’s departure July 28, WSD’s office hours are reduced and the office is being staffed by an existing part-time employee.
For the time being, the offices are open from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday and closed Friday.
One of the most frequent reasons for customers to visit WSD’s office during the business day is to drop off payments. Dickinson said WSD is in the process of encouraging customers to use other methods to submit payments, including the Town Hall drop box, U.S. mail and electronically.
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There may be legitimate reasons not to do this, but a conflict of interest is not one of them. A conflict of interest is a term used to describe the situation in which a public official or fiduciary who, contrary to the obligation and absolute duty to act for the benefit of the public or a designated individual, exploits the relationship for personal benefit, typically pecuniary. Clearly there would be no conflict! How is that investigation into your fellow board member who had a different opinion than you coming. Its been months Waterford Post….chirp, chirp, chirp
I find it interesting that Lisa is the first to point fingers at what she perceives as a conflict of interest. Yet, she is the first to discuss/advocate for the Waterford Police Department, which we all know her husband works for. Our town police are great, don’t get me wrong. But, here is a woman who only serves herself.
I thought the same thing Tichigan…she is only out for herself. If you look back a couple of months at the minutes of the Town Board meeting where they discuss the construction / closure of 164 she says she wants Town Line road restricted to “local traffic only.” Town Line Road is the obvious alternate route to 164…she doesn’t want people to use it though…because she lives on Town Line Road. As for the Police Department, the taxpayers could save $150,000 to $200,000 by contracting with the Sheriff’s Department rather than have our own police department – which we aren’t even required to have. The chief does nothing but sit around all day in the office.