After discussion gets heated, board puts off action on plan to have highway superintendent oversee municipal garage

The proposal to have Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson assume oversight of the municipal garage — with a $20,000 pay increase — sparked a heated discussion at this week’s town board work session, as Councilwoman Jodi Giglio attacked the plan and criticized the way it’s been put forth by Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith.

A resolution approving the pay increase was included in the board’s review packet for next week’s regular meeting, which irked the councilwoman, who said the supervisor was trying to move too quickly to adopt the measure. The board just held a hearing on the proposed pay increase at the March 6 meeting, Giglio said.

Giglio, who has stated opposition to the measure and voted against even holding a public hearing on the proposal, pushed for a meeting with Woodson before voting on the pay increase, to hear specifics from him about what he plans to do to improve the municipal garage operations.

She insisted that all of the control deficiencies and problems described in a report by the town’s internal audit committee  — which called garage operations “a free for all” — have been addressed. Jens-Smith disagreed and the two got into a tense discussion, voices rising, about how to proceed.

“I want to see an action plan,” Giglio said.

The municipal garage is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the town’s fleet of vehicles, including police vehicles. The facility is located on a site adjacent to the highway department, which has its own garage and staff of mechanics who maintain and repair highway department vehicles.

It has been without a department head since John Reeve, longtime sanitation department superintendent who also oversaw the municipal garage, retired at the end of 2014. At that time, the town board, to save money, divided up Reeve’s duties in both departments among members of the buildings and grounds and engineering staff, awarding those employees stipends totaling about $20,000 for the extra work.

Giglio yesterday also reasserted her adamant objection to the salary increase, arguing that any increased compensation for the highway superintendent in connection with the project should come in the form of a stipend, not wages. She said any salary increase would inevitably become permanent.

Jens-Smith said the town board must adopt salaries for every elected official every year by local law, so by definition the highway superintendent’s salary is subject to change annually.

At previous meetings members of the board said the additional compensation was required to be in the form of wages, not a stipend, because the highway superintendent is an elected official and so must have his compensation set by local law. Yesterday, Giglio came out swinging on that point as well, demanding to know why, if that is the case, other elected officials are paid stipends. She cited Councilman Tim Hubbard receiving a stipend of $100 per month in payment for assuming the duties of deputy supervisor and Assessor Laverne Tennenberg, whom she said received a stipend for her duties as chairperson.

The assessors’ salaries are not set by local law, however. Only the supervisor, council members, town clerk and highway superintendent’s salaries must be set by local law. Also, Tennenberg does not receive a stipend for her duties as chairperson; she receives a higher salary as chairperson.

Deputy town attorney Ann Marie Prudenti was called to the meeting to explain why Hubbard, an elected councilman, may receive a stipend that is not included in the salary authorized by local law. Prudenti said it’s because state law requires the stipend payment. Hubbard, it should be noted, sought no compensation for the deputy supervisor role to which he was appointed by Jens-Smith in February. Prudenti told board members at that time a stipend was mandated by statute.

Councilman James Wooten, who became the board’s liaison to the garage in January, said he is still assessing the department but is “not sure the part-time oversight is enough.” He said he wanted to discuss the appointment of a full-time department head for the garage in a closed-door executive session since the discussion involved a particular employee.

Jens-Smith advocated voting on the pay increase at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Let’s vote on this. If it goes through, let’s sit down with Gio and see what his action plan is,” Jens-Smith said. Councilwoman Catherine Kent expressed agreement.

Giglio pushed back, arguing the vote should only come after meeting with Woodson, not before. Wooten favored delaying the vote as well.

Hubbard, who did not have much to say during the discussion, found himself in the position of the swing vote. In the end, he agreed the board should wait until they meet with Woodson about his plans before taking action on the measure.