It appears a town board majority is ready to move forward with extending Highway Superintendent George Woodson’s tenure at the municipal garage and increasing his annual salary by $20,000 to compensate him for the extra responsibility.
The board last night voted 4-1 to schedule a public hearing on a local law authorizing the increase in pay from $94,803 to $114,803 for 2019. Councilman James Wooten cast the lone dissenting vote.
The public hearing will be held on Jan. 3 at 2:05 p.m. at Riverhead Town Hall.
A local law is necessary because the annual salary for the highway superintendent that was published with the notice of public hearing on the 2019 preliminary budget was at the lower rate.
Wooten said today he remains opposed to having the highway superintendent oversee the municipal garage.
The job should be filled by “a public servant that’s answerable to the town board, not an elected official,” Wooten said in an interview.
“We need a full-time department head, ideally a mechanic,” Wooten said.
“If Gio wants a raise he should come in and ask for it,” the councilman said. He noted that Woodson was “one of the elected officials who got a $10,000 raise a couple of years ago.” To give him $20,000 now means he’s gotten “almost a 30-percent raise in a short period of time,” Wooten said.
Deputy Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in an interview today he’s changed his mind about supervision of the town garage. He previously advocated assigning that duty to the chief of police — a plan endorsed a month ago by Hubbard, Wooten and Councilwoman Jodi Giglio.
“Sometimes things on paper look better than they are in reality,” Hubbard said. “This is one of those times.”
The chief of police had agreed to take on oversight responsibility without any additional compensation, so Hubbard said he favored saving the $20,000.
But that savings would be offset by having to outsource detailing on
on every new vehicle added to the town’s fleet. The highway department will do that and save the town about $600 or $700 per car, Hubbard said. “The $20,000 would be eaten up real fast,” he said.
Hubbard said he has spoken with the head mechanic at the garage, with Woodson, with Police Chief David Hegermiller and the three lieutenants in the police department.
“After talking to everybody and getting to the nitty-gritty of it, it was not a good idea,” Hubbard said.
“It’s run good,” he said. “In the half-year Gio was there, things were accomplished.” The proximity of the municipal garage to the highway department allows the highway chief to be more hands-on than anyone at the police department would be, according to Hubbard.
Giglio said today she supports a raise for Woodson — and other elected officials — but doesn’t support having the highway superintendent oversee the garage.
“Gio deserves a raise,” she said, but it shouldn’t be tied to the municipal garage.
“An elected official shouldn’t be in charge. It should be someone that will be accountable to the town board,” Giglio said. She said she believes the municipal garage should be back under the supervision of the town engineer.
Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith and Councilwoman Catherine Kent have supported having Woodson continue in the role in 2019. The board appointed him to it on trial basis in April.
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