Town Board to ratify changes in management of municipal garage that began in March, and now eyes new DPW to take on the job

Oversight of the town’s municipal garage quietly shifted twice this year, without any discussion or authorizing resolutions by the Riverhead Town Board, and is now under the management of the assistant town engineer.

The garage, which is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the town’s fleet of vehicles, is now being managed by Assistant Town Engineer Ken Testa, a longtime town employee, according to Town Board resolutions up for a vote on Tuesday. The garage had been managed by Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski, who relinquished his responsibility on March 4 to Deputy Highway Superintendent John Apicello, according to the resolutions. Testa took over from Apicello on May 1.

The town garage has five employees: four mechanics and one clerical employee. Oversight of the garage comes with a $20,000 annual stipend. Zaleski had been managing the facility in addition to running the highway superintendent.

There are three resolutions on Tuesday’s Town Board agenda ratifying actions related to management of the garage. One ratifies Zaleski relinquishing his duties, which the resolution states is “voluntary,” and directs partial payment of the stipend to Zaleski for management of the garage from Jan. 1 through March 3. The second ratifies a partial payment of the stipend to Apicello, who, according to the resolution, was temporarily appointed as garage manager by the Town Board — without the board adopting a resolution authorizing it — effective March 4. The third resolution appoints Testa to the position effective May 1 through the end of the year. He will be paid a pro-rated share of the annual stipend for those eight months.

Testa has a background in mechanical work and it was a “natural fit to assign” the responsibility to him, Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in an interview today.

The town will also establish a new department of public works, which Hubbard said Testa will head. As head of the public works department Testa will oversee the buildings and grounds division and improvements of town facilities, Hubbard said. The change allows Town Engineer Drew Dillingham to focus his attention on storm water management and recycling programs, Hubbard said. The departments will “share personnel for projects as they’re needed.” Testa previously served as town engineer from the inception of the engineering department until his retirement on July 25, 2016. Dillingham, who served under Testa as deputy town engineer, was promoted to department head after Testa’s retirement.

Hubbard said the changes will save the town some of its expenses on consultants’ fees. He said the Town Board would vote to establish the public works department “either this upcoming board meeting or the next one,” Hubbard said.

Former Sanitation Superintendent John Reeve was in charge of the garage until his retirement in 2014, when its management was assigned to the engineering department. The engineering department had oversight until 2016, when then-Chief of Staff Larry Levy took it over, following a scathing audit report by the town’s internal audit committee. The internal audit found the garage’s operations were a “free for all” under Reeve’s management. The audit committee also found that the town engineering department did not have the time or resources to properly oversee management.

When Laura Jens-Smith succeeded Sean Walter as supervisor in January 2018, Levy was replaced as chief of staff and the Town Board — after much debate — appointed then-Highway Superintendent George Woodson to oversee the garage, with a $20,000 stipend to compensate him for the responsibility. The municipal garage is located next to the highway department, which has its own garage and staff of mechanics that maintain and repair highway department vehicles.

After Woodson’s retirement and Zaleski’s election as his successor, the Town Board charged Zaleski with oversight responsibility for the garage in 2022, with the same $20,000 stipend.

Hubbard said in a phone interview today that Apicello was given responsibility for the garage after Zaleski “indicated to us he didn’t want to do it.”

In a phone interview Thursday, when asked if there was a reason for the change, Zaleski said, “No. They’re just switching it up over there, I guess.” Later in the interview, he said it was his decision to step down.