By Joyce M. Miles
The Tonawanda News
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Over the shouts of Democrats calling it a “sham,” the Legislature’s county manager hiring committee recommended two finalists for the job Wednesday night.
On a 4-3 vote, with Legislature Chairman William Ross, C-Wheatfield, breaking the tie, the committee picked Jeffrey Glatz of North Tonawanda and Paul Wolf of Buffalo for interviews with the Legislature’s administration committee. The latter committee will recommend one for a vote by the full Legislature.
Hiring committee members Dennis Virtuoso, Renae Kimble and Jason Cafarella, all Niagara Falls Democrats, stormed out of the 2 1/2-hour, closed-door meeting shouting about the candidate search being fraudulent. All charged they’d been told months before the nationwide candidate search even began that Glatz, administrator of The Villages of Orleans County nursing home and a former North Tonawanda school board president, was the Republican majority’s “man” all along.
“I was specifically told by someone who’s close with the majority caucus, back in February or March, that Mr. Glatz was the one,” Cafarella said. “Dennis heard the same name around the same time.”
“They’re moving to hire Glatz. Wolf is window dressing,” Kimble charged.
By county law, the hiring committee is composed of three Democrats, three Republicans and two non-voting citizen representatives. The three Republicans are Gerald Farnham of Pendleton, Keith McNall of Lockport and Paul Wojtaszek of North Tonawanda. Ross, who caucuses with the Republican majority in the Legislature, invoked the chairman’s power to cast a vote on a legislative committee and broke the party-line vote on the question.
The committee reduced a pile of 27 applications for the county manager’s post to five who were interviewed privately last month.
None of the five has ever been a county manager, the Democrats said.
Wolf is general counsel to the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.
Glatz is running a nursing home that, according to the state Health Department, has been cited for a number of deficiencies the past few years including injuries to patients and insufficient patient care plans.
The Democrats said Glatz’ record as an administrator demanded more scrutiny — and that Republicans on the committee blocked it.
Cafarella made two motions in the Wednesday meeting, first to extend the county manager candidate search by two weeks, then later to bring Glatz and Wolf in for second interviews. Republicans refused both motions, he said. Instead, McNall, who chairs the administration committee, put up the motion naming Glatz and Wolf; he was seconded by Wojtaszek; and the majority ruled.
The county manager’s post “is the most important post we have in the county and Mr. Glatz is not remotely qualified for this position,” Cafarella said. “I cannot believe we were denied a second interview with him to ask about these (health department) reports. ... This was definitely a predetermined plan. It was all a sham. It’s horrible government, the worst I’ve seen in the almost three years I’ve sat on the Legislature.”
While Kimble denounced all five semi-finalists as unqualified, Cafarella said he ranked Wolf No. 1. Virtuoso didn’t say much more than “told you so” to reporters who were waiting outside the meeting for the finalists’ names.
Republicans denied the fix was in for Glatz.
“Not true at all,” McNall said. “I am confident this has been a good process.”
Ross said he’s “completely at ease” having broken the party-line tie on nominating Glatz and Wolf. “It was an easy vote. Those were the two best candidates, as far as I’m concerned.”
Asked when Glatz would take the job of county manager, Farnham quickly responded no one’s been hired.
“I don’t know whether one, or either, finalist will be recommended (by the administration committee),” he said. “Both have good mindsets and are very aggressive in their careers.”
The administration committee, led by McNall, will call in Glatz and Wolf for face-to-face interviews with that panel within a couple weeks, McNall said. The interviews will be open to the public “as much as the law allows,” he said; but portions concerning personnel, negotiations and other “privileged” subject matter under state law will be closed.
Current County Manager Greg Lewis, who was hired in mid-2003, will leave the post by Nov. 30 when his second term of office expires.
