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By LOHR McKINSTRY
ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County plans to study its employment system to make sure salaries and hiring practices are appropriate.
It started with a promise by County Manager Daniel Palmer to study the county's wage structure and produce a report for the County Board of Supervisors by April.
But Palmer said that once he started on a salary report he found extensive research would be needed.
"Out of it has developed: Are the salaries appropriate? I don't have time to do that."
PROFESSIONAL HELP
So he contacted the Technical Assistance Center at Plattsburgh State to see if it could do the research.
"I wanted something that looked at other counties and municipal salary ranges so we can get an accurate review of what those salaries should be or if they are appropriate or not.
The Technical Assistance Center will send a proposal to do the study, Palmer said.
"That accomplishes what people are looking for. It will also establish whether those salaries are appropriate."
The issue arose when department heads, some of whom make between $50,000 and more than $100,000 a year, were due to receive 4.25-percent pay hikes this year.
The Board of Supervisors originally reduced the raises, then restored them with the understanding a salary report would be prepared.
Board of Supervisors Chair Randy Douglas (D-Jay) said Palmer will be spending a lot of time on deficit-reduction issues this year, so the choice of the Technical Assistance Center could be a good one.
"It takes pressure off us on what salaries should be raised or should be lowered. We're on the right path to getting a true study."
Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah), who has criticized some of the salaries as excessive, said he believes Technical Assistance Center will do an impartial examination.
"They'll be comparing apples to apples."
NEPOTISM ISSUES
The other issue on county lawmakers' minds is whether the county hiring system has been manipulated to give an edge to family members of some department heads and elected officials.
Douglas said a County Ethics Committee will be appointed at some point to look into that.
"We'll see if what we have in place is proper. We'll come up with a solution that eases the public's mind."
Palmer and his wife, Board of Supervisors Clerk Deborah Palmer, have several family members who work for the county, but both have said they applied no influence or pressure to get them hired.
"In terms of the nepotism itself, the critical thing is to make sure if you have a relative who works at the county to make sure you're not the one supervising that relative," Mr. Palmer said.
"I have 11 employees who work for me; none are related to me in any way."
Scozzafava said he believes a disclosure process that brings transparency to the process is critical and stops rumors from starting.
"The only relative I have working in Essex County is my sister-in-law at Horace Nye Nursing Home. She was there prior to my getting elected."
Mrs. Palmer said that when her daughter, Brianne Weber, was hired for the County Clerk's Office the relationship was listed in the resolution.
Douglas said when he worked at a state prison he knew what jobs were opening up and could tell those he knew to apply. This could be the same situation, he said.
Scozzafava said he's tried to get jobs for his constituents if they meet Civil Service qualifications and score on the candidate list.
"I haven't been very successful at it lately. But I don't deny it."
E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com
