Malone highway hearing put off

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November 6, 2009

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Fri Nov 06, 2009, 10:28 PM EST

MALONE — A hearing date was postponed to next week for the Town of Malone highway department bookkeeper who says he's in danger of losing his job.

Mark Besio was unable to secure legal representation in time for a hearing Thursday called by Town Supervisor Howard Maneely and attorneys the town has hired.

Besio is expected to be questioned about his release of documents to comply with a Freedom of Information Law request from the Press-Republican relating to the Town Council's suspension of Deputy Highway Superintendent Thomas Shanty.

Shanty, who was elected highway superintendent Tuesday over his opponent Ronnie Benware, was suspended for 30 days without pay on Oct. 14 after testing positive for drugs following a December 2008 collision involving the snowplow he was driving and a Jeep.

The Jeep driver was ticketed, but federal transportations laws require that those with safety-sensitive jobs like operating heavy equipment take a drug and alcohol test after such an incident.

Drivers with positive tests are not to get behind the wheel of any safety-sensitive machines until and unless they have been cleared to do so by a substance-abuse counselor.

However, Shanty told a labor-relations specialist in a deposition on Sept. 11, 2009, that he was back on plowing duties two days after the collision by order of his boss, Highway Superintendent Alvin Livernois.

He said he drove a plow or a sander on 14 different days to the end of 2008 and 10 days in January 2009.

He was cleared to go back to driving by a counselor until Jan. 15, 2009.

A majority of the members of the Town Council says they did not know Shanty failed the test even though they signed billing vouchers that spell out that an employee's drug-test result were positive and showed part of Shanty's Social Security number.

Maneely had been listed as a contact person to send drug-test result to, but he said he didn't get the results and that his name was somehow removed from the document that names the designees between December 2008 and October 2009.

Council members also signed vouchers for payment for Shanty's return-to-work order, which would not be issued unless someone had failed a drug or alcohol test.

Besio is to be questioned about documents he released under the Press-Republican's request and says some of the paperwork belongs to him so he can do whatever he wants with it.

But the town says Besio had no authority to give over any paperwork and that what he gave was confidential material.

In the meantime, the Town Council discussed cutting Besio's pay by $8,000 saying it is to bring his salary more in line with other clerical employees.

The issue was raised during a budget meeting Thursday, and the members said they will continue talks before making a final budget decision.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com