By DENISE A. RAYMO
MALONE — Lawyers questioned Highway Department bookkeeper Mark Besio for two hours this week, but he doesn't expect to know any results until Wednesday.
The Town Council is accusing him of breaking federal law by releasing information to the Press-Republican about results of substance-abuse tests for Deputy Highway Superintendent Thomas Shanty.
If he is found in violation, he could be fired.
But Besio says the information he turned over was already public knowledge for days before he filled the newspaper's Freedom of Information Law request for work-hour reports and other documents related to Shanty's case.
The Town Council is expected to discuss the issue at its next regular meeting, on Wednesday.
Maneely could not be reached for comment Thursday or Friday, and Town Council member Jack Sullivan said he had no new information about the hearing.
Shanty was suspended without pay by the Town Council on Oct. 14 on a charge of misconduct for failing a drug test in December 2008 after a Jeep crashed into the rear of the snowplow he was driving.
Town officials said they did not know he failed the test and that the positive-test results were never given to Town Supervisor Howard Maneely.
Maneely said his name was removed from the notification list, and he is investigating how that happened.
Because of the 30-day suspension, Shanty was not to drive any safety-sensitive equipment like a snowplow from early December 2008 until he received clearance from a substance-abuse counselor, which came in mid-January 2009.
But Shanty testified during a labor-relations hearing in September that he drove a plow at least 14 times under orders from his supervisor, Highway Superintendent Alvin Livernois.
A hearing to determine if any Civil Service regulations were broken was postponed earlier this week, with no new date set.
In the meantime, Shanty was elected highway superintendent and will take office in January.
Besio said he did nothing wrong when he filled the newspaper's request for the work records and related material.
"They say I violated federal law because I released paperwork that said Tom had tested positive. But that had already been in the paper."
The Press-Republican, through a separate FOIL request, asked the town on Oct. 15 for documents relating to the reason for Shanty's suspension. The newspaper ran an article the next day based on the information signed by Maneely that explained Shanty was charged with "misconduct in that on Dec. 8, 2008, following an accident involving the snowplowing vehicle you were driving and an automobile, you tested positive for marijuana during mandatory post-accident urinalysis testing."
Besio received the Press-Republican's request for Shanty's work-related documents on Monday, Oct. 19, and filled it on Thursday, Oct. 22.
"How can they say I violated federal law when it was already out there? I don't know what's going on, but I guess I'll find out on Wednesday."
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
