Election issues surface in Franklin County

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November 22, 2009

<img src="/homepage/images_image_276103054" alt="">  Franklin County employees wanted time off for extra hours worked

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Sun Nov 22, 2009, 10:42 PM EST

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MALONE — Franklin County Board of Elections employees will be paid about $2,600 for extra hours they worked, instead of getting time off like they wanted.

A county policy requires that employees take compensatory time off before Dec. 1.

But Board of Election Democratic Party Commissioner Kathy Fleury and Republican Party Commissioner Veronica King say their staff accrues most of its overtime in the final quarter and cannot use it before the deadline.

They asked legislators for an extension into the first quarter of the following year for their two deputy-election commissioners and two election technicians so they could have time off.

The commissioners said the employees asked for time off rather than the money.

But legislators said other departments would want the same extension.

Legislature Chairman Guy "Tim" Smith (D-Fort Covington) said recommendations in a past audit specifically instructed the board to better address how it paid accrued time because past employees were getting large amounts of money when they retired.

The problem cost the county plenty because some comp time was earned at a certain pay level but paid off years later at the person's final, higher salary rate.

Legislators told the commissioners to pay the employees this year and promised to revisit the issue at budget time next year.

One technician position is vacant, but King and Fleury said Friday that they will pay their three remaining people roughly $2,600 for their accrued time. There is no money in the agency's 2009 budget to cover the expense.

The commissioners also asked for $10,000 in the 2010 county budget to cover anticipated staff-overtime expenses since there will be a gubernatorial race and possible primaries next fall.

But that request was also denied.

POLLING SITE
In related business, the County Nursing Home has been a polling site for the Town of Malone since the late 1990s, when it was learned it is illegal to use the Army Reserve Center on Finney Boulevard.

But in-house Nursing Home advocates who are residents themselves said they want the county out because Election Day disrupts their routine and increases their risk for sickness and disease.

The nationwide outbreak of the H1N1 virus was the final push that made the Nursing Home Council ask the county to seek a new voting arrangement, said Legislator Gordon Crossman (D-Malone), chairman of the Human Resources Committee.

"It is also introducing people to a Nursing Home security situation," he said.

Crossman said no one under 16 is allowed to visit because of their potential to introduce germs to the facility.

But parents unaware of that came to vote and brought their children.

The adults got upset when they learned their kids couldn't come in, so they left without voting, Crossman said.

King and Fleury want to find alternate voting sites, but the problem is finding a place big enough with ample parking and handicapped accessibility.

Their goal is to place all 10 Malone districts under one roof and remove polling sites from private homes and non-public buildings.

COMPLAINT
The commissioners also received a letter from Town of Franklin voter Roger Symonds, who said using the new electronic-optical scanner to cast ballots is "a step back in time."

He describes it as a difficult, slow and time-consuming process, with little privacy and less efficiency than the old lever machines.

"I didn't like the fact that I was unable to change my mind if I started marking the ballot without surrendering it to an election inspector for another one; not very private," Symonds wrote.

"I'm not pleased with it, and I know many others who are not pleased also."

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