PAGE ADDED ON January 11, 2010

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The Human Condition: We all fall down

By Martha Conway

(County Seat – Dec. 29, 2009) A quiet revolt of sorts happened in Wampsville last week. It was so quiet, I wondered if anyone even noticed. So far, I haven’t found anyone who did.

For me, the story began in late July or early August; I remember it well because I always remember well when I screw up.

I received four news tips; well, actually, I received the same news tip four times. Two members of the public and two elected officials called me within the course of 11 days to express outrage that Supervisor Russell Hammond (R – Georgetown), Madison County Board of Supervisors’ Solid Waste and Recycling Committee chairman, secured employment with Waste Management Renewable Energy and continued to be a member of SW&R.

I told all four that I would put it on my list to follow up. At the time, I was ill and doing some part-time freelancing while I worked on getting better. I did not have the energy, time or resources to pursue the matter as I might have under other circumstances. When the fourth call came in, I called Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman John M. Becker. He said he had just learned of the situation and would address it.

I went back to my to-do list and was disappointed to find out the following week that the only measure taken was to remove Mr. Hammond as chairman. I felt strongly – and still do – that he should have been removed from the committee altogether.

Why?

In late 2007, the Board of Supervisors voted to enter negotiations with Waste Management to build a power-generating facility at the landfill to convert the methane gas produced by landfill decomposition into electricity. That process was plagued by contention and accusations of conflicts of interests. Some supervisors were members of the Oneida-Madison Electric Cooperative (OMEC) and abstained from voting on the matter; others did not disclose their affiliation with OMEC.

In the end, County Attorney S. John Campanie strongly cautioned supervisors to make full disclosure about possible conflicts of interest, perceived conflicts of interest and to seriously consider abstaining from any vote in which they could be viewed as biased to make sure the project could go forward with minimal threat of litigation by any of the bidders involved.

Mr. Hammond was a member of the SW&R committee even then, so he should have known – better than many others – of Mr. Campanie’s warning. I wish I could find some evidence it ever crossed his mind during the past two years.

Last week, Dec. 29, the Madison County Board of Supervisors met for its fifth and final day of annual session. Two supervisors were absent: Walt Jaquay (R – Hamilton) and Mr. Hammond. With those two absent, 1,350 of the 1,500 votes in the county’s weighted voting system were present. The third resolution of the day was “creating a temporary, part-time landfill operations manager position in the Department of Solid Waste and Sanitation.”

I initially thought the vote was unanimous, having not audibly heard any “nay” votes; however, Clerk Cindy Urtz announced “1,065 ayes.” It didn’t add up: 415 votes were missing.

Wednesday morning, I called Cindy to confirm my numbers. She explained Messrs. Hammond and Jaquay accounted for 150 missing votes, which are counted as no.

“Mr. Becker voted against it,” Urtz said. “He has 285 votes, and he was the only one who voted no.”

I called Mr. Becker to ask why he voted against the resolution.

“I didn’t think there should be a training period necessary,” he said, explaining that the individual who succeeds landfill Operations Manager Andrew Wolff should begin when Wolff is done.

So I started calling supervisors, doing a straw poll of one question:

“Did you know at the time of the Dec. 29 vote for creation of a temporary position at the landfill that the position was earmarked for Mr. Hammond?”

Their responses?

“I didn’t know at the time of the vote, but learned afterward. Now it concerns me…we should know exactly what we are voting on every single time.”

“A position is a position; who is put in it isn’t up to us. A resolution is a resolution, and this one was not atypical of what we have done in the past. No one was named in it. It is up to Jim Zecca to hire someone for the position, and I have faith in him to make the best decision. It is a civil service position, so for [Hammond] to be appointed, he will have to pass the test.”

“No one discussed that detail with me. I didn’t even know he was working for Waste Management.”

“I didn’t know he was working for Waste Management. I knew he didn’t run [for another term of office] because he was going somewhere else. Now I know where.”

“I learned this fall that he was working for Waste Management and thought he should have been removed from the committee, but this is just ridiculous.”

“I think he is one of two people who have expressed interest in the job; I think everyone knew he was looking at the position.”

This last supervisor, confronted with the fact that no one else could have possibly known about the position because the Board of Supervisors had only approved it the previous day, responded, “Well, you’ve got me there.”

Yes, I think I do.

“I heard the chairman tried to remove him from the committee and wound up with grave resistance, so he removed him as committee chair and made [Lenox Supervisor] Rocky [DiVeronica] chair because they were worried it would wind up before the ethics board where it would be really public and people might demand [Hammond’s] resignation as supervisor completely.”

Asked if they knew Mr. Becker voted against the creation of the position, all seemed universally surprised. No one I spoke with had heard his “no” vote, and only one offered anything further.

“I knew he was really struggling with that decision.”

Some supervisors wondered – and I certainly wonder – if Mr. Hammond was absent last week to avoid abstaining from the vote. After all, that would certainly have drawn attention to the resolution. But in the end, the vote tally gave it away.

So why hadn’t Mr. Becker removed Mr. Hammond from SW&R in the first place?

“I never dreamed in a million years that anyone in my administration would – in actuality or perception – use their position with the county for personal gain,” Becker said.

On the Dec. 4 Board of Supervisors meeting, asked if the Solid Waste Department was looking at Mr. Hammond to fill a vacancy, DiVeronica responded in the affirmative and said Mr. Hammond was the best-qualified individual for the job at the landfill.

“The county is lucky to get him,” DiVeronica said, adding that Mr. Hammond would likely begin employment in January.

At that same meeting, Mr. Hammond said he had not voted in committee on the position that he was expected to fill.

I spent a few hours in Wampsville New Year’s Eve day reviewing minutes of the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee. The minutes from several meeting dates I sought were missing altogether, and there were no executive session minutes at all included in the documents I reviewed for 2009.

It would seem the creation of the position would be a matter of public policy, and since the employment, promotion, etc., of a specific person was allegedly not discussed, the topic would not be eligible for executive session.

Whatever the case, the minutes I reviewed – dating back to July, never mentioned the planned creation of any position to train someone to assume the duties of Mr. Wolff.

Someone recently commented on a local news website that ‘something stinks in Wampsville, and it isn’t the landfill.’ A few weeks ago I would have pointed out that the landfill isn’t in Wampsville.

Now I would say something might stink up there, but it’s not the facility. Whether the matter was handled by the book, actual or perceived, Mr. Hammond was in the position of having insider information on not only the direction of the committee’s actions, but also of being privy to information that may have or could in the future benefit himself or his employer.

This matter was handled badly by a number of us. Sometimes it takes a little embarrassment to improve accountability.

Sadly, in this particular case, the poor decisions of one or two reflects on the character of an entire board of 19. It’s too bad because we’ve got a pretty decent barrel of apples there.

Martha E. Conway is Managing Editor for the Madison County Courier. She can be reached at 315.813.0124 or by emailing Martha@m3pmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/marthaeconway or become a friend on Facebook at http://facebook.com/meconway.

2 Comments on "The Human Condition: We all fall down"

steve moore on Wed, 27th Jan 2010 3:14 pm

A lot about politics is about favors, it seems that’s true even here locally.

chester on Thu, 18th Mar 2010 10:00 am

ms conway you obivously have a problem with mr hammond, he is employed by a private business and is the best man for the job. so there seems to be no problem.you seem to want to start trouble where there is none.

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The Human Condition: We all fall down

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