Just over six months after firing their number two executive, the Niagara Falls Water Board hired a new director of administrative services Monday evening.
But not without controversy.
A closely divided board voted 3-2 to hire Caleb Holman during a brief special meeting that saw the board’s two female members complain that the action passed over two better-qualified women candidates.
“This is a very sad day in the history of the Niagara Falls Water Board,” long-time member Renae Kimble said. “Here we go again. Where are our women managers and executives?”
Kimble said the board, which has held a series of special meetings in executive session during the month of March, to interview candidates for the administrative director’s post, chose Holman over two candidates, both women, with better qualifications, including higher-level college degrees and experience in human resources.
“It’s just a continuation of the Old Boys Club,” member Colleen Larkin said in opposing Holman’s hiring. “Again, a very bad day.”
Kimble told Board Chair Richard Sirianni and members James Dean and Matt Cole that “diversity matters.”
“Having different voices makes a company better,” she said. “This is very stale. I really hope that people will eventually see it. We need different voices that bring different viewpoints.”
The effort to address the depleted executive ranks at the water board has seen a firestorm of debate since the start of the year. At a Jan. 29 board meeting, an effort to hire Holman touched off a shouting match between Sirianni and Larkin that led to the board entering a more than hour-long executive session.
After that, the board began a new search for a director of administrative services, which included three special meetings and executive sessions to re-interview Holman and other candidates.
The administrative services post has been vacant since the end of September, when a new board majority, less than 24 hours after assuming control, approved the firing of the agency’s administrative director David San Lorenzo.
San Lorenzo’s firing was part of what became a continuing effort to shake up the water board’s executive ranks. In the final quarter of 2024, the new board leadership dismissed three department heads and none have been replaced before Holman.
In addition to San Lorenzo, the board released its safety director, John Accardo from his position on Dec. 31 and relieved Operations Executive David Conti of his duties as well. Sirianni has said the shuffling of the agency’s directors is intended to improve efficiency.