The Niagara Falls Water Board (NFWB) is examining a change in its hiring practices to favor job seekers from the city.
But the proposal to grant hiring preferences to Falls residents triggered a fiery debate between Water Board Chair Richard Sirianni and Board Member Colleen Larkin during this week’s work session of the board.
Sirianni said the move to give hiring preferences to city residents was triggered by a decision in November by the Falls Civil Service Commission to change a long-standing practice of requiring individuals who take city civil service exams to live in the city. That change in the exam-taking policy was made after Mayor Robert Restaino appointed former Water Board Chair Nick Forster to head a newly revamped civil service commission.
Forster had been the mayor’s appointee to the water board but resigned in July before the end of his term, which was set to expire Dec. 31.
He left the board during a shake-up in leadership triggered by contentious negotiations with the water board’s labor unions. In addition to Foster’s departure, Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced her appointee on the board and the Falls City Council fired its representative.
The new water board majority adopted a policy requiring that many positions with the board would be subject to civil service exams as a way to increase employment among city residents. When the board began discussing a change in hiring practices to favor city residents, Larkin, an appointee of state Sen. Robert Ortt (R-North Tonawanda), interrupted with an expletive.
“This is bullt,” Larkin yelled. “We have people who are employed here who are not residents. We can not do this. This is not OK.”
Sirianni responded to Larkin by telling her that she, and a previous board majority, led by Forster, had created “problems” with a “friends and family” hiring policy.
“What’s caused this is the changes by the civil service commission and you hire unqualified people to work for the water board and they don’t live in the city,” Sirianni said, his voice rising. “You voted with the last chairman (Forster) who brought in lots of friends and family. You created the mess and we’re gonna correct the mess.”
The proposed changes in the hiring practices would apply only to jobs subject to a civil service exam. It would call for the creation of two lists of candidates, one made up of city residents and the other comprised of non-residents.
“If (the qualifications) are close, you always give the edge to the Niagara Falls resident,” Sirianni said. “They pay the rates, they pay the taxes.”
Board Member James Dean suggested that the policy apply only to new hires and should allow six months for non-residents seeking to be hired to move into the city. That policy would mirror one adopted by the Niagara Falls Board of Education.
In a shot at Sirianni, Larkin said that members of the water board should be required to be Falls residents. Sirianni lives in the Town of Niagara and is the highway superintendent there.