Months after leaving his six-figure job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., Henry Wojtaszek has landed a new position as a “relicensing attorney” for the Town of Lewiston.
Town board members agreed during a work session on Monday to hire Wojtaszek at a rate of $300 per hour to assist in an upcoming review of part of a 50-year federal relicensing agreement that provided the town with an allocation of low-cost power from the New York Power Authority.
Wojtaszek’s hiring came at the recommendation of Republican town supervisor Steve Broderick. It was approved in a 3-2 vote along party lines, with Republicans William Conrad, Rob Morreale and Jason Myers voting in favor and Democrats John Jacoby and Sarah Waechter voting against.
Broderick said he saw Wojtaszek at a recent fundraiser, told him about the town’s need for legal assistance with relicensing and Wojtaszek told him he was available. Broderick said the town’s private law firm, Seaman Law, “highly recommended” Wojtaszek’s hiring.
“It’s hard to find a good municipal attorney these days and Henry had the background,” Broderick said.
A New York Power Authority source said Wojtaszek’s engagement by the town may be related to what it described as “routine contract renewals” between the authority and the municipalities tied to the relicensing agreement.
The town, as part of the Niagara Power Coalition, negotiated a 50-year federal relicensing agreement for the continued operation of the Niagara Power Project that was finalized in 2007. The deal with the power authority included the town and six other coalition members: The City of Niagara Falls, the towns of Wheatfield and Niagara, and the Niagara Falls, Lewiston-Porter and Niagara-Wheatfield school districts.
Broderick said the coalition’s original agreement, which provides the town with 6.5 megawatts of hydropower that it can sell on the open market, is due for a review in September.
Broderick said Wojtaszek’s services are needed because the town’s two other attorneys, Tom Seaman and Al Bax, were too busy handling other matters to take on relicensing as well. He also said the coalition’s lead attorney, Mark Gabriele — who is the current attorney for the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency and who previously worked under Wojtaszek as a lead counsel for OTB — recommended all of the municipalities and school districts involved in relicensing talks engage legal representation of their own.
“I think this is one of those issues as far as the town is concerned that requires not only the legal expertise, but also knowing the political landscape. . . I think we need to be well represented,” Bax told council members during Monday’s work session.
Wojtaszek’s hiring, however, drew criticism.
Former state Sen. George Maziarz — a one-time Wojtaszek ally turned critic — questioned the hiring, calling it “unusual.”
“I just wonder if it’s not make-work for Henry,” Maziarz said. “He’s out of OTB now. I’m baffled by it.”
A former city attorney for North Tonawanda and a former chairman of the Niagara County Republican Party, Wojtaszek also previously served as a member of the Western New York Power Proceeds Allocation Board, which monitors the local distribution of funds the power authority derives from the sale of hydropower within a 30-mile economic development zone surrounding the generation plant.
Wojtaszek left OTB at the end of 2024, having secured a controversial buyout agreement that paid him a full year’s salary of $287,000. He started working for OTB as general counsel in 2010 before being elevated to the position of president and CEO in 2016. His buyout agreement received criticism from some Democratic state lawmakers who questioned its legality. The New York State Comptroller’s office announced earlier this year it would audit WROTB and its financial operations.
The Union-Sun & Journal and its news partner Investigative Post in Buffalo previously reported that Wojtaszek engaged in lavish spending during his final year in office, left OTB with a health insurance plan that has no end date, and was making more money in a year than Gov. Kathy Hochul, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, and his successor Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.
Wojtaszek had been considered a potential Republican candidate for mayor of North Tonawanda, his hometown. In February, he announced that he would not enter the race and endorsed former North Tonawanda police chief Tom Krantz in his bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Austin Tylec.
Wojtaszek did not return requests for further comment.
Investigative Post’s J. Dale Shoemaker contributed reporting.