On July 16th at the last Hamburg Town Council Meeting ,Tom Quatroche objected to the appointment of Carmen Kesner and Captain Mike Williams to the respective temporary positions as Chief of Police and Assistant Chief of Police. Tom told the public his objection was because Supervisor Walters sprung the issue on the Town Council at the last minute and Tom and “Dicky” Smith were never given the opportunity to discuss the issue or interview Carmen or Mike for the position because of the short time frame. They also claimed they were unaware of the forthcoming appointments and were blocking the appointments until they had a chance to speak to both Carmen and Mike. The facts are quite different.
Hamburg First has acquired internal memo’s showing that Supervisor Walters, via Bob Coffey, notified and informed both Quatroche and Smith at least one month prior to the issue being brought to a resolution before the Town Council. On June 19th Human Resources Manager, Bob Coffey, sent a memo to Mark Cavalcoli, Tom Quatroche, and Richard Smith about the process of the appointment and specifically designated Carmen Kesner as the acting Chief of Police as per town policy.
Supervisor Walters also forwarded the memo by email to all the Councilmen. A copy of the memo and the e-mail are following. I must say I have never been so mad at a councilman. I would never have expected Tom Quatroche to say such a bold face lie to the town residents. Read the information for yourselves and form your own conclusions.
This is just another example of the resistance that the Supervisor is facing in the Town Board. We need to get some more members on that board that will vote WITH Mr. Walters. The status quo is not working; tax and spend is the root cause of a failing Empire State. We need to vote wisely.
Where does it state that Mike Wiliams will be appointed Assistant Chief in the memos that you have posted? I see alot of information about ways the Town Supervisor could attempt to circumvent NYS Civil Service Law, but I don’t see a single mention of Mike Williams being appointed as acting assistant Chief. I think if anything, the memos you have posted serve as an obvious indictiment on the Town Supervisor for attempting to find ways to circumvent NYS Law (as he obviously instructed Mr. Coffey to research ways to avoid the active Civil Service List in order to appoint who he wants regardless of law), but I don’t see how your post shows Tom Quatroche to be a liar.
If you would have attended the Town Board meeting, you would have heard exactly what Tom said. He told the audience that he had no idea that anyone was picked for the positions. In reality he had almost a month to interview or get in contact with the candidates and the others involved in the process. He lied about what he was told and what he knew.