How and Where Do They Find These People? Is Arkansas Next? (And Other Tales Of Staffing Woes)

 

It was three Tuesdays ago while I was waiting in the parking lot of the Police & Court building for City Court Judge John Connor to arrive that I noticed a new-looking black Audi with MASSACHUSETTS license plates pull into the lot and park.  A well-dressed, middle-aged woman with a briefcase got out of the car and proceeded to enter the building.  She looked very lawyerly to me; certainly not a defendant.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later inside the courtroom, there was the same lawyerly woman sitting up front in the only chair at the table reserved for the Columbia County Assistant DA, the attorney representing "the people of New York State."  I wondered what road she drove on that morning to enter New York from Massachusetts.

Within 5 minutes, I had been introduced to the two Columbia County public defenders present in the court, one of them a male by the name of Essen.  The other defender, a woman whose name I do not recall, had entered the parking lot on foot just 15 minutes or so prior.  With Judge Connor in his chair at 9:10, he called out a name and the first defendant of the day approached the bench, taking a seat next to Essen. The first words out of judge Connor's mouth were directed at Essen, no more than 12 feet away:  "And who are you?" he asked.  (It might have been "What's your name, sir?)

Apparently, Judge Connor was just as unfamiliar with the two public defenders prepared to represent more than 15 defendants as everyone else in the room was, including me.  Needless to say, the two were newbies.

Two weeks later, this past Tuesday morning, also waiting in the court's parking lot for judge Connor to arrive, things got even weirder. I watched as Essen, the public defender being paid by our Columbia County, pulled his car into the lot, parked, and went inside the building. While there was no license plate on the front of his not-so-shiny but nonetheless sporty silver convertible, there was a plate on the back. That plate just so happened to be issued by the State of FLORIDA.

No more than 5 minutes later, at about 9:00, a grey Honda pulled into a parking space near Essen's car. Essen's partner, arriving on wheels this time, stepped out of the car, grabbed her briefcase and went inside the building to help defend locals charged with all sorts of violations, DWI's, misdemeanors, and whatnot. Her car had two license plates, both of them issued by the State of NEW JERSEY.

There were three county employees doing the business of defending and prosecuting in the city court and not one of them had a NEW YORK STATE license plate displayed on their vehicles.

While on the subject of apparent staffing issues at the county level, I recently read something of interest in the minutes of last month's meeting of the Columbia County Public Works Committee. During the Solid Waste portion of the meeting, CCSWD Director Wendy Madsen informed the committee of two staffing-related issues at the Greenport transfer station facility, the county's central and busiest waste facility. You might even call the Greenport station -- one of 7 in the county* -- the CCSWD's headquarters; Wendy and her two clerks work from a small building on the site.  Even if you've never been to the station to drop off waste, you can imagine that it takes more than a few tough workers to keep that place running smoothly. The garbage and recycling never stop arriving six days a week, it often stinks to high hell in the summer, and there's a whole lot of it to pack up and ship out.  Quickly.

Here is what is written in the minutes, found on the County Supervisor's web page.

Employee Updates

The department lost 2 PT employees this summer as they passed away.

One part-time employee resigned.

During May's Public Works Committee meeting, Director Madsen put forth two resolution requests related to staffing following (or in anticipation of) two retirements.  One was for "authorization to fill one budgeted Full Time Senior Account Clerk at $51,784."  The other request was for "authorization to fill one budgeted Full Time Senior Clerk at $45,090."  Both of those positions appear to have been filled.  

Also in May, the price of each of the three sizes of garbage bags the CCSWD offers to the public rose by one dollar.

Last month, the Director of the Columbia County Highway Department, Anthony DeMarco, also offered a staffing update for the committee.  Here is a summary of what Mr. DeMarco said, taken from the minutes. 

Personnel Update:

Two (2) employees out on worker's comp. 

Two (2) employees out on extended medical leave. 

One (1) employee out on a leave of absence. 

One (1) employee has been terminated. 

One (1) employee has retired.

* Until recently, the CCSWD operated 8 so-called convenience transfer stations throughout the county (Greenport is not considered one).   Two are now closed for good -- Gallatin and New Lebanon -- and more may be on the way.