By Mary Jane Pitt
The Village Board accepted the resignation – for the purpose of retirement -- of longtime Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator John Jones at its meeting on October 21. Jones has also been serving as the village’s Department of Public Works Superintendent for the last several years. In all, he’s worked for the village for 37 years.
Deputy Mayor Jim DiSalvo made the motion to accept the retirement, saying it was with “deep appreciation”.
“Anytime we call, no matter the time, he is there,” DiSalvo said. “No one has that much dedication.”
But while he’ll now be considered retired (as of October 31), the next action the board took at the meeting was to hire him back, in a part-time capacity, as DPW Superintendent. For that position, he’ll be paid $33,000, which is the amount New York State retirees can earn from state municipalities post-retirement. He’ll take on his new position as of November 1.
Mayor Joe D’Onofrio said the part-time position is “pending reclassification of the position by Orange County”. He called it “good news” that Jones is remaining with the village.
But, Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero did not seem to agree.
“I cannot vote for him to return for the simple reason that we do not need that position,” she said.
Her concern was that also on the agenda the board was asked to approve David Hurst as Public Works Supervisor, at a salary of $89,000 annually, with no overtime. That was approved and was effective October 24.
“We don’t need two supervisors in DPW,” Guerrero said, looking at the audience. “We can’t afford the salary, to be paid for by you. To manage your money well we should not have two supervisors.”
She also took exception to the fact that, as a retiree, Jones will also receive his benefits and part of his salary (“he’s been earning $120,000 a year for the last three years,” she said) from the village. “People need to understand what is going on,” Guerrero said.
In a third personnel matter, the resignation of village full-time senior auto mechanic, Tim Green, was also accepted, effective October 18. He left his position to take a job with VRI, the private company which now runs both the Highland Falls Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants. However, immediately following the acceptance of his resignation, the board – Guerrero voting no – rehired Green, at a rate of $40 per hour, to serve as a part-time mechanic, effective October 22.
That drew a little bit of comment from the audience at the meeting (“you’re bleeding us dry,” resident Michael Joyce yelled). But, DiSalvo explained that the changes are all actually saving the village money because two full-time employees are coming off the payroll and being replaced by two part-time employees.
“We’re going to try this arrangement out to see if it works,” DiSalvo said, explaining that Green will work on village vehicles as needed.
“This is wrong,” Guerrero said. “I’m really curious how he plans to balance the work.”
In another matter Guerrero disagreed with, the board voted 4-1 to spend $58,945.12 from a reserve fund to purchase a police car.
“We’re broke, it’s irresponsible,” she said.
DiSalvo argued that the village has reserve accounts for just that reason – to be able to make purchases without borrowing.
“We’re replacing the oldest vehicle in the fleet,” he said.
In other business from the meeting, the board approved a car show hosted by the Chamber of Commerce for Sunday, Nov. 3; paid bills and claims in the amount of $609,273; and passed a resolution asking the Orange County Legislature to exempt the property containing the village’s municipal water system from county real property taxes for the year 2026.
The board also spent about an hour listening to final comments on several zoning changes they are looking at. At the end of that, they closed the hearing to verbal comments, but allowed written comments to be submitted until 4 p.m. on November 1. The entire meeting, including the public hearing, can be viewed on the village website, highlandfallsny.org.