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Lansing Town Supervisor Scott Pinney wasted no time in addressing problems he says plague the Planning Department.  Pinney read a detailed resolution proposing major changes in the structure and operation of the department in Wednesday's Town Board meeting.  The proposal calls for the elimination of the Environmental Planner position, replacing it with an Engineer/Planner/Department Supervisor post.  Additionally he called for the merging of the current Code Enforcement Officer and Building Inspector positions. 

"For over two years the Town Board, individual Town Board and Planning Board members have been receiving complaints from developers and members of the public about planning board process, procedure, and service," Pinney read.  Department issues within the Planning Department has incurred many excess expenses and liabilities arising from these complaints.  Many of these complaints have been deemed founded."

At Wednesday's Town Board meeting (Left to right) Town Clerk Bonnie boles, Town Attorneys Lorraine Moynihan Schmitt and guy Krogh, Supervisor Scott Pinney, Deputy Supervisor COnnie Wilcox, Councilmen Marty Christopher, matt Besemer, Bud Shattuck

Pinney, who as a local businessman has had run-ins with the department himself, said that the problems in the department are structural and don't reflect on individuals working there.  While Pinney had talked to employees about their current roles and knew that a restructuring was a possibility, Environmental Planner Darby Kiley was broadsided by the resolution coming only two weeks after a Personnel committee was formed to look into that and other matters, including restructuring the Town Constable position.  The resolution to look into restructuring her department was passed unanimously by the board.

In December of 2006 the Town adopted a new organization for what was then the Codes Office.  It anticipated four new positions to be overlayed above the existing building codes employees.  At the top would be a Planner, who would supervise the department with three assistants including an environmental planner.  The code enforcement officer, building inspector, and department clerk would be below the planners in the hierarchy.


Kiley's background is in chemistry and environmental studies.  She has a Masters degree in Natural Resources from Cornell.  Before joining the town she worked for an environmental consulting firm in Salem, MA that specialized in administration of municipal grants.

The only way a municipality can change a civil service position is to eliminate it and create a new one to new specifications.  So while current employees won't be fired, if the board follows the plan outlined Wednesday their jobs will no longer exist.  The resolution says that they will be given first crack at town jobs that they apply for as jobs they are qualified to fill become available.

Pinney wants to create a new Engineer/Planner position that would explicitly also be the department head.  The person filling the new position would have degrees in civil engineering or civil planning.  He also proposed merging the code enforcement officer and building inspector positions, saying it would be more efficient and save the Town money.  That would impact Dick Platt, the current code enforcement officer and Lynn Day, the building inspector.


In an earlier discussion he suggested that an engineer hired for the new position might eventually become the Town Engineer, replacing T.G. Miller,  the consulting firm that currently fills that role.  At that time the town might consider hiring a planner.

Pinney said that management in the department has been weak and sporadic, but he attributed it to the structure of the department, rather than to the employees.  "Although there is a failure of supervision and management in the Planning Department, such finding does not and shall not reflect on any person in any position in the Planning Department,' Pinney read.  "Failure in the planning department is deemed to arise mainly from structural failures, including, but not limited to, incorrect job descriptions."

Among the problems has been a dysfunctional relationship between the Town and Planning boards.  At a joint meeting last year the boards squabbled like a disgruntled family.  The meeting was supposed to be for the purpose of discussing the future of growth and development in the town, the discussion quickly digressed into a nonproductive and uncomfortable complaint session.

Town Board members felt the Planning Board wasn't delivering on a mandate to recommend updates and changes to zoning ordinances.  Planning Board members felt they were not supported by the Town, and were being asked to more than they could accomplish without administrative help in the form of an intern who they hoped would collate a huge list of proposed changes.

Pinney proposed looking at Planning Board issues once Planning Department issues have been solved.  The resolution asked the Town Board's permission to pursue the development of the new job descriptions.

"It states it pretty clearly," said Councilman Bud Shattuck.  "We've talked about this for the last couple of years.  We realized there were problems.  In December we decided we needed to do something more for it, and it seems like a followup on what we talked about is something we need to do."

Councilman Marty Christopher confirmed that the resolution is to set guidelines for the new Personnel Committee as a first step.  "Once this is set in place we're going to continue by looking at the Planning Board, too," he added.  "I want to go on record as saying that that should be the next stage of this process, that we look at the Planning Board very seriously."

Former Planning Board Chairwoman Nancy Longto endorsed the proposal, including the plan to review the Planning Board itself.  Longto was at the meeting to present a list of proposed changes to the zoning law in the form of a chart that the Town Board had been waiting for.  The chart included a hundred proposed changes to the law.  "It's been quite a process," she said.  "Every formal response you see in this chart has been discussed at least three times by the Planning Board over the last year."

Shattuck recommended that if the new positions are put in place and filled, that the old positions be kept on the books in anticipation of a time when the department is ready to expand under the new structure.

"This is the direction that we have all discussed several times," said Deputy Supervisor Connie Wilcox.  "I think we have to look at what's best for the Town."

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