After a brief discussion Monday evening, City Council agreed to forward a residency waiver to its next business meeting for a vote.
The residency requirement for Fire Chief Josh Graham was to be in effect within six months of his hiring, which is up this month. Apparently, Graham requested an extension of that waiver, and most of council seemed to be in agreement to grant it.
Councilman Bob Bialkowski was the only one to question whether the chief used a city vehicle to drive to his home in Wyoming County, and Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said yes, as is the case for department heads.
When asked by The Batavian why the city was granting a waiver extension, Jankowski said that it was temporary.
“Until the situation changes. I can’t discuss the reasoning as to why,” he said. “I have no concerns, and if you come to work on time and you’re on-call and you’re here in a reasonable amount of time, I don’t have a problem with that.”
Council had at one time discussed widening the circle of territory for where city department heads could live and maintain residency requirements, Jankowski said. Other city officials have been granted such extensions of living outside of the city, including former and current police chiefs and assistant city managers, including the most recent one, Erik Fix, who lives in Le Roy.
Jankowski said he felt that as long as people made it to work on time and didn’t mind a longer commute and dealing with bad weather, it was ok with him.
But others disagreed, so they now take such situations on a case-by-case basis, he said.
By no means will there be a carte blanche residency waiver system, he said. This is just one of those individual cases, and council wants to work with a valuable employee, he said.
“He’s doing a great job,” Jankowski said of the fire chief.
File photo of Eugene Jankowski Jr. by Joanne Beck.
