Frank Ciaccia

Press release:

Assistant County Manager Frank Ciaccia announced he is retiring after 20 years with Genesee County government.

His retirement is effective May 30.

He stated his decision to retire was motivated by his desire to escape these Western New York winters and spend more time in warmer climates to enjoy the outdoor activities and sports he says are too hard to squeeze into three months up here with his present schedule.

He explained, "I am retiring more from the winters than I am from the job."

He also said this will give him more time to visit his brother and his nieces and nephews in Tennessee.

Mr. Ciaccia said while his current position is challenging, he wants to pursue new challenges. One of those challenges is he has accepted an appointment to teach a graduate course in Public Policy and Administration at Buffalo State starting in the Fall semester. He said he is "pretty excited" about starting a new career of teaching at the college level.

Mr. Ciaccia, a Bergen resident, is Genesee County's first and only assistant county manager.

He came to Genesee County in 1992 after 15 years in Monroe County government. With his election to the Rochester School Board in 1972, he is completing a 40-year career in public service.

In addition to his responsibilities as assistant county manager, Mr. Ciaccia is also the county's STOP-DWI coordinator, director of the county's Facilities Management Department, the county's ADA coordinator, fair housing officer and corporate compliance officer. 

County Manager Jay Gsell said he will begin the process to fill Mr. Ciaccia's position.

If you get busted for DWI in Genesee County -- assuming you're convicted -- you're going to wind up paying out a good chunk of change that officials hope will help prevent a future DWI arrest, if not a tragic accident.

All of the fines collected from people convicted of DWI in Genesee County goes into a Stop DWI program administered by Assistant Court Manager Frank Ciaccia.

On Tuesday, Ciaccia presented a 2010-2011 budget for Stop DWI to the Legislature's Ways and Means Committee.

The budget of $262,000 distributes funds to the Sheriff's Office, Batavia Police, the courts, probation, prosecution and GCASA and are used by those agencies on either education about drinking and driving or to enforce existing laws.

Ciaccia thinks the programs, especially the education programs, have been working.

DWI arrests have been steadily declining for years, Ciaccia said. From 2008 to 2009, DWI arrests in Genesee County dropped from 356 to 321.

"More people just know not to drink and drive," Ciaccia said.

Stop DWI is funded entirely by DWI conviction fines, and 100 percent of those fines go to Stop DWI programs.