After members of the Bremen budget committee criticized Bremen Selectman Patrick Ginnaty for what they alleged was a shirking of his duties, Ginnaty has announced his intention to resign from the Bremen Board of Selectmen after more than three years on the board.
The allegations were made at a meeting of the Bremen Budget Committee on Jan. 25.
“He never attends meetings, he doesn’t sign the warrants, but we keep paying him,” Budget Committee member Hank Nevins said.
The budget committee then called for the selectmen to put in place an official job description for selectmen that would allow the town to dock pay from selectmen that do not fulfill their duties.
“This isn’t punitive, but there should be some system in place to enforce our expectations of a selectman,” Wilson said.
Ginnaty, who did not attend the Jan. 25 meeting, responded to the allegations during a phone interview on Jan. 26. “I’ve attended as many selectmen’s meeting as anyone on the board during my tenure, and I’ve attended as many Budget Committee meetings as any selectmen,” Ginnaty said.
According to the minutes from the selectmen’s meetings, during Ginnaty’s tenure on the board, since his first meeting on April 5, 2007, Ginnaty has missed five meetings. During that same period, Chairman Wendy Pieh has missed eight meetings, former Selectman Bob Miller missed 10 meetings. Selectman Tom Kostenbader has not missed a meeting since joining the board at the end of last year.
During much of that period, Pieh was also serving as a State Representative.
What the attendance records do not show is the selectmen’s work on projects outside the regular meetings.
At the Jan. 25 meeting, members of the budget committee said Ginnaty has not adequately performed the tasks he’s been assigned outside of the regular meetings. They referenced an application that Ginnaty was supposed to submit for a $35,000 state grant. Ginnaty failed to submit the application and the town did not receive the money, board members said.
Pieh’s comments at the meeting seemed to allude to similar problems with Ginnaty’s work. “I’ve felt like I’m the only selectman,” Pieh said at one point during the meeting, referencing the period when Pieh, Miller and Ginnaty were the three selectmen.
Pieh could not be reached for comment for this article.
In a Jan. 27 letter to the editor, Ginnaty, who serves as the town’s General Assistance Administer, addressed concerns about his work and furthered elaborated on his disappointment and surprise at the allegations.
“I have spent literally hundreds of hours, in various capacities, for Bremen,” Ginnaty wrote.
As to the Budget Committee meetings this year, the committee has held three meetings, including the joint Budget Committee/Board of Selectmen meeting on Jan. 25. Ginnaty did not attend any of the three meetings; Kostenbader attended all three; and Pieh attended only the joint meeting.
The joint meeting is the most important, Wilson said. At that meeting, the budget committee and the selectmen go over the school budget and the entire town budget line by line, and they discuss the philosophy for the town’s financial policy, Wilson said.
Ginnaty said that on Jan. 25 he was at home babysitting his special needs grandson during the meeting.
“Given the choice between fulfilling my obligations to my family and meeting with the Budget Committee, I think I made the right choice,” Ginnaty said.
Ginnaty said that with his familial obligations he wasn’t overly concerned about missing the joint meeting this year. “The selectmen had all their ducks in a row ahead of that meeting,” Ginnaty said.
“The other selectmen have been a larger presence at budget committee meetings and have shown more of an interest in being a part of the conversation this year,” Wilson said.
In his email, Ginnaty wrote, “Attending the meeting of an advisory board appointed by the selectmen was never a requirement previously… we appoint the board, we are not subject to their demands.”
In that email, Ginnaty announces his intention to step down from his position as selectman. “The person who described it to me as a ‘thankless job’ was not exaggerating.”
