By Patrick Lakamp
November 20, 2011
County Executive-elect Mark C. Poloncarz announced Saturday the leaders of a transition team that will help him sort through hundreds of job applicants to determine whom to hire.
Poloncarz said his transition team leaders reflect the county’s “incredible diversity” and offer expertise in business, law, health and the arts.
Poloncarz selected Michael L. Joseph, president of Clover Management, an Amherst-based real estate management company, as chairman.
“We want to give Mark what he needs to hit the ground running,” Joseph said during a news conference at which Poloncarz named his transition team’s executive committee members and announced a website seeking resumes for county employment ( www2.erie.gov/transition ).
Poloncarz, a Democrat who has been county comptroller for six years, said he would rely less on the transition team for insight on the workings of county government than previous office holders probably did.
“I do have a strong grasp of Erie County government as the comptroller the past six years,” he said.
As for whom to hire, filling the 60 to 70 patronage jobs will probably be easier than in past years because of the economy.
“There are more people who need jobs,” Joseph said.
But challenges also await the transition team, Poloncarz said, after four years of the Collins administration’s “bogus budgeting.”
Poloncarz, for example, will have to recruit a county attorney to lead a legal department without a paralegal on staff.
Probation officers are kept busy shuffling paperwork that should be handled by administrative assistants, he said.
“Those are the things that make it difficult to govern,” Poloncarz said.
Joseph said the transition team would recommend the right people to serve in the Poloncarz administration.
“It’s not our intent to pay back political favors,” Joseph said.
Joseph said he asked Poloncarz, “how free are we to pick?”
“His answer to me was, ‘I want the right people,’ ” Joseph said.
Poloncarz, too, sought to downplay the importance of political connections for his upcoming hiring.
“The only way I’ll succeed as county executive is if I have the proper people in the right positions,” Poloncarz said.
And since Election Day, he said, he’s been busy saying “no” to people who have asked for jobs for which they’re not qualified.
“I’ve had to tell a lot of people no,” Poloncarz said.
Those who are expecting a return to “the good old days” of county hiring like 20 or 30 years ago will be disappointed, Poloncarz said.
“I’m not looking to grow government,” he said.
The transition team will include eight subcommittees, and more people will be appointed to these subcommittees.
In addition to Joseph, Poloncarz announced these appointments to the transition team’s executive committee:
• Bernard Tolbert, the former special agent in charge of the Buffalo office of the FBI who later served as chief of security for the National Basketball Association;
• Cindy Abbott Letro, the former “AM Buffalo” co-host who now serves as chairwoman of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Society board of trustees;
• Robert Fine, founder and chairman of the Hurwitz & Fine law firm;
• Toni Vazquez, owner of Urban Family Practice, a small medical facility serving thousands of patients on Buffalo’s lower West Side;
• James Eagan, executive vice president and partner of Midwood Financial Services and a Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority commissioner;
• Lisa Ludwig, owner of Free Fall Productions and managing director of Shakespeare in the Park;
• Frank Mesiah, president of the Buffalo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;
• Brenda McDuffie, president and chief executive officer of the Buffalo Urban League;
• Kenneth Peterson, executive vice president of WOH Government Solutions, which provides government relations services involving policy and public affairs;
• Patty Devinney, a nurse who is field coordinator for the Western New York Area Labor Federation;
• Alisa Lukasiewicz, special counsel for Phillips Lytle law firm and former corporation counsel for the city of Buffalo;
• Jonathan Rivera; vice president and branch manager for HSBC Bank USA and former aide to U. S. Rep. Brian Higgins;
• Jennifer Parker, founder and president of Black Capital Network, a consulting company that provides public relations, marketing, planning and technology services to businesses, and former chairwoman of the Buffalo Niagara Convention&Visitors Bureau.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/erie-county/article641327.ece