Batavia Daily News for Tuesday: Council hears from friends of plumbing inspector

Batavia City Council's latest public spectacle has its fair share of drama and opinion. On the stage for this act is the story of the plumbing inspector, Barb Toal, whose friends claim was wronged by the city by being demoted. In the past few weeks, the Daily News has featured three articles on this topic, plus a lengthy and impassioned letter to the editor.

But before we get into the details of last night's Council meeting, let's step back and look at the issue from a distance. Back in March, Joanne Beck wrote an article for the Daily detailing the city's decision to demote Barb Toal from full- to part-time in her position as the city's plumbing inspector. At the time, the Council was looking to cut as much as they could from the budget to lower the tax rate and start chipping away at the city's deficit.

At that time, Council was working out the plans for the police dispatch consolidation, trimming down a couple of city posts—including Toal's—and reducing funding in some other areas, as well. Beck wrote: "Those moves are to get the tax rate increase down from an initial 10 percent to about 8.5 percent for a difference of $12 a year less on a home assessed at $85,000."

Toal, then, was informed in March that she would be reduced to part-time—City Manager Jason Molino issued a statement to Council that said Toal was informed even earlier, in January. So why all the uproar now? Why was the Council boardroom "filled" with people protesting Toal's demotion last night, as Dan Fischer reported, and not in March? One of our readers put it succinctly in a comment left on our post yesterday: "Isn't this a dead issue." The decision was made nearly nine months ago.

Toal herself made some noise about the decision back then. She told the Council that the decision could affect public health. From that article in March:

"It's about the future of public health and welfare of the citizens of Batavia. I think it will have an adverse affect in the long run," Toal said. "It saddens my heart how safe and secure our world we live in is, and that the city has forgotten our public health ... that they think the position is only valid part of the time. There's much more to the plumbing inspector job than counting the number of permits issued each year."

Since then, we've heard nothing, until a few weeks ago, when Beck wrote another article in advance of the actual demotion. That was followed by a letter to the editor asking people to support Barb Toal. Then came Monday's article by Beck in advance of last night's meeting, and the article today wrapping up that meeting. That's a lot of coverage all at once. So why weren't more efforts made in the meantime if folks feel so strongly about this—and they certainly seem so: seven people spoke up about Toal's position at the meeting last night, according to Beck. I've never seen even three people speak up at a meeting on a single topic, if even two.

In Beck's article from today, she writes:

(Toal) passed a Civil Service test for the job description more than 19 years ago and has continuously kept her certification up to date, she said. She didn't need to take another test to prove she's qualified, she said. Candidates for the code enforcement job had to pass a Civil Service test. Toal did not make it to final rounds or interviews.

But if Toal has already passed a Civil Service test, as she says, why does she say that she doesn't need to take a test to prove her qualifications? Wouldn't her qualifications already have been proven? Furthermore, Toal has already gone through the certification for code enforcement, and she expressed interest in taking the full-time code enforcement position. Instead, that position was given to someone else, who has not yet gone through the certification. Why?

Don't expect any answers from the City Council. They have been "muzzled"—Fischer's word—by George Van Nest, the city attorney, who claims that if anyone from Council talks about the issue, it could open the city up to a lawsuit for violating the privacy of personnel.

Some people have raised the (very good) point that the bottom line here is: Do we need a full-time plumbing inspector? If no, then Toal has to deal with the demotion. It's in the best interest of the city.  But that point was made—or at least argued—in January, when the staff was first informed of cuts, according to Molino, and again in March, when the decision was finalized by Council! Now, this seems to have become a different issue: Barb Toal should have been given the position of full-time code enforcement officer. That seems to be what she's saying—judging from today's article, anyhow. Instead, that position went to someone else. Why? That seems to be the question underlying this whole brouhaha. If Toal had the qualifications, the credentials and the experience, why wasn't she kept on in that position? Couldn't the city just as easily have hired a part-time plumbing inspector who hadn't already put in so many years of service and given Toal the full-time slot?

Well, quite simply, Molino told Council that Toal was never on the Civil Service list for the position of code enforcer. So that's that then. Right? Right...?

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