Contrary to an assertion by Dennis Bassett, chairman of the board for Western Regional OTB, Erie County officials believe a request to add an Erie County representative to the CEO search committee is timely.
On Wednesday, The Batavian received a copy of a letter sent by Erie County Executive Marc Poloncarz to Bassett asking that Timothy Callan, currently representing Erie County on the OTB board, be appointed to the board.
On Tuesday, Bassett told The Batavian he wasn't going to add Callan to the committee because he has confidence in the current committee as it is comprised, and too much progress has already been made in the process.
A spokesman for Poloncarz, Peter Anderson, claimed Erie County wasn't informed a search committee was formed until this past week.
"This request is not late," Anderson said in response to a set of email questions from The Batavian. "Dr. Callan was only informed of the hiring process at last week’s OTB meetings, and he briefed the County Executive earlier this week. The process has been opaque to many of the corporation’s directors, including Dr. Callan."
However, at OTB's June meeting, Callan was present and cast a vote opposing negotiations to buy out the contracts of CEO Henry Wojtaszek, CFO Jackie Leach, and VP of Operations William White. That resolution also authorized Bassett to form a search committee.
The Batavian recorded the motion's reading at the June meeting, which was read by Elliott Winter, Niagara County's representative on the board. The motion states, "Dennis Bassett is authorized to execute the renegotiation contracts for the corporation and to immediately assemble a search committee."
Callan's "no" vote is also recorded, confirming his presence at the meeting.
Anderson did not respond on Thursday for clarification of his response, given the contradiction in timelines.
The letter from Poloncraz touted Callan's high-level government experience as a qualification for inclusion on the committee but did not specify any private-sector business experience.
Anderson said there is no need for business experience to hire a chief executive.
"Erie County is a nearly $2 billion annual operation, which Dr. Callan has overseen both as deputy budget director and deputy comptroller," Anderson said. "Western Region OTB is not a private business and is, in fact, an NYS-regulated public entity. It is ludicrous to insinuate that a lack of private-sector business experience precludes Dr. Callan from the search process."
More than $1 billion passes through Batavia Downs annually, generating more than $86 million in revenue and leading to a profit of more than $10 million paid to municipalities.
Bassett has repeatedly promised, as board chair, to run Batavia Downs as a business, given the importance of its remaining competitive in the marketplace, so it can continue to generate profits to the benefit of its shareholders (the municipalities).
In early July, Bassett told The Batavian, "There are a number of municipalities that need Batavia Downs to be successful," Bassett said. "I mean, their budgets need for us to continue to generate revenues for them so we can help them do things that they would like to do in their own municipalities. They are not interested in us playing politics. They need for us to make good business decisions. As long as I'm the board chair and I will be chair for the next three and a half years, we are going to look at the right business decisions and how we can move this organization forward. And that's not going to be politically motivated."
Bassett, a Democrat representing Monroe County on the board, has a solid business background. In 2021, he retired as the director of Customer Operations at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics in Rochester. He's held various executive-level positions at Bausch and Lomb and Eastman Kodak Company.
The Batavian suggested that Poloncarz’s letter could be read to express a lack of confidence in Bassett and that he wasn't qualified to run the search committee. We asked what defect with the current committee Erie County is trying to cure with its request.
"The current committee lacks representation from the corporation’s largest member, Erie County," Anderson said. "As noted above, Western Region OTB is public, quasi-governmental entity, and Dr. Callan is a known subject matter expert in governmental management and financial procedures."
On Wednesday, Bassett said Callan will participate in the hiring process when he votes on a candidate to fill the CEO role.
Bassett has pledged not to let politics enter into the CEO hiring process, even promising not to inquire about the party affiliation of candidates. The Batavian asked Anderson if Poloncarz/Callan/Erie County was willing to make the same pledge.
Anderson did not make such an explicit pledge, and he did not respond to a follow-up email requesting a more explicit pledge.
He said in his first response, "Erie County’s objective is to find the most qualified candidate possible to lead Western Region OTB for the purposes of maximizing returns to the taxpayers of Erie County. Period."
After the June meeting, The Batavian emailed Callan to ask him why he voted against the buyout/search committee resolution, and he did not respond. So we asked Anderson why Callan voted against it.
"There continue to be outstanding legal and ethical questions regarding the golden parachutes authorized for Henry Wojtaszek and other senior Western Region OTB officials," Anderson said. "Such buyouts are not considered a best practice and, in fact, are illegal for NYS ABO-regulated entities."
Bassett, under the advice of the OTB legal council, has publicly stated that Western Regional OTB is not an NYS ABO-regulated entity.
Anderson is apparently referring to NYS Public Authority Law Section 43-A, which deals with severance packages for at-will employees of public authorities and limits the payout of any severance to three months of salary.
Bassett said Western OTB is a public benefit corporation organized under the NYS Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law and, therefore, not subject to the Authority Law.
"The severance pay limits only apply to employees under Chapter 43-a," Bassett said. "The same is true of Henry Wojtaszek. As such, the New York State Severance Pay Limitations Act does not apply to Mr. White Miss Leach or to Mr. Henry Wojtaszek."
Anderson said the payouts are not a "best practice" in the business world. Bassett, with 51 years of corporate experience, says they are. (This reporter has received two contract buyouts as an executive with corporations during his career, and in both cases, when adjusted for inflation and relative executive positions, they were comparable to the buyouts offered to the OTB executives.)
In New York, all authorities, not just OTBs, similar to private businesses, are authorized, if not expected, to operate as businesses and follow standard business practices based on a ruling in a 1958 lawsuit, Civil Service Forum vs. New York City Transit Authority.
Authorities have the power to do all things "necessary or convenient to carry out its purposes," and "unlike other agencies performing governmental functions, (the authority) is required to run the transit system like a business, in that its facilities must be operated on a self-sustaining basis. Recognized business practices should be permitted."
In 1976, the Office of the Comptroller issued an opinion regarding the Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation and came to the same conclusion.
The establishing statute for OTBs gives the board the power to "appoint officers, agents, employees ... and to fix their compensation ... and to "make contracts ... and execute all instruments necessary or convenient to accomplish its corporate purposes."
In a follow-up email, The Batavian asked Anderson to address contradictions between his statement and the evidence of standard business practices, as previously reported, but he has not responded.
