Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. directors this morning approved the creation of a director of Information Technology position at the Park Road entertainment venue.
The board, at its monthly meeting, passed a pair of resolutions concerning IT – the first to establish the department and a director and the second to appoint Jeff Magee of Rochester to the director post.
Magee, who has served as an IT consultant for the corporation, will receive an annual salary of $99,000.
“Jeff’s actually been affiliated with this company for about 30 years,” said WROTB President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek. “So, he is someone who we utilized on an outside basis to consult with and he’s a specialist in the area.”
Wojtaszek said the board decided to replace an IT employee who left the company with Magee, making him a full-time department head.
“It’s almost a neutral budget item because what we're paying Jeff equals what we were already paying him previously as a consultant together with the salary of the gentleman who we're not replacing,” he explained.
Magee may have to fulfill his duties in a makeshift work area for a little while due to the fact that a pipe burst on Sept. 12 and caused serious flooding to the upstairs administration area and also to the gaming floor downstairs.
The board grant permission for Wojtaszek and his staff to make necessary repairs to the damaged floors and furnishings under an “emergency declaration” – without passing a formal resolution at this time.
“We’ll address this and then we’ll bring all the things together (to the board) and they’ll approve everything,” Wojtaszek said, adding that all work will be done “in accordance with our bidding procedures.”
In another personnel matter, the board voted to discontinue providing cell phones to employees, opting instead to authorize a monthly stipend to those employees needing to use a cell phone for business purposes.
