North Tonawanda Water Superintendent Paul Drof will not be splitting his time with the City of Niagara Falls in a bid to divide his expertise — and his salary — between both cities.
Common Council President Catherine Schwandt issued a statement Friday saying that she and Mayor Rob Ortt decided Drof is worth more to residents in the Lumber City by staying right where he is, despite a potential for cost savings under the plan.
The Niagara Falls Water Board’s bid to pay part of Drof’s salary in return for part of his time will benefit his current employer less than it would those in Niagara Falls, the statement concludes.
Drof had recently emerged as the leading candidate for consolidated oversight when the board began searching for a person to oversee operations in both cities.
“Due to the age and condition of water systems in Niagara Falls, there are real concerns here in North Tonawanda that our city’s employee would have been devoting the bulk of his time to another municipality, and little of his attention to our water customers,” Schwandt wrote.
“I was open to the idea of reviewing it,” Ortt said Friday. “I think we’re at a point where if there’s a potential for saving taxpayers money you have to look at it ... but when you consider Paul would be working half the hours in North Tonawanda, is it a savings or are you just getting less productivity?
Ortt said once planners got down to brass tacks the half and half time sharing started to look like less than that for his city, mainly because of the ailing infrastructure in Niagara Falls, which it seems would certainly demand more of Drof’s attention.
As for where that leave the city’s involvement in future shared services arrangements, Ortt said results of the Tri-City water study, funded using grant money more than a year ago, will soon be released.
“I felt it would be prudent to see what that report says before entering into something like this ...,” he said. “I’m hopeful that there will be something positive to come out of that but at this point there were more concerns and the collective decision was to not pursue this option.”
Drof could not be reached for comment Friday, though Ortt said he was made aware of the decision prior to the announcement.
Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.
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