Published: November 19, 2009 12:40 am      

UNITED WAY: O'Neil ousted by executive board

George O’Neil, who has served as the executive director of the United Way of the Tonawandas for 22 years, was terminated from his post Wednesday during a regular meeting of the group’s executive committee.

The move was effective immediately.

O’Neil told the News that the committee entered an executive session and when members returned, he was told his services were no longer required.

Bob Sondel, the group’s president, said the vote was 7-6 in favor of removal. He said they first gave O’Neil an opportunity to retire, which was declined.

O’Neil said he declined the retirement option because he wanted to remain with the organization and help the Tonawandas. Prior to his executive director post, he served as a United Way volunteer for 15 years.

“I said as long as I have my health, I want to remain here,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said he believes the action is revenge for last month’s vote by the Tonawanda group’s membership to opt out of a merger with the Niagara and Lockport United Ways to create a Greater Niagara United Way.

“Unfortunately, a few people pushing for this merger really didn’t like the way things turned out,” O’Neil said. “They went after the burr, which happens to be me.”

The merger was originally approved in February by Tonawanda’s membership, but O’Neil filed a complaint over the voting procedure with the state attorney general’s office, which ruled that a second vote must occur.

The Oct. 29 vote of 392 opposed to 116 in favor was a stark reversal of the February vote in which membership approved the plan by a 154-30 margin.

Both referendums featured several proxy votes that strongly tilted the results.

O’Neil questioned the process leading up the February vote, which he said included several special meetings that eventually led to authorization for the vote.

“They went ahead to secure people who contributed a dollar to the United Way and let them cast a ballot in favor of the merge,” O’Neil said. “I challenged that they were not qualified members.”

The October vote represented a truer poll of the members, O’Neil said, because volunteers and agency representatives secured proxy votes opposing the merger.

Sondel said there wasn’t one particular thing that led to the board’s recommendation to remove O’Neil. Instead, it was several factors that led the board to decide a new direction was needed.

“Some of his actions of late certainly came into play,” Sondel said. “But it was not just the result of the vote.”

However, Sondel said that several board members felt the United Way was becoming “stagnant” and believed that O’Neil wasn’t doing anything different. He noted that the organization’s annual campaign is down.

“Our goal for this year is lower than it has been in the last several years, and we think we need to start doing something different,” Sondel said, adding the quota is only at 52 percent.

O’Neil counters that they got off to a later start and there were plans to continue the campaign through February 2010. Last year’s campaign also ran into February. The Niagara United Way’s campaign has already ended, and Lockport’s stands at 92 percent, O’Neil added.

Sondel assured benefactors and contributors that it will be “business as usual” at the office, and the United Way will continue to raise funds to support its projects.

“If we don’t, it’s only going to hurt the community,” Sondel said.

According to Sondel, O’Neil’s removal won’t affect the Tonawanda group’s decision not to merge.

“The way it stands right now, we are a separate United Way, unless at some point in the future there’s a determination we merge into the new United Way,” Sondel said.

A search for a new executive director will begin immediately, Sondel said.

Contact night city editor John Hopkins at 693-1000, ext. 150.