OTB Official to be Appointed Southampton Town Administrator

The Southampton Town Board Republican-Conservative majority is expected to vote Tuesday to appoint an Off-Track Betting official from Aquebogue to head the town's business management department, but the town supervisor says the appointment violates town policy and overlooks local candidates for the job.

If the appoinment is carried through as planned at Tuesday evening's meeting of the town board, Russell Kratoville of Aquebogue, deputy comptroller of Suffolk Regional Off-Track Betting (OTB), will take over from outgoing town administrator Richard Blowes on Jan. 1. Blowes is retiring and will take a post in the Southampton Town Housing Authority.

The town board's Republican-Conservative bloc, composed of Republican Councilwoman Nancy Graboski, Republican Councilman Chris Nuzzi and Conservative Councilman Jim Malone announced their intention to replace Blowes with Kratoville in a press release Monday.

"Mr. Kratoville has a breadth of experience that includes all the functions of the Business Management/General Services Department he will oversee," Nuzzi was quoted as saying in the press release. "He is skilled in budget analysis, project forecasting, as well as internal audits and workplace efficiency."

Kratoville is an East End native and certified public finance officer who has served as a department director, financial administrator and Riverhead deputy town supervisor, according to the press release. Kratoville was interviewed for Southampton's deputy comptroller position two years ago, and the town board majority contends he was considered the strongest candidate then.

"I recall being quite impressed with his background, credentials and experience, and thought that we would be fortunate to have a professional of his caliber in our employ," Graboski said in the press release.

Kratoville did not immediately return a voicemail left at his OTB office Tuesday.

Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, a member of the Independence Party, said Tuesday that she opposes the appointment, for several reasons.

"First and foremost," she said, "it's in violation of our hiring policy." She said the town has a stated policy adopted by town board resolution that mandates it follows a specific process to fill management positions. The town administrator post certainly qualifies as a management, she added.

Adopted in 2000, the policy states that a selection committee be established that includes, but is not limited to, town board members, the personnel assistant, the affirmative action officer, the town administrator and the position's department head or direct supervisor.

"I have no reason to know or not whether this individual is suited for this position," Throne-Holst said. "It is one of our highest paid positions — it is a delicate position, both from a management and supervisory as well as fiscal oversight standpoint."

Throne-Holst had planned to reorganize the business management department and eliminate the administrator position in the town's 2011 budget, but Malone, Graboski and Nuzzi voted to restore the department, including the administrator position.

"It is a structure that has not worked well for the town over the last several years," Throne-Holst said. "This is a department where many of the issues with our capital budget and capital projects stemmed from."

In January 2009, it was revealed that due to several years of bookkeeping errors the town's capital budget was underfunded by several million dollars and the general fund balance was exaggerated.

In addition to reinstating the business management department, the Republican-Conservative bloc moved two positions in the town comptroller's office to business management department control. Throne-Holst said the move goes against the advice of outside firms that recommended separation between the financial oversight and management of capital projects.

"In other words, we're going back to the fox in the henhouse set up that was the source of all the financial issues we had in the past," Throne-Holst said.

Despite the management hiring policy, the supervisor said she has no recourse if Kratoville is appointed Tuesday evening as planned.

"They have three votes," Throne-Holst said. "Unfortunately, there's little I can do."

She also noted that Kratoville is from out of town, and said that Southampton's local talent should have been given the opportunity to be considered for the job.

"It's a somewhat frightening thought that the Town of Southampton turns to the OTB in search of talent," Throne-Holst said. "To my knowledge there isn't much of it there."

She said the Suffolk OTB is clearly mismanaged and a repository for political appointments. "It's future is somewhat precarious, as we all know, at this point," she said. "I'm not surprised that people who have spent their time there are now looking for other work."

Under the proposed town board resolution, Kratoville's annual salary would be $107,100. Including benefits the total cost to the town of filling the administrator post will be $149,457, according to the town comptroller's office.

Throne-Holst said she only became aware that someone was being considered to take Blowes' place when the appointment was added to the Town Board agenda on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the last day the resolution could be put on Tuesday's agenda without being treated as a "walk-on" resolution. The addition came just hours after she e-mailed her collegues about forming a search committee, she said.

Monday's press release indicates the majority's intention to have Kratoville join the town as soon as possible, so he can transistion into the job before Blowes leaves at the turn of the year.