By Claude E. Sykes
Town Supervisor
This article is written in an effort to alleviate confusion and offer insight into the position of a town highway superintendent.
The position of highway superintendent in a town is usually an elected position. Clay and Salina are the only two towns in Onondaga County who have appointed superintendents. Every four years voters have the opportunity to vote on who their highway superintendent will be. In villages the DPW superintendents are appointed. In Baldwinsville the superintendent is also a professional engineer.
The only requirements for someone to run for the town superintendent position is that they must be an elector (resident) of the town and be 18 years old. Appointed superintendents are required by civil service to have an affiliated educational background and/or years of experience in a similar profession. For town superintendents it is imperative that candidates have a diverse background of experience in order to best serve the public needs. With the highway department budgets being the largest town expenditure, voters need to carefully consider and endeavor to elect people who can be fiscally adept. Highway experience is worthless unless it can be coupled with fiscal responsibility.
It is important for voters to realize the delineation of powers and duties of the highway superintendent and those of the town supervisor/town board.
Since the highway superintendent is elected directly by the residents of the town, they answer directly to the taxpayers — not the town supervisor and not the town board. This tends to be an area of confusion for the public. The only oversight that the town board and/or town supervisor has over the highway department and superintendent is that of budget appropriations. That is it — only the money. So if you have a highway-related problem, your calls and questions should be directed to the highway superintendent. People believe that the supervisor or board can exercise pressure on the superintendent. This is not the case. Calling the supervisor or town board member only results in a delay of information. The highway superintendent acts independently from influence of the town board and supervisor. That is why they are elected directly.
Superintendents responsibilities include, but are not limited to, all road and highway aspects including paving, road repairs and maintenance, sweeping, culverts, drainage, roadside mowing, materials and supplies purchases, shared services, signage, trees, equipment purchase, maintenance and repairs, highway employee hiring, public relations, departmental administration, training and safety. In our climate, snow and ice removal is one of the major components of the superintendent position since it is often considered emergency work and is at the heart of public safety, health and welfare.
In summary, for the highway department related problems or questions your contact should be your elected highway superintendent. He is the person you elected as your representative for highway matters and best understands your needs and has the knowledge of his schedules and capabilities to handle your problems. The Van Buren highway department can be reached at (315) 635-5124. The Lysander highway department can be reached at (315) 635-5551.
