<!--Mark Scheer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Mark Scheer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com">mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
A deal is in the works that would allow two of three city inspectors identified in a recent FBI investigation to return to limited duty at City Hall.
City officials confirmed Wednesday an agreement is being worked out between the mayor and City Council that would allow Chief Plumbing Inspector George Amendola and Electrical Inspector Peter Butry to return to work with restrictions on the types of duties they would be allowed to perform.
Amendola and Butry, along with Building Inspector Guy Bax, were placed on paid administrative leave in July after they were named as part of an federal investigation into a potentially inappropriate relationship between the inspections department and a local plumbing contractor. Charges have yet to be filed in the case. Mayor Paul Dyster has previously rejected council members’ requests to return the three full-time employees to their jobs pending the outcome of the investigation.
Council Chairman Sam Fruscione said he and Councilman Steve Fournier Jr. met with Dyster on Tuesday to discuss the code enforcement situation. Fruscione said the meeting resulted in an agreement to direct the corporation counsel’s office to draw up a memorandum of understanding describing the terms under which Amendola and Butry would be allowed to rejoin the code enforcement staff. Fruscione said both inspectors would likely be restricted to administrative work under the proposal. He said their assistance would be welcome in the department which he said has been backlogged with paperwork since their departure.
“We don’t want to pay them to stay home,” Fruscione said. “We want them working.”
Dyster has for weeks sought council approval to hire two temporary inspectors to assume some of the workload in the code enforcement department. City lawmakers rejected a similar request last month, arguing that the city cannot afford to pay wages for part-time help when it is continuing to send paychecks to Bax, Amendola and Butry.
On Wednesday, Fruscione said the council may be willing to reconsider the mayor’s request for part-time help if the agreement covering the two full-time inspectors is presented to them in time to be considered before Monday’s council meeting. He said the council may also reconsider the mayor’s request to allow the transfer of up to $35,000 to support the code enforcement activities.
Dyster has previously indicated that emergency funds used to cover inspections costs in the wake of the FBI investigation are nearly exhausted and the situation could potentially compromise the department’s ability to respond to the needs of local contractors.
On Wednesday, Dyster directed questions about the pending agreement to Corporation Counsel Craig Johnson who said only that he is continuing to work on the language of the document.
“It’s an MOU between the mayor and the council as to what is going to transpire here,” Johnson said before declining further comment.
