By Neale Gulley
The United Way of the Tonawandas on Thursday voted alone, opposing a years in the making plan to consolidate their group with those in Lockport and Niagara Falls.
About 40 members from the Tonawandas’ United Way were present at Stephen Sikora Post on Payne Avenue in North Tonawanda to vote, and along with proxy votes from another 395 members who were not present, voted down the measure 392 opposed, 116 in favor.
The landslide reversal came just eight months after a February vote that had originally approved the plan, 154 to 30. But after the last vote, Executive Director George O’Neil contacted the state attorney general claiming unfair play in part due to proxy votes and his belief that some of the organization’s local members weren’t accounted for.
As a result the state mandated Thursday’s new vote. It also asked that two paragraphs be added to say that members of each separate group would retain their voting membership under the intended single, new organization to be called United Way of Greater Niagara. The latter, however, was mainly a formality.
Plans to create the new entity were compiled by members of a committee that worked for more than three years to design the merger, intended to reverse years of lackluster fundraising campaigns by reducing operational costs associated with redundancy countywide.
At the time of the first vote, members of the Niagara Falls and Lockport United Way organizations had for their parts voted in favor of merging into the new group.
Those organizations again approved the plan in their own new votes Thursday.
Forty members in Niagara Falls voted unanimously to consolidate.
The Lockport contingent also voted unanimously to approve the merger.
Bob Hagen, chairman of the board of directors for Lockport, said while they’re hopeful the Tonawandas will come around, his organization and that of Niagara will likely seek to consolidate.
“Both the United Way of Niagara and the Eastern Niagara United Way are prepared to move forward. We are hoping it will eventually be with the Tonawandas if they find a way to do that,” Hagen said.
The original plan was written to include all three groups, and may have to be rewritten, which Hagen suggested would be done if required.
“We’re optimistic we will work out a plan and move ahead. We have support for that. There’s no uncertainty,” he said, adding “A lot of great people did a lot of hard work to study and develop this.”
