Wilson-area county Legislator Kyle R. Andrews was appointed Niagara County treasurer by Gov. David Paterson on Monday.

Andrews replaces former longtime treasurer David S. Broderick, who resigned the office last month amid lingering questions about the way he conducted business as the county’s public administrator of estates.

State Attorney Gen. Thomas DiNapoli released a scathing assessment Friday accusing Broderick, a Republican, of “cutting corners” in his handling of the estates of deceased residents who didn’t have a will or estate administrator. Rather than put asset disposal tasks out to competitive bid, Broderick hired family and friends to do the work and didn’t keep good records of the proceedings, the audit said. DiNapoli submitted his findings to the Niagara County District Attorney’s office for a determination whether any laws were broken.

Andrews, a Democrat, already announced his candidacy for the treasurer’s job late last year. After Broderick’s resignation, for what he stated were health and family reasons, Andrews also asked Paterson to appoint him to the remainder of Broderick’s term, which ends Dec. 31.

Andrews was sworn into the post Monday, after turning in a hastily composed letter of resignation to the Legislature. County Clerk Wayne Jagow received written notice of the governor’s appointment, and Andrews got the call informing him he’s the treasurer, early in the day.

Andrews, an attorney in private practice who specializes in public finance, real estate transactions and estate planning, said he intends to meet with treasurer’s office staff this morning to roll out “reforms” he wants instituted in the office.

His plan, first aired about the time Broderick announced his resignation, includes: A ban on relatives of treasurer’s office employees, including attorneys, receiving work as an outside vendor; creation of an approved vendors list; placement of estate funds into individualized, interest-bearing accounts, in part for tracking purposes; and making estate administration records readily available to courts for review.

“It’s important now, more than ever, to have a leader in the treasurer’s office; it was important even before (Broderick) left, considering the health issues he faced,” Andrews said. “I will move aggressively, and swiftly, to implement these reforms. We need to turn the page on some recent events.”

Andrews was re-elected to the Legislature last November without opposition and had just begun his fifth two-year term of office. The Legislature will appoint his replacement, and after a rule change made recently by the Republican-led majority caucus, the person need only be a resident of the 14th District, not a registered Democrat.

Legislative minority leader Dennis Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, reiterated Monday his charge that the rule change was not idealistic. Bottom line, he said: The minority caucus is now shrunken to four members, and it will have no say in who replaces Andrews.

“The (majority caucus) knew this was coming, and they wanted to make sure they could get a Republican in there,” he said. “If they were decent, they’d do what the people of Wilson and Cambria want, what they voted for, and appoint a Democrat. That’s the way it should be — but I don’t expect it will be.”

The 14th District seat will go to election in November. The winner will complete Andrews’ term, which ends in December 2011.

Regarding the county treasurer’s post, the Republican committee is seeking a candidate to carry its banner in the November election, according to chairman Michael Norris. That term of office is four years.