Jim Sedota

A Fredonia Board of Trustees special meeting called for a budget hearing turned out to focus on the man who administers the budget.

Treasurer Jim Sedota resigned at Monday’s meeting, which was held remotely under the social distancing guidelines and saw no emailed comments from the public about Mayor Doug Essek’s proposal for the village’s next spending plan.

Sedota is resigning as of Friday, instead of staying on to help with the budget process as he had planned while the village looks for a new full-time treasurer. That’s because there is not enough support on the board to pass his plan for Lori Richardson, the recently retired senior account clerk, to come back under the position of deputy treasurer. Sedota wanted Richardson back in the office to help train the new senior account clerk.

Instead, the board resolved Monday to hire Erlyssa LeBeau, who is currently acting as the provisional senior account clerk, to the position full-time — and it also named her deputy treasurer and tax collector.

Trustee Roger Pacos criticized his fellow trustees for not following Sedota’s plan. “I think it’s foolish to go without a treasurer and have a new person in at senior account clerk with no training, and also appoint that person as deputy treasurer, and now they are going to assume those duties too with no training. I think that is foolish and I cannot support it,” he said.

Pacos accused Trustee EvaDawn Bashaw of being behind a “concocted” plan to get rid of Sedota and Richardson. Bashaw said there was simply not enough votes to pass Sedota’s proposal and that was previously made clear to Pacos. Trustee James Lynden commented that an employee making his continued employment contingent on the hiring of someone else “is not the way things are done.”

As trustees continued to go back and forth, Sedota quietly sat in his office, staring off to the side impassively. When he tried to speak, he was too muffled to hear. His microphone wasn’t working properly. After it got finally repaired, though, he had plenty to say.

“I don’t feel I could continue to do my job without having her here to train a new person,” Sedota said of Richardson. “I don’t have any problem with Erlyssa being appointed, she just needs some training — I know she’s got the experience, there’s just a lot going on in this office.

“Lately I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure. I don’t need that at my age,” he added.

Bashaw wondered why Richardson retired at all if she was willing to come back into the office. “She had a plan originally to work until October of next year. It’s your day-to-day micromanaging that drove her out,” Pacos replied.

A little later, Bashaw and Sedota went at it briefly.

“All this went on without my knowledge, you were meeting with people I was responsible for, you never kept me informed. Yeah, I made a suggestion and a recommendation .. and you never invited me to even participate in any of this process.

I my mind, that is what I consider a lack of confidence in not involving a department head. You took it open yourself to just go ahead.

Bashaw said the conversations took place without his attendance, but with his knowledge. “You have been extremely adamant about, it’s your proposal and that’s all, and I don’t really want to negatively affect potential employees or movements up the ladder because everybody’s so angry and volatile,” she added. “I think it’s a shame.”

“I have not been angry and volatile. I just made a recommendation, You didn’t even have the courtesy to come in and talk with me about that — well, once you did, I guess,” Sedota said. “Erlyssa’s not the issue, it’s the process and the fact that I was excluded.”

When it came time to vote on accepting Sedota’s resignation, all trustees expressed thanks to him for his service with the village. Pacos read a statement again slamming Bashaw’s alleged micromanaging and her plan to hire LeBeau without training. Sedota “is being pushed out, this is not how valued employees should be treated,” he said. Pacos then voted “no” on the resignation, the only trustee to do so.

Trustees directed Essek to inquire with Fredonia accountants Baghat and Laurito-Baghat about their terms for doing some work for the village while the treasurer’s office is short staffed.