Cheektowaga voters likely have to wait on election awards

The Town Board held a special meeting at 5:30 pm Monday to set times for two public hearings on a proposal to divide the town into six voting votes.

Current elections in the town are at-large, meaning those elected represent the entire town. However, in December, Cheektowaga resident Kenneth Young challenged the fairness of that system and requested that the town switch to a ward voting system.

The three Republicans on the board – Michael Jasinski, Barbara Bakowski and Vernon Thompson – did not attend the meeting. The board needed four members in attendance to reach a quorum and vote, Supervisor Brian Nowak said.

Since the board could not vote to schedule the public hearings, it is likely the ward referendum will not make it on the Nov. 5 ballots, Nowak said.

“I’m pretty sure Nov. 5 is dead,” Nowak said in an interview with The Buffalo News. “We’re too late at this point because we didn’t have this meeting.”

When asked why the meeting wasn’t scheduled sooner to give the town more time to meet the deadline, Nowak said he was acting on advice of the lawyers the town hired, who told him around 11:30 am Friday that the town needed to schedule a special meeting as soon as possible.

By 12:30 Friday afternoon, Nowak said three board members confirmed they could attend the meeting, which is enough for a quorum. So he scheduled the meeting and a public notice was posted to the town’s website before the end of the day.

On Sunday evening, Bakowski told Nowak she wouldn’t be able to make the meeting after all, he said. Then on Monday, Thompson indicated he might not make it either, Nowak said.

Jasinski said three-days notice for a special meeting was not enough time, and Nowak should not have held the meeting since he knew three people would not be able to make it.

“Three days notice is too quick for me,” Jasinski said in a phone call with The Buffalo News. “I need at least two weeks notice for my employer. I can’t just take off from my (job) just like anybody. I don’t think anybody in three days notice – unless there’s a death in the family or you’re in the emergency room – you can’t just take off from work.”

In a Facebook post, Jasinski called the meeting “nothing short of a political stunt.”

Nowak and his fellow Democrats on the board – Gerald Kaminski and Brian Pilarski – showed up to the meeting at the scheduled time. During the meeting, Nowak noted that during his six years on the board, he can’t recall a time when the governing body did not reach a quorum.

Kaminski agreed and said it is “unfair” and “insulting” to town taxpayers that board members did not show up.

“We’re on a timeline,” Kaminski said. “If we don’t do this correctly, guess what? The people will have no say in it. We’ll probably wind up with a judge someplace who doesn’t have a horse in the race and he’s going to decide for the town of Cheektowaga everything from the wards to how its done.”

This is the third special meeting Nowak has called this year, he said. One of the prior meetings was related to infrastructure projects, and the other was about hiring a town attorney.

“Special meetings come up from time to time, especially when you’re dealing with litigation and short timelines and really serious topics like fixing our infrastructure,” Nowak said.

The position of board member is part time. Jasinski said he has spoken with Nowak about making the position full time if the supervisor needs members for more meetings outside those regularly scheduled twice a month. Jasinski said he doesn’t recall Nowak’s predecessor, Diane Benczkowski, holding so many special meetings.

Bakowski and Thompson did not respond to email and phone messages asking why they were absent from the meeting.

The town is facing a lawsuit from Young, who argues that letting residents vote to adopt a ward system is not allowed under the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York, a state law that further protects voting equality.

Young claims there is racially polarized voting in Cheektowaga, meaning minorities cannot elect the candidates they prefer under the town’s current at-large voting method. The town hired experts to analyze voting patterns and held public hearings to gather resident input. The experts found evidence of racially polarized voting in recent elections, and the majority of residents who spoke at the hearings were in support of wards.

The Town Board decided to let residents vote on implementing a ward system, rather than making the change itself. The town hired redistricting expert Jonathan Cervas in June to draw the maps.

Young and his attorney, Gary Borek, want a judge to force the town to implement a ward system for elections.