BY ADAM ATKINSONNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — While an investigation is underway by state police, the village’s former deputy mayor believes the municipality’s recently resigned recreation director is being railroaded.

Steve Warr who had served on the village for 15 years before stepping down in January says village officials running operations now are inexperienced and have not handled the situation well.

However, Village Mayor Alexandra Jacobs Wilke later countered in a separate conversation with North Country This Week that the village followed the Civil Service process to deal with the situation with former recreation director Trey Smutz.

Smutz was placed on paid administrative leave, then unpaid administrative leave before he submitted his resignation officially last month. State Police have started an investigation on Smutz, seemingly having to do with the reasons for his departure from the village, however no details were made available by investigators or sitting village officials as yet.

Warr, the village’s former deputy mayor resigned from his seat on the village board several weeks ago and has cited a differing opinion over the direction he felt other board members were steering the village. Warr backed that up again recently, telling North Country This Week that the current personnel in charge on the board and in administration don’t have a lot of experience and possibly have an agenda against the former recreation director.   

Warr said he felt that Administrator Isabelle Gates-Shult and village Trustee Lynzie Schulte have been pushing to remove former recreation director Trey Smutz from his position for some time.

Warr said Administrator Isabelle Gates-Shult has only been with the village for about 2 years and as administrator only since last year.

He said there are several “big ticket” items and projects facing the village like the bridge and utility crossing from Fall Island to Garner Park, the water plant upgrade and Pine Street Arena upgrade.

“And her concentration for two years seems to be ‘Let’s get rid of Trey,’” Warr said.

“So you have an administrator who, my guess is, less than two years with the village. You have a treasurer, new treasurer who is less than 6 months, 8 months. Not very long with the village. You have a trustee who is less than four years with the village, and a mayor who has been on the job less than four years,” Warr said.

“These are the people now running it, not paying attention to anything that’s happened before,” he said.

When he was on the board, Warr had served as the liaison to the recreation department for years. He said not once since the new board and officials were seated was he ever been consulted on things to do with recreation.

 “I don’t think if you combine those four jobs that they have been over to that facility (Pine Street Arena) a total of 8 hours in all the time that they have been working for the village,” Warr said. “They don’t know the job (recreation director), they don’t know how the job has been run.”

“So how do you go 5 years with no issues, and all of a sudden we have an issue because you have two new people that don’t understand the job, that don’t understand the building,” Warr said.

Warr believes problems began between Smutz and the administrator in December when the former recreation director failed to respond to three emails, even though Warr said he attended directors meetings with the administrator every week.

“In that job you don’t respond to emails, you text, you call, it’s on the fly… and you contact people directly. Plus he’s not sitting in an office doing the job, he’s out -  actually working because we only have three people in that department,” he said. “They know he works between 60 and 70 hours a week for at least half the year.”

Warr said if the administrator and sitting board had any questions about the recreation department and how Pine Street is run he would have attended a meeting to help clear up any details, but he was never brought in on the situation.

The former deputy mayor said that he tried to have conversations with Trustee Lynzie Shulte, the other member of the village board’s recreation committee about it but felt he got nowhere. Warr said her focus seems to be establishing the village recreation department as a 5-day-a-week, all-day program instead. “And we don’t have the money for it,” Warr said. “But they don’t want to listen.”

Warr said things came to a head with Smutz and the administration in December. He said the administrator and the village treasurer went to Pine Street Arena to speak to Smutz about the recreation accounts. However, Warr said Smutz had a recent death in the family he was dealing with and didn’t want to discuss things with them then, so he drove away to go be with family. He was put on administrative leave after that incident, Warr said.  Warr said when he inquired about the situation he was not brought in to help supposedly because he had a good relationship with Smutz.

 “Well I have a good relationship with everyone who works for the village, except for four people,” Warr said.

The former deputy mayor said at the heart of the issue were cash deposits that were not turned in properly, but that he had turned in the money for Smutz who was no longer allowed on the property after he was placed on leave.

Warr said Smutz was making deposits the way he was taught by the previous director and how it was always handled in the past.

Warr admitted that Smutz may not have handled the administrative side of the recreation job as well as he could have but said he was a good recreation director otherwise, and not a thief.  

This latter sentiment is seemingly shared by several members of the various clubs that use Pine Street Arena during the year who have voiced support for Smutz during a public comment at a village meeting and in letters to the editor. Warr said hiring an administrative assistant for the recreation director would have fixed the problem. He said that position was approved in the village budget but never filled.

The deputy mayor said problems between the administration and the recreation department don’t end with the situation with Smutz. He pointed out that the volunteer skating organizations that use the space in the winter have built their own space at the arena with donated time, money and effort under an older agreement and arrangement. 

Members of these organizations brought concerns about their recent lack of access to the space to a village meeting several weeks ago which was covered in an earlier story in North Country This Week. Warr said these organizations as well as volunteers who have helped out at the arena for years have felt slighted in the way they were treated by village officials recently.  

“We’re entrusting the village to people that have less than four years on the job, won’t listen to anybody, won’t listen to the history of it and they’re doomed to repeat it. And, if you question them on it you get nothing,” Warr said.

Mayor responds

In a separate email to North Country This Week, Mayor Wilke responded to Warr's claims. Wilke said the village did follow the specific process laid out by law to handle Smutz's disciplinary action.

"Following the internal investigation, the Village followed the disciplinary process under Section 75 of Civil Service Law, in compliance with state law, which included the right to have the charges heard and decided by a hearing officer," Wilke said. "I have already provided you with the dates that he was placed on leave and the timeline for the investigation. Under that process, Mr. Smutz was provided a full list of all charges in writing and exercised his right to a hearing, along with being represented by legal counsel. On the adjourned date of the hearing, Mr. Smutz appeared with counsel and agreed to  submit a letter of voluntary resignation on the hearing date in lieu of proceeding with the disciplinary hearing."

Wilke denied the allegation that there had been a concerted effort to remove Smutz from the position of recreation director.

"The Village conducted an investigation, which included interviewing Mr. Smutz twice and affording him the ability to explain his side of the story. Following the investigation, the Village determined that Mr. Smutz violated the Village's policies, of which he had prior knowledge and had signed for," Wilke said.

The mayor said that in the wake of the issue with the former recreation director, village officials are in the process of working with various stakeholders who use the arena to move the program forward.

"Change is always difficult, especially when it is sudden or when we cannot provide more information on a specific scenario related to personnel," she said. "However, our staff have been meeting with the major stakeholders who utilize our arena and recreation facilities, and have made themselves available to help with any questions that groups have. We greatly, greatly value all of those groups, and look forward to working with them as we grow our programming and begin the redesign study for the Pine Street Arena and Sandstoner Park."

Overall, the mayor did not agree with Warr's opinions on how the situation with Smutz was handled by the administrator.

"I find it really disappointing to hear that a valued former colleague is attacking our current staff and board members, knowing full well that we cannot respond to many of those allegations—in order to uphold our responsibility to protect employee confidentiality, and to protect the ongoing law enforcement investigation," Wilke said.  

"One thing should be made clear, though. The Administrator supervises all department heads, and is responsible for ensuring that the Village is upholding its employee handbook, the Village code, and all applicable laws and regulations. She would be derelict in her duties if she didn't report possible violations of these. She is simply doing her job. Any Administrator in this position would do the same," said the mayor.  

"Additionally, the Administrator does not have the authority to hire or terminate personnel without board approval. Likewise, no individual Trustee can provide directives to staff. In a situation in which there is an alleged serious violation of village policy, the municipality must investigate and only take appropriate disciplinary action if warranted, with full knowledge and assent from the majority of the Board," said Wilke.

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