Staff Report

ONEONTA — Aldermen voted Tuesday to adopt a revised list of duties for the position of city police lieutenant.

The position, which had been vacant since the 1999 retirement of Lt. Gerald Platt, is expected to be filled internally within the next couple of weeks, said members of the Common Council's Public Safety Board.

The two candidates for the position, which will likely be decided on at next year's first council meeting, are Detective Sgt. Joseph Redmond and Sgt. Kenneth Olsen, said board Chairman and Sixth Ward Alderman Michael Nader.

Redmond and Olsen became candidates for lieutenant last year after taking the state test for the position, said city Personnel Director John Insetta. The men, he added, were interviewed for the job by the Public Safety Board earlier this month.

Nader said the lieutenant's position duty statement, which was last revised in 1986, was recently tweaked to clarify what is expected.

"A lot of what was in the original list were duties already taken care of by sergeants and/or the chief," Nader said.

Until this year, the fate of the lieutenant's position was up in the air. In April 2000, the Common Council opted to not fill the lieutenant's position, which includes administrative duties and supervising the sergeants, as well as serving as second in command in the chief's absence.

Instead, council members at that time approved the creation of a sixth sergeant's position, which in effect compensated for the absence of the lieutenant.

It was then that officer Cameron Allison was promoted to sergeant and Sgt. Mark Howard, who has since retired from the force, filled the role of the sixth position, which was considered an administrative sergeant's position.

Once the lieutenant's position is filled, the administrative sergeant's position will likely be dropped from the roster, said Eighth Ward Alderman Asa Allison, who also serves as the council's Finance Committee chairman.

Donadio said the sixth sergeant's position will not be missed because the required number of duty sergeants will not change.

"It will even improve the efficiency of the operation because we won't have sergeants bumping heads on their day-to-day operations," Donadio said.

In other council business:

• Aldermen approved the mayor's appointment of Robert Lawson of Oneonta to the city's Zoning and Housing Board of Appeals to fill the unexpired term of Susan Kurkowski, which would have expired Jan. 13, 2004.

• Aldermen approved the appointment of Adam Hurlburt of Oneonta to the position of heavy equipment operator in the Public Service Department at an annual salary of $18,000.

• Aldermen approved the promotion of James Gaske of Schenevus to the position of motor equipment operator in the Public Service Department. The promotion carries a 7 percent adjustment to his base salary, which will make his annual salary $17,992.