Niagara Falls Has Four Top Ranking City Positions Vacant

Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster’s efforts to find the best and the brightest to fill the highest positions within the city through nationwide searches have failed multiple times.

There are four vacant positions within the city; community development director, fire chief, human resource director and NFC Development Corporation director. Dyster recently said that the city does not have any cash to conduct another national search.

“Which is good. I’m glad to hear that,” Council Chairman Sam Fruscione said. “I think we should promote from within.”

There is a long list of city employees hired by the mayor from out of town that did not work out at all. That list includes Fire Chief Roger Melchior from Florida. He was fired because he made inappropriate comments on a website and then lied about doing so. Another bad hire was Peter Kay from Ohio. Kay was fired after not making any progress as the city’s economic development director. From California, Ali Marzban was fired because he was an unlicensed city engineer.

“The only person that is of high quality, who was found in the nationwide search, is (Corporate Council) Craig Johnson from Tonawanda,” Fruscione said. “Otherwise, there’s nobody on the ship. It’s a disappointment. (Dyster’s) most successful employees are the ones that live in the city of Niagara Falls and work in the city of Niagara Falls. They should be given the first opportunity for advancement,” Fruscione said.

Fruscione also described Dyster as the following:

“This guy moves so slow that we continually have vacancies. It hampers progress for the city,” Fruscione said.

“The bottom line is it could be a smoother transition if they were to promote from within. What’s the point of working for the city for twenty years if you’re never going to get promoted?”

Fruscione said that Clara Dunn and Tom Tedesco should have the chance to climb the ladder in NFC because they are both qualified for the position and both are residents of Niagara Falls.

Fruscione said, “They said they are going to interview the applicants and make appointments.”

Bob Anderson, a city councilman, said, “The council doesn’t do the hiring. Dyster should be open with what we’re trying to do. It’s behind closed doors. We can’t put a gun to their heads and force them to hire people. We’re not privy to the (application and hiring process). How are you going to replace that knowledge? They’re going to try to circumvent it with dollars. Sad. Scary.”

City councilman Glenn Choolokian said, “The sad part is that the council has no part in it. We have qualified people right in the departments themselves. They should be promoted from within.”

“In Human Resources, you have a qualified person with over 25 years of experience filling the position. That person could be hired. In Community Development, same thing: There are qualified people with a lot of years in. They should be looking right there. In Economic Development’s NFC, you have two employees there who have been there for years. Both of those are well respected in the community, they should not be looking any further than those. For fire chief, the Niagara Falls Fire Department is probably one of the best in Western New York. There are so many qualified people already in the department. Nobody knows the city or the Fire Department like the workers in the Fire Department. There are so many guys that should be promoted. No out-of-towners. The council is definitely for promoting from within,” Choolokian said.