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ROTTERDAM
Public works records going digital
$68K to be spent over next 2 months
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Rotterdam’s Public Works Department is poised to hit the digital age.
    The department will soon have its volumes upon volumes of planning, zoning, code enforcement and permitting documents transferred from their bulky files onto an computer system. Last week, members of the Town Board approved a $67,800 contract with the Clifton Park-based Business Automation Services, which will begin digitizing the public works files over the next two months.
    Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the new system will streamline the department’s functions by providing workers with a searchable database containing all public works records for the town’s roughly 13,000 properties. This will include everything from building permits, to a record of code enforcement calls, to construction approved by the town’s Planning Commission.
    “It’s a system that’s been a long time coming for the town,” Tommasone said Monday. “This is going to take us to the next step and afford us a lot more information that’s going to be at our fingertips for a host of possibilities.”
    The integrated property system is used by nearly 200 municipalities across the state. In the Capital Region, the system is used by Niskayuna, as well as Wilton, Greenfield and Mechanicville in Saratoga County, among others.
    Tommasone said Rotterdam’s system will also allow other town departments — such as the assessor’s office and eventually the police — to view data entered by public works employees. He said the system will keep the town assessor abreast of new construction and police investigators informed of code issues.
    The contract with Business Automation Services will cost the town an annual software support and maintenance fee of $9,000. Tommasone said the system may also help relieve the burden of the department during periods of pronounced growth.
    “It’s going to help us tremendously,” he said.“ It’s going to make the building inspectors and the Department of Public Works move much smoother.”

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Public works records going digital
$68K to be spent over next 2 months
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Rotterdam’s Public Works Department is poised to hit the digital age.
    The department will soon have its volumes upon volumes of planning, zoning, code enforcement and permitting documents transferred from their bulky files onto an computer system. Last week, members of the Town Board approved a $67,800 contract with the Clifton Park-based Business Automation Services, which will begin digitizing the public works files over the next two months.
    Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the new system will streamline the department’s functions by providing workers with a searchable database containing all public works records for the town’s roughly 13,000 properties. This will include everything from building permits, to a record of code enforcement calls, to construction approved by the town’s Planning Commission.
    “It’s a system that’s been a long time coming for the town,” Tommasone said Monday. “This is going to take us to the next step and afford us a lot more information that’s going to be at our fingertips for a host of possibilities.”
    The integrated property system is used by nearly 200 municipalities across the state. In the Capital Region, the system is used by Niskayuna, as well as Wilton, Greenfield and Mechanicville in Saratoga County, among others.
    Tommasone said Rotterdam’s system will also allow other town departments — such as the assessor’s office and eventually the police — to view data entered by public works employees. He said the system will keep the town assessor abreast of new construction and police investigators informed of code issues.
    The contract with Business Automation Services will cost the town an annual software support and maintenance fee of $9,000. Tommasone said the system may also help relieve the burden of the department during periods of pronounced growth.
    “It’s going to help us tremendously,” he said.“ It’s going to make the building inspectors and the Department of Public Works move much smoother.”

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Exclusive: Legislator Claims Run For Office Led To Firing
Santabarbara was fired from Chazen one day after disclosing Assembly plans
By John Purcell
As of Tuesday, February 21, 2012 -12:27 p.m.


  #Schenectady County Legislator Angelo Santabarbara is claiming his state Assembly aspirations have led to him being fired from his job.

#The Chazen Companies on Tuesday, Feb. 14, fired Santabarbara, who has worked as a senior project manager and project engineer with the company for more than five years. It was one day after he informed his superiors in a letter of his intentions to run for a seat in the state Assembly.

#According to Santabarbara, the construction consulting firm told him he was let go because his department was being restructured and his position eliminated, but Santabarbara said he believes his decision to run for office played a part in his sudden termination.

#“I think it is important that people are not afraid to run for public office,” Santabarbara said. “I don’t think that’s right and I don’t think that’s fair.”

#Upon arriving to the office on the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 14, Santabarbara said he was called into a room with Senior Principal Daniel Stone, Senior Director of Business Development David Ardman and Vice President of Human Resources Lauren Gillett.

#“I sat down, and they said that this was about me running for office and I explained to them my intentions,” Santabarbara said on Thursday, Feb. 16. “Dan Stone, the owner, immediately said, or as soon as I was done … ‘running for office and you working here is not going to work.’ That is his exact words that I remember.”

#According to Santabarbara’s account, Stone said, “We are going to have to part ways.” July would have marked Santabarbara’s six-year anniversary at Chazen.

#Santabarbara said Gillet then said the reason for his termination was a restructuring of his department. Santabarbara said he was unaware of any restructuring efforts before the meeting at which he was fired..........................>>>>....................>>>>.....................................................http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/2012/feb/21/exclusive-legislator-claims-run-office-led-firing/