Erie County Executive Chris Collins has selected a National Fuel Gas Co. executive to serve as

his top deputy in a type of arrangement rare for County Hall.

Jeffrey F. Hart of Marilla will continue to receive his salary as an assistant vice

president for National Fuel Gas Co.

By law, he also must be paid as the new deputy county executive but he intends to donate

the $107,400-a-year county salary to charity.

Collins has Hart on loan from National Fuel, whose former chairman and chief executive,

Philip C. Ackerman, served on the county executive's transition team and now chairs the Erie

County Industrial Development Agency.

Hart, 48, has a master's degree in business administration from Canisius College. He will

oversee county departments such as Health, Public Works and Social Services, the county's

largest unit.

He also will review and sign county government contracts for Collins, a process that slowed

with the departure of former Deputy County Executive Alfred Hammonds Jr. weeks ago. Hammonds

returned to roles at the University at Buffalo.

The county's Ethics Code forbids an employee from collecting compensation from entities

with county business the employee can affect. National Fuel is Erie County's largest payer of

property taxes and a major county vendor through purchases arranged by the Public Works

Department. National Fuel also receives millions of dollars through the federal Home Energy

Assistance Program administered by county government.

Hart will abstain from any county matter related to National Fuel. They will be handled by

Collins himself, said Grant Loomis, a spokesman for the county executive.

County leaders, who had attorneys vet the matter, are staying within the lines of a 1979

opinion by then-Attorney General Robert Abrams. Abrams allowed a similar situation with a

state employee as long as his duties were sufficiently walled off from the private employer so

that "no reasonable inference of impropriety" could be drawn.

But Legislator Maria R. Whyte of Buffalo, the Legislature's Democratic leader, is not

convinced. "This again is like the fox guarding the hen house," she said. "He says he's going

to excuse himself from National Fuel matters but I'd like to know more about how exactly he is

going to do that."

When campaigning for office on his run-government-like-a-business platform in 2007, Collins

spoke of his desire to usher business executives into county government posts for months-long

periods, then return them to their private-sector jobs. He never formalized that idea, though

he has plucked some of his key aides from the business world.

Hart becomes the third deputy county executive in Collins' first term. After six months on

the job, Mark Davis decided to return to his business interests. Hammonds, an expert in

Collins' beloved Six Sigma business discipline, served as the top deputy for 22 months.

Loomis said the arrangement with National Fuel keeps Hart in the job through 2011, which

would be the final year of Collins' current term.

Hart will donate his county salary to charities through the "Brighter Future Fund" that

Collins used when he carried out his campaign pledge to work for $1 a month as long as Erie

County's state-appointed control board remained in a so-called hard phase, exerting extra

influence over his financial decisions.

While Hart can use those charitable donations to lower his income tax burden, the

arrangement with Erie County probably will not enhance his personal finances, a local

accountant surmised when The Buffalo News told him of the arrangement.

"I don't think his situation changes that much," said Peter X. Bellanti, senior tax manager

with the business and consulting firm Amato, Fox & Co. "There might be a little fluctuation

here and there, but I think he is back in the same situation as when he was working for

National Fuel."

A spokeswoman for National Fuel said the utility will continue to carry Hart's salary as a

business expense for its shareholders but does not intend to use it as a charitable donation,

even though Hart will be serving county government.

"Appointing Jeff as deputy county executive underscores my continued commitment to running

Erie County like the business it is," Collins said in a statement announcing Hart's selection.

"Jeff is a top-rate manager who has made a mark for himself at National Fuel, where he has

gained extensive fiscal experience. I am so pleased that National Fuel was willing to allow

someone of Jeff's caliber to step away from the company and serve in my administration for the

benefit of local taxpayers."

Said Hart: "This is an opportunity I could not have envisioned when I began my career at

National Fuel more than 25 years ago, but being appointed to this position is a tremendous

opportunity to give back and help the county executive execute his vision for our community."