AMHERST
Fired assistant town engineer sues to get his job back
A former Amherst town administrator is suing the town to get his job back.
In March, James I. Johnson was terminated as assistant town engineer — the second-highest-ranking position in the department. Town officials concluded he had violated the town’s residency requirement for employees.
Supervisor Satish Mohan said at the time that he was “legally correct and morally obligated” to fire Johnson, who had worked in the Engineering Department since 1995.
Johnson has since filed suit against the town, asking that a State Supreme Court justice reinstate him as assistant town engineer with back pay.
Town Attorney E. Thomas Jones said Tuesday that Johnson provided inadequate proof that Amherst was his primary residence. All town administrators not covered by union contract are required to be town residents as a condition of employment.
“We’re very confident that the town is on good legal footing with regards to defending this action,” Jones said, adding, “It’s not a complicated case, really.”
The Town Board referred the case to the town attorney’s office to defend Monday. The case will be heard by Judge Timothy Drury next Wednesday.
Johnson’s driver’s license lists an Amherst post office box, and his most current voter registration card and payroll information list a West Amherst apartment address. But other electronic records, as recent as 2006, link Johnson to an Elba residence in Genesee County, owned by Deborah
P. Johnson.
In other news, the Town Board tabled a vote Monday on a proposal to create a new, 82,000-square-foot YMCA recreational facility on land adjacent to the Erie Community College North Campus between Wehrle Drive and Main Street.
The board needs to vote on the proposal because the center would not be directly accessible off a public road, but rather via Tech Drive, a county-owned road on the ECC North Campus.
Various board members expressed support for the center but also raised concerns about the ability of Tech Drive to accommodate the anticipated traffic for the facility. They asked YMCA officials to reappear before the board with more traffic study data in two weeks.
John D. Murray, the YMCA’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday he was working with the Planning Department to determine exactly what additional information the board needs.
He also told board members that if the project gets approval from the Town Board and Planning Board, the organization’s existing 25,000 square-foot Northeast Family YMCA at Main Street and Amherstdale Road in Snyder would close after the new YMCA Northtowns Family Branch opens.
Daemen College would likely take over the old building, he said.
