Crossfire of Allegations at County Jail - Niagara Falls Reporter

(Continued from page 6)you guys want to do the (usually unprofitable)foodsales, that’s up to you."Sklarski (pressing to the heart ofthe matter): “What type of bands?”Hutchins: “Alternative rock to aheavy metal... We do a lot of Indy rockbands….”Teixeira: “You gonna bring chairsin?”Hutchins: “The people will bringtheir own (or sit or dance on the park'sgrass).”Texeira: “Will there be mosh pits?”(moshing, a kind of dance, where participantsslam into each other, is associatedwith "aggressive" music.Moshing happens in a "pit". Injurieshave been reported and a few deathshave occurred).Hutchins: “It depends on theband.”Texeira: “It's crazy. They go intomosh pits and come out all bloody andbeat up?”Hutchins: “Those things happenspontaneously …But security istrained for that. When that happens thesecurity moves right in and they arecontrolling (the violence). When weare having that kind of band we have alot more security."NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER MAY 21 - MAY 29, 2013Richards - Clark war of words continuesApropos of this, one remembersthe July 4th weekend of 2011 when, atone of Hutchins’ concerts, one manwas shot, others were stabbed andmore than a 1,000 people spilled intothe street as a riot broke out at theRapids Theater. His security totally unableto handle the riot, he needed thehelp of not only the Niagara Falls policebut also the Town of Niagara policedepartment."Could we get an approval at thenext meeting?" Hutchins asked."No," Richards said.As the meeting went into its secondhour, the storm between Clark andRichards broke loose. It was over thehiring of an outside fire inspector.The background is this: Richards,along with Teixeira and Sklarski, invoting to reduce property taxes for residentsby 9.3 percent and businesses by6.8 percent, cut 1½ positions from thetown's inspection department, saving$110,562. One of the inspectors, JeffStahlman, is a friend of Clark's.Another inspector, Charles Haseley,an ally of Clark's, had his job reducedto 18 hours.Richards’ argument was thatLewiston, with a population of 16,262,has only one building inspector.Wheatfield, 18,450 people, has onlyone building inspector. The Town ofNiagara, with a population of 8,378,less than half of the two neighboringtowns, had two building inspectors.The plan was to hire an outside fireinspector who would not cost the townany money. It seemed a no-brainer, butthat didn't stop Clark from challengingRichards.When Sklarski pointed out how farbehind the two inspectors were lastyear, Clark said, "Mr. Haseley told methey are not technically behind."Richards: “He's not being truthfulwith you.”Sklarski: “Do the math, on average(they should do) 250 (inspections tokeep pace with required inspections).They only did 32.”Clark: (referring to Haseley) “Wehave a fire inspector on payroll.”Sklarski: “We are not here to debatethat. We're here to put a positionin place.”Clark: “We already have somebodyin that position now. It is possiblypart of their duties. (Haseley) does notknow what his full duties entail.”Richards: “He knows exactly whathis full time duties are.”Clark (sarcastically, referring toHaseley's cut in hours): “His part-timeduties?”A discussion went on about thefact that it would not cost the town adime to hire an outside fire inspector.In fact, it would earn the town moneysince the inspector would get no paybut split fees the town normallycharged for inspections.Clark either didn't like or understandthe idea.Clark: “There is nothing budgeted[for this job].”Richards: “First of all, it isn't budgeted.It is an income source….If hedoes 30 inspections (the town makesmoney) What is wrong with that?(Taxpayers) paid $179,000 per year forthree people that did 20 inspections inone year.Clark: “They did more than 20 inspectionsin one year.”Richards: “Stop it. Stop it.”Clark: “Come on.”Richards: “Stop it… This is a selffundedposition that the board approveda long time ago and they neverimplemented it.”Clark … “We never approved …we discussed it, sure”Richards: “Stop it.”Clark: “No.”Richards: “…Places are burning(Continued on page 8)7