Brookhaven managers face job evaluations

The job performances of Brookhaven's top managers will be evaluated this month to help the town board decide whom to reappoint, Supervisor Mark Lesko said Thursday.

Twenty-four commissioners and deputy commissioners will meet with town board members between Friday and Jan. 19, Lesko said.

The managers normally would have been appointed at an organizational meeting the town held Thursday, but an evaluation of the town's department heads is overdue, Lesko said. The commissioners and deputy commissioners collectively earn about $2.4 million, he said.

Lesko assured commissioners during a work session meeting Thursday that none of them are in imminent danger of losing their jobs. But he said after the meeting that if anyone needs to be replaced, "that decision will be made."

Lesko added: "It won't be about politics, it'll be based on performance. We have a full year behind us, and we can now evaluate."

The evaluations will be "heavily concerned with how they manage their budgets," Lesko said.

Martin Haley, the town's building commissioner, applauded the move. Haley, who ran against Lesko in 2009, said the evaluations are typical of the private sector. "That's the way it should be," he said.

As the town copes with declining revenue, Lesko has said that its government will soon need restructuring if Brookhaven is to maintain a balanced budget.

However, Lesko said Thursday that the commissioner evaluations are not part of a plan to save money by shedding managers. The commissioners head departments that handle services such as parks and waste management.