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Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz ended her second meeting of city department directors with a reminder that also served as a warning: She controls day-to-day spending.
Wdowiasz complained that a city councilman, who she did not name, recently authorized a department to spend money on something. "That is wrong," she said.
"Council does not bring in orders to anyone," Wdowiasz said. In fact, she told the department heads that if their staff has any further interaction at all with council members, they should report it to her.
Wdowiasz added that no one should be going behind the counter of the Clerk/Treasurer's Office for any reason except employees of that department. She told department heads that if they need something from the office, they should ask a Clerk/Treasurer's Office employee and not go looking for it themselves.
The mayor's commands proved the most interesting part of a 45-minute meeting that mostly consisted of department heads describing their activities.
Wdowaisz started her department head meetings last month, after declaring she would no longer attend Common Council meetings. The mayor stated a desire to offer information about city government activity independently of what she called the "dog and pony show" of council meetings. Although she is now attending council sessions again, Wdowiasz still intends to hold her meetings at least once a month.
Thursday's meeting opened the same way Wdowiasz's June meeting did: Planning and Development Director Vince DeJoy offered a lengthy list of activities.
Some of what DeJoy mentioned Thursday included host agreement negotiations on a Brigham Road Battery Energy Storage System, the city's summer concert series, a sidewalk project for businesses on Central and Washington Avenues, and the apartment building project on Fourth Street and Washington Avenue.
DeJoy added, "Dunkirk Motel is going to proceed after we've won some legal battles." He was apparently referring to the city-mandated demolition of a derelict building on the property, which used to house another hotel but has been closed for decades.
New City Comptroller Tracy Smith-Dengler noted, "I am still in my first week." She stated, "I have been doing my best to get connected everywhere I need to get connected."
She has already met with Department of Public Works and Clerk/Treasurer's Office officials. A tour of city DPW's buildings and operations was set for Friday.
Fiscal Affairs Officer Ellen Luczkowiak said, "I'm also working with Tracy to get her up to speed." Luczkowiak also mentioned that she has begun work on the 2027 city budget, and has come up with some "tentative" spending figures.
"Don't freak out when you see these numbers. That's why I put 'tentative' there," she said. Luczkowiak added that city officials will have to "massage" the financial figures.
Another fairly new city employee, Human Resources Director Jennifer Howard, said that the city would have to stop letting employees go on or off its health insurance at any time of the year without so-called "life-qualifying events."
Instead, she said Dunkirk will now use a fall open enrollment period, as is standard with most businesses.
"These are not our rules, these are the insurance world's rules," Howard said. "At this point, we're not following the rules."