181 A.D.2d 1052 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1992
— Order unanimously affirmed with costs. Memorandum: Election Law § 3-300 expressly empowers a county board of elections to appoint "and at its pleasure” to remove its employees. By enacting that statute, the Legislature furthered the constitutional mandate of bipartisan participation in the functions of boards of elections (see, NY Const, art II, §8) and vested boards of election with complete and exclusive control of their personnel and the performance of their duties in that highly sensitive governmental area. Indeed, an employee of the board of elections can be removed from her position only upon the concurrent approval of the two commissioners of elections (see, Matter of Starr v Meisser, 39 AD2d 712, affd 33 NY2d 748; Matter of Conlin v Kisiel, 35 AD2d 423, affd 28 NY2d 700). The arbitrator, in concluding that the County of Chautauqua could unilaterally usurp the county board’s removal powers through the collective bargaining process, violated the strong public policy mandate clearly expressed in section 3-300, and Supreme Court properly vacated the arbitration award upon that ground.
Moreover, it was "completely irrational” for the arbitrator to determine that Phyllis Clute, an elections technician, was a "permanent regular employee” entitled to the protections of the disciplinary procedures set forth in the collective bargaining agreement. Employees of county boards of election are in