Stories about snowplow companies ripping off customers
Group Option
Admins
Members
Photo Albums
No album created yet.
Displaying 0 of 0 albums
Videos
There are no videos added yet
Displaying 0 of 0 videos
Events
No event created yet.
Displaying 0 of 0 events
Group Information
Category:
Name:
Stories about snowplow companies ripping off customers
Created:
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Creator:
Description
Announcements
No bulletin added yet
Discussions
wow, I am surprised he actually did the interview
Wall
Not so much as ripping off,but just as bad.
Updated: February 9, 2011, 6:43 AM
NORTH TONAWANDA — A city public works employee has been suspended without pay after he was found with a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit near the end of his shift in a snowplow last week.
Norman P. Fetterman and another employee were suspended after a convenience store employee called police when Fetterman appeared intoxicated inside the store early last Wednesday, city officials told The Buffalo News on Tuesday.
Fetterman was on the clock as a wingman in a two-person city snowplow, driven by Richard W. Brown, when police were called to the Noco Express, 921 Payne Ave., at about 6:30 a. m.
When police arrived, Fetterman registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 percent, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, city officials said.
At the time, Fetterman, 48, was working a shift of 11 p. m. to 7 a. m.
Neither acting Public Works Superintendent Michael A. Guidotti nor Mayor Robert G. Ortt would say that they knew whether Fetterman was drinking while on the job.
Fetterman was suspended without pay for seven days. Brown was given a one-day suspension Monday.
Fetterman’s duties as a wingman include operating levers that adjust the front wing of the plow, Guidotti said.
The wingman’s duties also include communicating with the driver, who cannot see the end of the wing from his position in the driver’s seat, Guidotti said.
Guidotti said that one of the factors leading to his decision to sus-
pend Fetterman was the absence of any other alcohol-related incidents in his personnel file. Also, Guidotti said that if he fired Fetterman, there was a good chance that it would be challenged by Local 6, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and that Fetterman would get his job back.
Ortt told The News that he became aware of the incident involving Fetterman on Thursday, the day after it happened. Had he known about the disciplinary action before it was taken, it would have been “a lot more stringent,” Ortt said, adding that Fetterman is lucky to still have a job with the city.
“Coming in to work drunk is a slap in the face to the residents of this city,” Ortt said Tuesday.
This wasn’t the only recent incident involving public works employees and a snowplow that led to disciplinary action. One of them was fired and another suspended without pay for an incident involving a snowplow Jan. 24, according to city officials.
In that incident, a city snowplow severely damaged a utility pole on Old Falls Boulevard, near Louisa Street.
No crews ever reported the incident, discovered by Guidotti himself, who was driving through the area and found a large piece of the pole in the middle of the street.
The employees involved failed to admit what happened until a week later, after they were asked by their superiors and police, according to city officials.
William A. Graham Jr., the driver of the plow that hit the utility pole, was fired at the end of his shift Monday.
The wingman in his plow, Michael T. Dziadzio, was suspended for five days without pay.
“In my opinion, we do not need workers who lie to their superiors and who lie to the Police Department,” Ortt said.
The mayor said that he consulted with Guidotti about the discipline for Brown, Graham and Dziadzio but that the final decision on their punishment was left to Guidotti.
City officials also have told Fetterman that he must enter alcohol-abuse counseling and will be fired if he does not comply.
Wednesday, 09 February 2011 09:07
