New Paltz Town Supervisor Susan Zimet. (photo by Lauren Thomas)
Recently, New Paltz Town Supervisor Susan Zimet accepted a full-time job as the executive director of Hunger Action Network of New York State in Albany. She plans to continue on as supervisor, which is also considered a full-time job.
If the letters to the editor our paper has received are any indication, Zimet’s decision is somewhat controversial.
We’d like our readers to weigh in.
Do you support New Paltz becoming a sanctuary town?
- Yea (72%, 276 Votes)
- Nay (28%, 110 Votes)
Total Voters: 386
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NO!
I Think she is putting to much on her plate and setting herself up for failures. She should focus on one job and do it well instead of putting both groups of people at risk and doing both poorly.
She is setting herself up for failure, setting up the town for additional poor government, (for lately, the decisions have been ridiculous, do not site a sewage plant next to a school, as one example)
Additionally, she is failing to consider the plight of the Hungry she is now being paid to help alleviate. This is a classic Lose-lose-lose situation and Susan should resign as Supervisor.
NP Town Supervisor is only considered a part time job by the current Supervisor.
One full time job is all most people can do. I doubt she will be able to give both jobs the attention they need and deserve.
YES! if anyone can do it Susan can!
As a new resdient I am on a learning curve. That said, it seems to me that “full time,” with hours described as”avaiilable as needed” would be severly compromised by a second full time job. Where is the oversight on this? I would be interested to read a full definition of the Supervisor’s job (as well as a summarization of town governance for the novice.)
I don’t know how to vote in the poll, but resoundingly NO! there is no way she can adequately do either job while working both full time. Her comments and actions have made it clear she has no intention of devoting much time to her supervisor position and yet clearly intends to draw a full time salary.
It’s ridiculous to think someone can hold two full time jobs especially when they are about an hour and a half away from each other. And if she is just going to delegate things to everyone to get things done, that’s not being there full time. I think it’s greedy of someone who claims to care about her townspeople to continue to collect a full time salary from the taxpayers when doing it’s impossible to be doing both full time.
For someone who self-righteously claimed how many hours she clocked as supervisor, it seems rather counter-intuitive to take on a second job… Unless of course she’s just clocking empty hours as supervisor while delegating responsibilities to Jeff Logan. In that case she can add “unethical scam artist” to her resume.
Yes
Only if the second job is in a sewer plant next to the high school
How much are we suppose to take from this person? When is enough, enough?
From submitting fraudulent petitions, to double dipping on the towns dime, to using racist innuendo, to relegating the supervisors job to an after thought, to taking developers money as campaign contributions then giving it to herself and her husband, to secretly planning to build a sewer plant on a town board members property, and on and on and on… Why is Zimet so special that taxpayers are willing to accept all of this and more? There are many other people who would do the job without all for the distractions and drama. It may be time for New Paltz to give up on Zimet and cut it’s losses.
Too many people IN New Paltz have a government mentality in trying to equate hours worked with work results. I don’t care how many hours the supervisor works and actual # of work hours are not dictated by law. What I care about is the results. If you ignore the supervisor’s arrogance and some dumb blunders, there are some good results. I LIKE having my property tax bill going down over 10% in the last couple of years. I LIKE her showing decisive action by getting employees out of the mold infested town hall. I LIKE the dog park she created and much more. Just like in business— OUTPUT is far more relevant than INPUT.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!
I feel cheated! we deserve a person who is committed to see New Paltz through the problems we now face. This is disgraceful. Susan’s legacy will go down with any problems she leaves us with. My suggestion: Clean up the mess and move on…
By the way, that was NO and NO for Jeff.
Of course it’s POSSIBLE; however, the more appropriate question might be: Q: What is the likelihood of a person being successful while holding a second full-time job? A: Not likely. In order for it to be possible the proper confluence of events would need to occur and if history is any judge, here in New Paltz, our chances of lightning striking the same place twice has a higher probability.
The taxpayers are paying her to be here full time. She needs to chose what she wants to do. I think by taking a second full time job, she has made it clear she no longer wants to run our town. Best of luck, thank you for your service, resign.
Jet fuel doesn’t melt steel beams
It’s honestly a shame that people have to work two jobs these days to get by.
On the other hand, however, I live in town and am also a student at the resident University College, which is having similar issues with presidents of the campus community being on the board of directors for energy corporations and local preserves, while hardly sufficiently serving his initial responsibility to the community that compensates him more than many of the inspirational professors on campus. Admittedly, with well-planned and very transparent goals, one can accomplish some groundwork for amazing progress in creating an evolving and educational environment. However, in doing this, a lot of poor planning was half-baked by local leadership that could have reflected additionally on cohesive communication and sustainability. What is being perpetually done is that interests that are continually coming together are interested in frankly too much and doesn’t really work well in regards to focus. Although what helps there is people’s voices actually being heard. Which is what doesn’t happen too often to process of “progress” in corporate styled governance.
If money can stop being an issue, government could focus on leadership.
Tl;dr: Put it to a vote!
No
No
Yes I believe it can be done..myself I have a day job..and my second job is accepting packages of unknown origin…two jobs can be done at once..take the high school for example, it can be used as a learning facility and a place where we can treat our raw sewage. This will have no effect on our children’s ability to learn while possibly improving our air quality at the same time. So in conclusion it us possible to walk and Che gum at the same time..
Thank you,
Don K.
Here what Mark Dunlea says about the position he just left after 30 years of service and whom Zimet was hired to replace: “[Dunlea] is currently living between Poestenkill (Rensselaer County) and New York City, where his wife, Judith Enck, works as a regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dunlea said he feels it is important for the executive director be based in Albany because of the organization’s focus on the state legislature.”
Yes! Lots of women work 90-100 hours per week. Since her kids are grown, and she has lots of support at home, it can be done, and well, I believe. She won’t know who won the Golden Globes, and may miss most of Downton Abby, and no book clubs for her, but she has accomplished more than any supervisor I know. She cares about our kids, our vets, our animals and animal lovers, our property taxes, our environment, and much more. I believe that there are five guys (by guys I mean men) waking up each day and googling “Susan Zimet” just to see what dirt they can find. She opposed one of their ideas, or didn’t support them in some way, and they’ve made it personal. These guys have lots of time on their hands. It’s become a bullying game to them, and she’s become an easy target. They’ve managed to bring out the worst in many people in this town. Susan Zimet’s biggest fault is that she is too sensitive to this abuse, and rather than taking it from where it comes, she gets defensive and attacks back. Maybe that’s not great, but certainly understandable. I say Yes, she can do it, and do it well. Congrats!
Do one job well, get great references . Move on to bigger and better things if you are ambitious but most important to leave your first position in good shape. This stuff can follow you around…