CLIFTON PARK — The town’s new Democratic majority is challenging an agreement to grant department heads CSEA protections that the Republican-majority board put in place two weeks before leaving office.The town filed an Article 75 proceeding Monday in state Supreme Court that seeks to end arbitration rights for the comptroller, the director of planning, the director of parks and recreation and others whom the new Democratic majority argues are “exempt class positions” and not entitled to the union protections. “The titles cannot be added to the bargaining unit,” the court papers read, adding that the department heads are managerial or confidential and formulate policies. As such, the lawsuit notes that honoring the memorandum of agreement, passed by resolution on Dec. 15 with an all-Republican vote, would “violate a statute, decisional law or public policy.”The issue with department heads grew heated after November’s election when Democrats asked “current town employees and residents to identify the most qualified individuals to serve in appointed and volunteer roles.”
That set off Republican Supervisor Phil Barrett, who hired many of the department heads during his 25 years in office.
On Nov. 15, he posted on Facebook that if any of the department heads were fired, a “war will begin that will never end.” He also compared Democrats to the Chinese Communist Party as they were “threatening employees of the town to bend the knee” to Democrats…