Bonus: APA employees defend director Rice

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Two current union employees and a former member of the executive staff of the Adirondack Park Agency contradict the claims of a recent letter emailed to APA board members by the Public Employees Federation.

The letter claims the agency’s director, Barbara Rice, and her executive staff have created an unfriendly, intimidating work environment at the agency. The letter’s claims were repeated in a story by Gwendolyn Craig that appeared on the Adirondack Explorer website on Feb. 21.

The Public Employees Federation spokesman, Rob Merrill, said last week the letter, which was unsigned and printed on union letterhead, was passed around to union members at the agency and 20 out of 38 endorsed it.

But two current union members, Molly Jordan and Matt Kendall, say they were not shown the letter nor given a chance to voice their opinion of it before it was sent. They know other union members at the agency who also weren’t shown the letter, they said.

It is not a coincidence that union members sympathetic to the letter’s complaints were asked to endorse it and those unlikely to sign up were never asked.

Martin Blair is the union’s field service organizer for the region. He was in his office but refused to come to the phone when I called him Wednesday.

When I asked Merrill about the questionable process used for employees to endorse the letter and the propriety of sending a letter that misrepresented the views of many union members, he had no response.

Jordan runs the Geographic Information System mapping program at the agency and has worked there for six years.

“As a member of PEF, I never saw that letter until the day it was published. It was a little bit of a hard pill to swallow. It’s not a representation of our whole union party,” she said.

Kendall is an environmental program specialist II at the agency and has worked there for 17 years.

“I didn’t know about this letter until I was told it had been published. It did not sound like the place I work,” he said.

“I’m very disappointed in how the union is handling this. I’ve spoken to our union rep,” Jordan said.

When she asked to have the letter rescinded, she was told she and others who object to it could submit their own letters to the board without the union’s backing, she said.

The letter claims Rice and her management staff have created a “culture of fear” at the agency and that employees are bullied and belittled. Jordan said she has seen “concerning behavior” among park agency employees — “but not from the management side.”

Kendall said he has not experienced, witnessed or heard of any intimidation or bullying from management. He has heard of employees dissatisfied with Rice’s leadership grumbling and giving the cold shoulder to workmates who support her, he said.

A group of employees who resent Rice’s initiatives, especially a proposed move of the agency’s headquarters from Route 86 in Ray Brook to downtown Saranac Lake, is trying to undermine her, said Dave Plante, who was deputy director of the agency until late last year.

“It’s not Barb or Keith (Keith McKeever, the agency’s communications director) or management that has created a toxic environment. It’s a small, cowardly cabal of people who do not want the agency to go into the 21st century,” Plante said.

Plante estimated the size of the anti-management group at 6-8 employees.

Since the letter is unsigned, the number of employees who endorsed it can’t be checked. The complaints about management at the APA in the several Adirondack Explorer stories on the subject are also from anonymous sources.

Plante is a planner who concentrates on environmental permitting and consulting. He was hired for the agency’s No. 2 spot in January 2023 but left because his wife was diagnosed last summer with an aggressive cancer that required surgery. It made more sense under the circumstances to move back to the Rochester area with his wife and their two children and return to a job in the private sector, he said.

“It was the greatest honor of my career to do this work,” he said, of his time at the park agency.

After his wife’s diagnosis, “Barb was one of the people who stepped up with unconditional support,” he said. “She said, ‘You’ve got to do what’s best for your family.’”

“Barb is a fantastic boss and a better person. She’s a visionary leader for the agency,” he said.

Jordan, too, praised Rice’s leadership.

“As a young woman in a career field, I value her drive. I think she’s got a lot of passion. I think she genuinely cares about the agency,” she said.

Kendall, who lives in Tupper Lake, said moving his workplace to Saranac Lake wouldn’t bother him.

“I’ve been working for 17 years in the basement of a 100-year-old cabin. A new building would be a good thing,” he said.

He likes the work, likes the “bright, interesting people” he works with and hopes the tension in the workplace eases.

“I’m proud to work with the people I work with. The people who have been promoted — they deserved it. I know there’s a little bit of toxicity. I hope it does go away. I’m just here to do my job,” he said.