OLEAN — A new Department of Public Works director will take over the city’s streets, water and wastewater programs.
The Common Council on Tuesday approved the appointment of former Ellicottville village and town engineer Benjamin Slotman as the city DPW director after appointment by Mayor Bill Aiello. The vote was 6-0, with one alderman absent.
“I come from a construction background,” Slotman told the council, noting his time with his family’s business, Slotman Plumbing and Heating of Orchard Park, before he became an engineer.
According to Slotman’s Linkedin page, he attended Alfred State College and Rochester Institute of Technology. He spent more than five years with E&M Engineers and Surveyors of Springville, then more than six years with Ellicottville-based MDA Consulting Engineers. He then joined the Ellicottville town and village in September 2020, leaving recently for a private sector job and instead choosing to come to Olean.
It will be a busy time for the new director, who is expected to take over shortly before the spring construction season.
“Coming up this summer we have more capital projects than any time in history since North Union Street,” Council President John Crawford said.
“I’ve been in those situations, I’ve worked on those kinds of projects all the time,” Slotman said, noting a number of major projects at the village and town, as well as experience working with the planning and building departments there.
Moving forward, Slotman said he wants “open conversations so everyone understands” between his department and the council.
“I like the culture that I’ve seen,” he said. “It just kind of seemed to fit better than where I was going.”
Slotman replaces Robert Thompson, who joined the city government in July 2022 and left at the end of 2023. The mayor acted as DPW director during the vacancy.
Slotman is the fourth DPW director since Aiello took office in 2014, with former office holders including current Allegany County Public Works Superintendent Tom Windus and current Cattaraugus County Environmental Health Director Bob Ring.
The city’s charter requires the director of public works to be a licensed civil engineer, and the position is responsible for the city’s largest department by employee count and budget — including oversight of the city’s street repairs and plowing, buildings and grounds, the water and wastewater divisions which run on separate multi-million dollar budgets, and the Cattaraugus County-Olean Airport.
Aiello previously told the Times Herald that there were discussions about removing the requirement for the director to be a licensed civil engineer, but no such steps were taken.
