On a split vote, the county Legislature agreed Tuesday not to OK any department head hiring until after a new county manager is appointed.

Legislator Richard Updegrove, R-Lockport, majority caucus leader, proposed suspending high-level administrative hires for an undefined term, to let the next county manager have a say in who his or her “team” members are. Current County Manager Gregory D. Lewis will be gone by Nov. 30, when his appointment ends.

Currently, one department head position is vacant. Christopher Richbart, director of the county Office for the Aging, died in February. County Youth Department Director Joan McDermott will retire June 1.

Updegrove said his resolution is meant “to afford the next county manager the opportunity to have input into the (selection) of people he’ll work with for the next several years.”

Legislators debated the resolution at length. Those who supported it said for a variety of reasons, both managerial and fiscal, leaving one or two department head posts vacant temporarily would better serve the county.

“The next county manager should be involved in any upcoming, long-term, department-head vacancies,” Legislator Keith McNall, R-Lockport, said. “The long-term future of our county is in the hands of the next county manager.”

Opponents said suspension of high-level hiring is akin to putting county government on hold until Lewis is replaced.

When Lewis took the county manager’s job in 2003, he didn’t get to pick any of his team members; he inherited a team of existing department heads and helped fill vacancies as they emerged, Legislator Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, said.

“That’s how government functions. ... You need point people in these departments to oversee their day-to-day function,” she said. “We are the ultimate decision-makers (on hiring), I don’t know why we wouldn’t make a decision” whether or not to hire Lewis-recommended candidates.

Legislator Pete Smolinski, R-North Tonawanda, joined the Legislature’s four Democrats in voting “no” on the hiring suspension because, he said, the Office of the Aging needs a director now. The post effectively has been open since September 2009, when Richbart went out on sick leave; legislators who attended an Office of the Aging open house earlier Tuesday apparently were told of the need by employees.

“The job should be filled quickly,” Smolinski said. “I can see the other side (of the argument) ... I’m voicing some of the opinions I’ve heard.”

Legislative Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, argued Updegrove’s resolution was illegal because it contradicts county administrative code, which puts hiring recommendations in the county manager’s hands.

“This resolution totally undermines (Lewis),” he said. Lewis’ search for a new Office of the Aging director is nearly done, and ends up a wasted effort if the Legislature won’t vote on Lewis’ recommended pick, he added.

Suspending hiring doesn’t contradict the administrative code, County Attorney Claude Joerg advised. The code empowers Lewis to recommend candidates for hire only; hiring is the Legislature’s job.

Updegrove’s resolution merely makes “an exercise in futility for the county manager, whose job is to recommend,” Joerg said.

Legislator Jason Cafarella, D-Niagara Falls, said the resolution promises a further delay in filling of the county director of homeland security post — creation of which successive legislative committees have backed, most recently the community safety and security committee earlier this month.

“There are homeland security concerns in the county not being met now,” Cafarella said. “I oppose (the resolution because) we need to hire a director of homeland security as soon as possible.”

The Republican-led majority in the Legislature put off funding a homeland security department in 2008, to give whoever was elected sheriff later that year input into the department.

“Here we are, over a year later, and still no director of homeland security,” Virtuoso pointed out.

Updegrove disputed opponents’ assertion that his resolution slights Lewis. The county is able to hold off filling a post for a while because Lewis stepped up to the plate and is overseeing Office of the Aging operations, he said.

His call to suspend high-level hiring “is not a reflection on Mr. Lewis. In fact, it’s the opposite,” Updegrove said. “If not for Mr. Lewis (stepping up) we wouldn’t be able to do this. .... He’s doing an excellent job; that’s why we can afford this opportunity.”

Some legislators are betting the new county manager search — and the department-head hiring suspension — won’t last through the year. Lewis is said to be looking for work in various states, including Michigan and Virginia; under the terms of his contract, he can leave the county manager’s post any time, with 60 days notice.

“He could be gone tomorrow, he’s got so many applications out,” Smolinski said.

Lewis declined to comment on the hiring suspension.