Community Board 7 opened its fall session with a shocker as members held off firing its latest district manager, continuing a pattern of hostility between executive members and DMs that’s ended in the resignations of three DMs in just over three years.

With a vote of 26 to 1 at the latest general board meeting, CB7 members voted to extend the probationary period of Andrew Sandler, who was hired by the Board nine months ago after its previous DMs, Dustin Engelken, resigned. On its surface, Engelken left after his wife accepted a job abroad, though members said Engelken left because of an internal feud with its chair, Adaline Walker-Santiago. Engelken had held the job for a year and eight months, succeeding Socrates Caba, who after six months also resigned. Sources told the Norwood News that the two had run-ins with Walker-Santiago. The Board usually determines the length of a probationary period, though in most cases they last for six months.

Members cited several alleged infractions against Sandler that led to a motion proposing to dismiss him. That included a unilateral decision to offer an office laptop to a CB7 employee so she can work from home and tend to a personal matter.

The Board, which also rejected a 3 percent pay raise to Sandler, extended Sandler’s probationary until Oct. 18, the date of the next general board meeting where members will decide whether he stays or goes. Meantime, board members voted to hire Linda Johnson Consultants at a rate of $1600 to consult with Sandler on the Board’s rules and procedures, an unprecedented move in the Board’s history. On its website, the consulting firm offers “[e]xecutive coaching and team building” experience, having been hired by the city Administration for Children’s Services and Department of Probation.

“I do not understand why after an extensive search, and I believe it was a two month search for a district manager that less than nine months later they would hire a consultant to teach him how to be a district manager,” Anthony Rivieccio, a community resident attending the Board meeting, said.

The votes were cast after an hour-long closed-door session, unusually longer than most private meetings. As members hashed out its decisions inside the Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center, Sandler calmly paced outside, speaking to supporters, which included Fernando Tirado, another former DM of CB7 who also resigned following differences he had with members of CB7’s executive board.

“It’s a witch hunt,” Tirado said of the Board’s charges against Sandler. “It would be a very unfortunate recurrence if they force out another district manager.”

The latest development at CB7 underscores the varied relationship between DMs and its Board members. DMs are salaried employees paid by the City of New York but officially hired by board members, who are unpaid. The term “manager” is somewhat of a misnomer since DMs usually take their cues from a Board’s chair, who is effectively the DM’s boss. DM’s serve as liaisons between the community and City of New York, resolving community issues by reaching out to appropriate city agencies.

The independence DMs exercise differs from board to board, with some DMs given carte blanche to execute decisions without consultation while others require a chair’s final approval on decisions. In normal circumstances, DMs usually last five years or more, with a median starting salary of around $70,000.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that there are some long-standing issues at Community Board 7. The board and its leadership clearly need to do some soul-searching to determine what it is exactly they want in a DM and how they expect that individual to conduct themselves on the job,” Engelken, another former DM at CB7, said in an interview with the Norwood News. “Until everyone is on the same page in that regards, this is going to be a reoccurring issue. The most disappointing part for me is that the community gets lost in the circus.”

Sandler declined to comment on the latest developments to the Norwood News.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.