OGDENSBURG, New York (WWNY) – Ogdensburg’s fiscal problems, lack of council cooperation, and family reasons are why the city’s manager is resigning. However, the departure is happening faster than what Mohideen Buharie wanted.
Three months into the job Buharie is packing boxes. In his letter of resignation, he indicated he was willing to stay on the job through July.
“My resignation was dated 28th of July and because of the contract. I wanted to give adequate notice of 60 days and what I wanted to accomplish is I wanted to have a smoother transition,” he said.
But Buharie was told a majority of council wanted him to leave city hall by Tuesday afternoon.
Buharie says he is resigning because he feels there was a lack of support from council, the city’s fiscal challenges are mounting, and his family wasn’t moving to Ogdensburg to join him.
Buharie’s future was revealed to him Monday after he met with the mayor and city attorney.
At that meeting, he was told not to attend a meeting with St. Lawrence County leaders where Buharie was hoping to mend relations.
Legislator Jim Reagen (R. – District 1) hopes that can still happen even with Buharie’s departure.
“I think that there are opportunities for us to work together and I think the staff at city hall, the city planner and the city comptroller Angela Gray will be able to work with the county and be able to get some important things done,” he said.
Buharie hopes the next city manager can focus on what’s good in Ogdensburg.
“We have a huge waterfront and we have a large empty space of land. Also, we are situated just next to Canada. With all that put together, this is a wonderful place and I’m pretty sure it is a gold mine that just needs polishing. It’s a diamond that needs some polishing and cutting,” he said.
We asked Mayor Mike Skelly for comment, but he wants to wait until after a special meeting about the city manager set for Wednesday night.
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