Clarkstown's highway superintendent is defending hiring his son, even though the town ethics code bars family members from participating in such decisions.

Frank DiZenzo's son, Frank DiZenzo Jr., was hired full-time on April 22 as a motor equipment operator I with an annual salary of $51,176, according to the town. The job includes driving trucks, snowplows and mowers, as well as doing repairs and performing labor.

DiZenzo Jr., 24, was first hired as a seasonal worker in the department in January.

He put in an application with the Rockland Personnel Department, which was approved, making him eligible when the job was posted, according to the Civil Service Employee Association rules.

DiZenzo Jr.'s six-month probation ends Oct. 21, which is three months before his father retires at the end of his second two-year term in the $165,763-a-year job.

DiZenzo Sr., who's been with the department for 36 years and was a motor equipment operator before winning election in 2015, has the authority to hire employees without consulting the Town Board.

But Clarkstown's ethics code forbids municipal officers or employees from participating in any decision to appoint, hire, promote or supervise a relative.

The superintendent said he recused himself from his son's interview, and said he does not directly supervise him.

"I was advised by my deputies that we should move forward with his hiring because he not only met the county’s standards but exceeded them by holding a CDL license," DiZenzo said in a statement referring to a commercial driver's license. "I have been consistently told that he has proven himself to be a dedicated, hard worker and solid addition to the department."

During his successful 2015 campaign to unseat Wayne Ballard, DiZenzo criticized the longtime incumbent for engaging in patronage that kept him from being promoted to foreman or supervisor.

"We had a lot of patronage going on, favoritism, not getting promoted,” DiZenzo, a Republican, said at the time. “He’s hiring guys who are political friends in the department, promoting friends. We just didn’t want to see it anymore.”

Town Supervisor George Hoehmann said neither he nor any other Town Board members were consulted or made aware of DiZenzo Jr.'s hiring until after it was completed.

"Mr. DiZenzo’s decision to hire his son is his alone," Hoehmann, a Republican seeking re-election to a third term this fall, said in a statement.

Hoehmann added: “The Superintendent of Highways is elected separately, with sole appointing authority for the Highway Department. This has long been an issue for our town, as the Town Board only has the ability to set the Highway’s Department’s budget, with no oversight on hiring or supervision of personnel."

Town Board member Patrick Carroll called the issue of patronage hirings and appointments "a systemic problem in Clarkstown."

"We need real transparency, we need to strengthen the ethics laws, and we need to focus on what should be our only priority — the Town and its taxpayers," stated Carroll, a Democrat seeking re-election this year.

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