Deputy Erie County Executive Maria Whyte is the latest member of the administration leadership team to step down.
Whyte is leaving to take a job as the new chief community impact officer and chief of staff for the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. Her last day will be Oct. 14.
Whyte is the latest in an exodus of administrators, many of whom have left for other jobs and a few of whom have left for unknown reasons.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz praised Whyte for her 17 years of "exemplary" service in county government, as a former majority leader in the Erie County Legislature, a former commissioner of the Department of Environment and Planning, and as Poloncarz's deputy county executive since 2015. She is the first woman to serve in that role since the 1980s.
"The site of the former Bethlehem Steel property has been transformed into a modern-day business park, in part, because of Maria’s tenacious work," Poloncarz said in a statement Thursday. "During our work together, I’ve seen Maria put the real-world experiences of our residents at the center of the programs she championed, crafting innovative strategies to improve lives. This work was especially evident during the pandemic and her leadership to ensure we have a child care system that works better for providers, employers, parents and children. It was also true in her leadership of Live Well Erie, my comprehensive plan to ensure no one in this community is left behind."
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Whyte's most ambitious undertaking as deputy county executive was arguably the yearslong negotiations to bring a major Amazon warehouse and logistics hub to Erie County and the Bethlehem Steel site and later the Grand Island site, neither of which came to fruition.
Amazon spent over a year studying the Lackawanna steel site. But days before an expected public announcement, Amazon gave up on Bethlehem Steel.Â
She continued, however, to work to acquire and develop the property for the county and pushed for issues like the need for better quality and higher paying child care, and worked on strategic efforts to improve community health goals.
The news release announcing her departure said Whyte was not actively looking to leave the county administration but was instead contacted by recruiters for the Community Foundation in March.
"I labored over the decision to accept this position and was deeply conflicted about leaving the Poloncarz administration and the incredibly important work we are doing countywide," she said in a statement. "However, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo offers an exciting opportunity to expand on that work and serve the public in new ways and I am deeply honored by their faith in my abilities."
Her departure next month marks the latest in the string of departures over the past year.
In August, Geoffrey M. Szymanski, the former Lackawanna mayor who became executive director of the Erie County Workforce Investment Board, resigned citing a desire to find other employment elsewhere.
Peter Anderson, spokesman for the county executive, said Geoffrey M. Szymanski resigned "citing burnout from the pandemic and a desire to seek other employment."
Former County Attorney Michael Siragusa left county government in July to serve as judge with the State Court of Claims. And in April, former Personnel Commissioner Timothy Hogues left the administration to become the head of the State Civil Service Commission. His former chief of staff, Jennifer Hibit, also left to take a job as the director of human resources with the Erie County Water Authority.
In November, David J. Shenk, the county's former commissioner of the Senior Services Department, abruptly resigned his position without explanation.
Poloncarz said he will announce a replacement for Whyte in the coming weeks.
