By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – One of Erie County's top leaders is winding down his post at the Rath Building. At the end of next week, Deputy County Executive Carl Calabrese will leave his job.
As Calabrese prepares to leave his job that he has held for the past five years, he says he feels nostalgic.
"It brings back memories and there are lot of good people I will be saying goodbye to," Calabrese said. "At the same time, it is a feeling of excitement, good apprehension about the new year. There are always mixed feelings when leaving an organization after five years and when you have made a lot of friends. But I'm ready to move on and really looking forward to '05".
Calabrese announced that he was leaving last month in the midst of the county budget crisis. And while he said he was stepping down for personal reasons, and needed a change of "pace," others believe he's leaving for different reasons. There have been reports that Calabrese was frustrated with the Giambra Administration's inner circle and was left out of decision making. At least two county lawmakers told WBFO News that they believe he wants to cut his ties with the current administration.
In recent weeks, rumors have surfaced that Calabrese is considering a post at UB as executive director of the Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth as John Sheffer plans to retire by September. But Calabrese says so far he hasn't applied for that job.
"As of this point, I have not pursued that, and I have not decided yet whether I will," Calabrese said. "I have about eight to nine offers in the private, political and education sectors that are very interesting to me. In addition to that is the possibility of starting my own business in area of Homeland Security consulting and lobbying. All the offers are local."
Calabrese is planning to leave January 14th, but he says that could change by a couple of days, depending on efforts to make a smooth transition for the new deputy county executive, Bruce Fisher. But Calabrese says once he leaves, he plans to take a week off to recharge his batteries, perhaps on a warm, sunny beach, then return to make a final decision on which is the best job for his career path in this new year.