Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown selected as next head of Western Regional Off-Track Betting
Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown was picked on Thursday to lead Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., setting in motion an end to the longest-running mayoral administration in the city’s history.
Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown was picked on Thursday to lead Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., setting in motion an end to the longest-running mayoral administration in the city’s history.
The WROTB board, which went to elaborate lengths to keep secret Brown’s candidacy for president and chief executive officer, selected the Democratic mayor over two other finalists following a more than five-hour closed-to-the-public executive session at Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel.
In a statement emailed late Thursday, Brown said he appreciated "the vote of confidence in me and my record of success as Mayor of Buffalo."
"At this point, a contract still needs to be negotiated before the position is accepted. I look forward to meeting with the chairman of the board to start the process toward final approval of a contract," he said. "In the meantime, I will continue to serve in my capacity as Mayor."
OTB board member Elliott Winter said Brown’s proven experience as chief executive of a city with 3,000 employees and a budget of more than $600 million made him an attractive candidate.
“The City of Buffalo has seen a resurgence over the past 20 years, with the hotels, the economic development, the restaurants, the entertainment,” said Winter, the Niagara County representative to the board. “And we think he’d be a valuable asset to our organization.”
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown meets with The Buffalo News Editorial Board. Derek Gee/Buffalo News
Brown will succeed Henry Wojtaszek, a former Niagara County GOP chairman who has been at the helm of WROTB since 2016.
He will oversee a public benefit corporation that annually funnels millions of dollars to 15 counties and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, but for years has been steeped in political controversy, including the board’s recent efforts to buy out Wojtaszek and two other executives with lucrative severance packages that have been heavily criticized by some Democratic government officials.
A contract between WROTB and Brown has yet to be negotiated, and Winter noted that Brown will need to get a gaming license before taking the reins of the corporation.
"If he does accept the terms, we would like to bring him in as soon as possible," said Winter. "He would still have to get his gaming license, and we can keep him up to speed on what's going on."
Wojtaszek had an annual salary of $299,000, with an additional year's pay in severance.
Around 5:15 p.m., Brown snuck out of a little-used side door of the casino and hotel, far away from the main entrance where some media were still waiting. He took the passenger seat of a car that pulled up on Park Drive to pick him up.
When approached by a Buffalo News reporter, he declined to comment, saying he would put out a statement to media later.
Joining him in the car was Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney, a member of the OTB board of directors and Brown’s former first deputy mayor and chief of staff.
Brown, first elected in 2005, is the longest-serving mayor in Buffalo history and the city’s first Black mayor. He is in the third year of a fifth four-year term.
Common Council President Christopher P. Scanlon would be in line to take over as acting mayor upon Brown’s resignation, according to the City Charter. Scanlon, whose father was an aide to former Mayor James D. Griffin, was elected Council president in January by its other members in an 8-1 vote. Scanlon has represented the South District on the Common Council since 2012.
Scanlon has been generally supportive of Brown, and he delivered vote-rich South Buffalo for the mayor in his 2021 write-in defeat of India Walton after Walton shocked Brown by winning the Democratic primary.
Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. oversees the operation of off-track betting sites, as well as Batavia Downs and its video gaming casino floor, hotel and live horse harness racing. Since the inception of WROTB in 1973, revenues from gaming operations have paid out more than $240 million to 15 counties, including Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Wyoming and Genesee, as well as the cities of Buffalo and Rochester.
Western Regional Off-Track Betting CEO Henry Wojtasek and Dennis Bassett, chairman of the WROTB board, at a board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. T
he board went into an executive session in another room at Batavia Downs to interview the finalists to be their next CEO. Jay Tokasz
While Brown had been rumored for months to be interested in the post, WROTB Chairman Dennis Bassett refused to confirm multiple media reports that the mayor was a finalist. Bassett declined to identify any of the finalists, saying it was unfair to the candidates. He also expressed frustration about rumors spreading before the full board had a chance to interview finalists and select the organization’s next leader.
The 17-member board convened for a special meeting at 11 a.m. in the Kane Boardroom of the hotel. Then, after brief remarks from Bassett and Wojtaszek, the board voted to go into an executive session and moved to the Genesee Room, a sprawling space on the second floor of the casino-hotel complex.
Security guards stationed at the door prohibited media from entering or proceeding into a nearby hallway that leads to hotel rooms and another entrance to the Genesee Room, to which the interviewed finalists presumably had access, unless they were interviewed by Zoom or some other form of livestreamed conferencing.
The OTB board interviewed Brown for roughly 1 1/2 hours Thursday in Batavia, but he was not present when it voted unanimously to hire him. The names of the other finalists were not disclosed. A second finalist also was interviewed Thursday. A third finalist was removed from consideration and was not interviewed.
Brown did not make himself available to reporters at Batavia Downs before or after the vote. Bassett left the board room quickly following the vote When asked by reporters if Brown would be made available to address the board's vote, Bassett replied: "He will not speak today."
