News Council Members Brett and Sack Question Board of Ethics Process, Not Mayor’s Conduct, but Tempers Reach Red Zone
Council Members Brett and Sack Question Board of Ethics Process, Not Mayor’s Conduct, but Tempers Reach Red Zone
Thursday, 09 February 2012 13:25
By Jim Byrne and Robin Jovanovich
While the Board of Ethics made its decision on the matter of whether an abuse of power had occurred regarding building violations at Mayor French’s Richard Place rental property and his receiving an additional STAR exemption, Councilwoman Laura Brett and Councilman Joe Sack expressed their continuing dissatisfaction with the process at the February 8 City Council meeting.
“The appearance of a conflict compromises the decision and undermines people’s confidence in the process,” said Councilwoman Brett.
Mayor French and Councilman Sack clashed at the City Council meetingCouncilman Sack began, “We all want this matter to be over, but in a way that people can be confident it was done right. The first time we’ve gotten a representation of the facts was yesterday from the City Manager.”
He continued, “I proposed an independent review, which I still think is necessary.”
Councilman Rich Filippi reiterated his view that the Council asked the Board of Ethics to review the matter, make the final decision, and live with their decision. “The City Council is here to legislate, not investigate.”
Councilwoman Suzanna Keith agreed with Councilman Peter Jovanovich that the Council needed to put the matter behind them and move ahead to address Rye’s pressing financial issues.
The matter wasn’t on the agenda but the Mayor introduced it early. Councilman Jovanovich was the first to speak.
“It’s to Rye’s great benefit that the Board of Ethics brought us back on firm ground. As you know, they found that the Mayor and City employees have not violated the public’s trust. The Mayor was treated by the Building Department and Tax Assessor’s Office just like any other citizen.
“Although it was necessary for me to write to the Board of Ethics, that doesn’t excuse the anguish caused Maureen Eckman of the Building Department or Noreen Whitty, our Tax Assessor, by having their integrity questioned. Unlike Council members, they can’t speak from this dais to defend themselves. I apologize to you. It’s my fervent hope that you never have to undergo this experience again.
“Rye faces major problems. Our infrastructure is crumbling: roads and bridges need repair, sidewalks must be built or improved, and crosswalks made safer. Underneath our roads lie millions of dollars in needed repairs to sewers and storm drains. We have no significant protection from another major flood; the sluice gate is just a start. Even a stroll down Blind Brook reveals that its retaining walls are caving in. We have real work to do.”
After all the Council members had a chance to express their opinion, Mayor French turned to Councilman Sack and asked, “Joe, what is it that I’m being accused of?”
Councilman Sack was quick to reply, “The tone you’ve taken Doug is inappropriate. Since you’ve asked, everyone on the Council wanted you to put out the facts early on. We all sat back to give you the opportunity to end this. Referring this to the Board of Ethics wasn’t the way to proceed.” He added, “As John Alfano said, ‘Usually the Council presents the Board of Ethics with a set of facts and then lets them opine’.”
He continued, “You said these accusations were entirely false. At some point we got a one-sentence e-mail with a house listing from 1992. That was it. The reason Ray Tartaglione was able to come up here and make accusations is that no one gave him the facts. I hope it’s clear there were violations and you did receive two STAR exemptions when not permitted.”
He added, “No one is questioning your intentions. As Laura said, we’re just trying to serve as best we can. The Board of Ethics doesn’t show any findings, so we don’t know how they decided.”
The Mayor responded that, “having a building violation is not misconduct.” Further he emphasized that he did not have violations when the matter was made public. “They came December 23.” The conversion of the Richard Place property from a two-family to a single-family home was done in the 1970s when he was in grade school and over 20 years before he purchased it. The “illegal” third bedroom attic living space was listed as a bedroom on the property card when he bought the home.
At that point in the discussion, with both the Mayor and Councilman Sack struggling to speak civilly to one another, the Mayor was the first to step across the line.
“This all started when Leon Sculti did a video of my homes. It was a volunteer thing and a little creepy. It was filed with a complaint by Ray Tartaglione and that was parroted by people on this dais. What we need to do is take a 360-degree view and look at the relationship of Tartaglione and people on this dais. Why wasn’t Joe Sack humiliated like the rest of the Council [before the last election] with his likeness on the Floatiemobile? We need to take a look at the relationship of the accuser and people on this Council. My question goes back to Sack and Brett, what are the facts of misconduct?”
Councilman Sack came back with, “How disgusting you are to slime people after what you’ve just been through.” He later added, “You’ve made an ugly situation exponentially worse and should be ashamed of yourself.”
In a cool and collected manner, Councilwoman Brett said, “I have nothing to gain from investigating this process. Whatever errors you made Doug I personally believe were innocent ones. My objections are to the process here. It calls into question the way the Board of Ethics functions. That question requires a reasonable process.
“I know at some point we’re going to revise the City Code and look at best practices. I will pass my thoughts on this on to the Corporation Counsel and the Council.”
Mayor French Says Ethics Matter "Closed"
Ethics Board: Mayor French Did Not Receive Preferential Treatment
Ethics Board Offers No Immediate Answers to Questions Posed
Mayor French Issues Memo on Board of Ethics Review, Building Violation, STAR Exemption
Comments
Match the recent Public Meeting “Misstatement” - to the Current Rye City Official:
A.“That, is a phone call recording!”
This would be – the City Manager
B. “It’s not a violation.”
This would be – the Mayor
C. “Yeah what’s recorded is someone called in and made a complaint.”
This would be – the Corporation Counsel
D. “Every accusation you’re making is false!”
This would be – the Mayor
See “13 Richard Place” - time codes 10:52–11:00 & 12:22–12:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6nWzVM99R8&feature=related
Why do they feel the need to circumvent the rule of law the City Charter had laid out and come up with their own solutions?
Why is it that the only 3 people at the Council meeting Wed. night advocating Christian Wilson recuse herself were all attorneys themselves?
Why did Jordan Glass go so far as to say it's OK to spend an endless amount of money , I assume on lawyers, to resolve the Mayor French dispute?
Are these lawyers soliciting business for their own profession regardless of what the City Charter says?
According to Wikepedia, one of the definitions of corruption is "In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due, under law.
This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh."
Would hiring outside attorneys to settle this issue be a kickback to the law profession? Is idea that the City should spend whatever it takes to solve this issue,
whether or not it is the law, an idea that is CORRUPT to the bone? Is
any attorney possessing those ideas corrupt as well? Is it a coincidence that the only people who spoke out
about circumventing the City Charter and bringing in more business to the law profession were the lawyers in the room?
It may be time for Laura Brett and Joe Sack to resign. They seem to be looking out for their profession more than for the taxpayers of Rye.
BTW, how does “The appearance of a conflict compromises the decision ..............,” , typical attorney.
Investigations.
C6-3
The Council may make investigations into the affairs of the city and the conduct of any board, commission, department, office or agency thereof and for this purpose may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and require the production of evidence. Any person who fails or refuses to obey a lawful order issued in the exercise of these powers by the Council shall be guilty of an offense punishable by a fine of not more than $100, or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both, and such offense shall constitute sufficient cause for suspension without pay for a period not exceeding two months or removal from office or employment.
As to your belief that I espoused spending "endless amounts of money," I'll explain (and correct) that, too ... though I assume you wrote that in frustration and not as a literal comment.
Perhaps this quote by Mohandas Gandhi will assist you in understanding my position: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Since this post also applies to the "half-empty" comment, I'll add this for your post: I was not being paid by Ray for anything related to Ernest.
Ask these questions: How did the public find out? Did I hide it, obfuscate it, ask others to cover it for me or in any way leave it buried? No: Mr. Bernstein and everyone else found out because *I* re-disclosed the matter (for the third time) in the ZBA’s "executive session." The three other Board members that night were all attorneys, the ZBA’s attorney was present at the meeting, and no one said I should not participate in the vote. That's how the public learned about it (again), since those sessions are open to the public (it's just that they can not comment during those discussion times). I had also disclosed it as a member of the public several months before.
You're also not considering one of the many things that happened next: Mr. Bernstein only reported one-half of part of the alleged conflict transaction – the allegedly damning half. He was then called to task by the Ethics Board's own attorney (who was brought in from Katonah), because, as it turned out, the relevant "deed" Mr. Bernstein tried to hang me with (~1991) was superseded by a later deed (~1996) which he withheld from the Ethics Board (oops) and which exonerated me from that part of the claim.
I even once alluded to this to the Rye City Council (it’s on video) when I told them that I understood the attacks of political office. I don’t attack people personally and I don’t enjoy addressing some of these issues. I think they are important and I am – long ago fully disclosed – hired to promote environmental issues and to bring the to the public’s attention matters which various members of the public view as being important.
I believe the Mayor is entitled (as are all employees, officials, and citizens) to be presented with a claim of charges, not innuendos, and that he should be entitled to answer them and have a full and fair hearing about them. I’ve said so more than once.
More importantly, I’m not holding myself out as a political representative of anyone, I’m not in office, not running for office, etc. In Greenburgh when it became clear I had made an error, I admitted to it and that was the end of it. The fact that I had already disclosed the issue multiple times, including in writing, and that I was given incorrect advice from City officials didn’t change that I may have erred, so I took my lumps and went on.
Now, if you want to make it personal as well as professional, hear this: as part of my practice I help victims of various kinds of abuse (mostly but not always unpaid). I have a particular empathy for people who have suffered at the hands of officials. In my view, what Paul Shew did to Bob Schubert was among the worst attempts to perpetrate a crime on a citizen (who happen to also be a friend of mine ) that I have come across in the past 17 years. Bob Schubert may be dead, but his death has no bearing on whether what was done to him was wrong. You can attack me all you want, but when it comes to Bob and what Rye did to him, I’m not going away.
I’ll put my clay feet up against your poison pen any time. Here’s the difference between us: I’m aware of my frailties, I endeavor to err less today than I did yesterday, and to tread upon others less tomorrow than I did today. You, whoever you are (and with no courage to post your real name), are more interested in conflict than resolution, more interested in dismembering than remembering, unable to admit incorrectness, are yet another person who sought to accuse of a crime but did not report the full findings, and generally without ethic, spine or integrity. We all err ... the question is often not what we do, but what we do about it.
To Whom It Concerns:
CORRECTING THE RECORD
In response to the mayor's update, I would like to correct the record in clarifying that I never brought a complaint against Mayor French to the Ethics Board, nor did I ever advocate for such action–and you will find nowhere in the public record where I did.
As a matter of fact, I would like to point out, that Mayor French actually brought the second complaint against himself by asking Deputy Mayor, Peter Jovanovich, to do just that. Therefore, the mayor would have been more accurate in saying the complaint was "brought forward by Ray Tartaglione of Purchase, NY and Me of Rye against Myself."
DOCUMENTED PROVEN FACTS
What I did was simply make a video accurately documenting the mayor's 19 year ownership of a property in violation of Rye City Building Code–the video was sourced throughout with records from City Hall, Westchester County Land Records and Mayor French's own MLS listing sheets, supporting each fact contained therein. Two days after the video was posted, and widely viewed, Mayor French was issued violations by the City of Rye Building Department for the exact illegal building activities detailed in the video. These are proven facts.
I also covered the mayor's decade long improper School Tax Exemptions in the video–well after it had been reported in the press. Last week, again, according to Mr. French himself, the mayor paid more than $16,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties to Westchester County's Tax Commission for his ill-gotten tax savings. These are proven facts.
FALSE CITY REPORTS NOT PURSUED FOR REVIEW
In the video I also reported the fact that a leading national title company received a false report from the City of Rye Building Department in October 2011, stating that the mayor's property at 13 Richard Place was a legal single family home. Subsequently, the city was forced to release an amended and corrected report identifying the house as a legal two family home. Those documents were fully disclosed in the video as well. No member of the city council has asked to see these documents or asked to speak to me regarding this specific issue, and I have never sought to meet or speak with any of them in any way to pursue the issue. Again, this is a fact.
I never pursued any of these issues for any kind of sanction against the mayor. I made the public aware of them through the making of the video itself.
MAYOR GIVEN FULL DISCLOSURE
In the interest of full disclosure, before making the video I notified Mayor French, in detail, of the information regarding his investment property that I had researched and found. I offered him the opportunity to sit down for an on camera interview at Rye TV so he could address the issues. The mayor never responded to my request. The point is, even before the making of the video I was open and forthcoming with the mayor, who refused to address the issues.
THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO BE INFORMED
Since Rye TV decided not to video tape the recent Ethics Board hearings, I video taped them both so the public could be kept informed. I also reported on the Ethics Boards political contributions to the mayor's campaign in 2009 as did other news outlets–again so the public would be informed of the facts. Although the publicity of the "disrespectful" nature of the boards conduct, as stated by NYS Open Government officials, may have been brought to light by the video taping itself, I certainly did not call for these meetings. I documented and reported on them.
QUESTIONS, NOT ACCUSATIONS
I have never advocated for Mayor French to be sent to the Ethics Board. I simply disclosed and reported the facts of his illegal building and circumstances surrounding it. These are not accusations, these were once questions, based on facts, that have been proven true. I am joined by the Rye Record, LoHud, The Rye Sound Shore Review, The Rye Patch and The Daily Rye in reporting on these issues. The City of Rye Building Department and The Westchester County Tax Commission have each validated the veracity of the facts reported by penalizing Mayor French for his actions.
I did not receive multiple violations from the City of Rye for owning and operating an illegal investment property. I was not required to pay more than $16,000 in taxes and penalties to Westchester County because I claimed two STAR exemptions. I did not run for Mayor. And I did not forward a complaint to the Ethics Board against Mayor French.
I simply asked questions, reported the facts and documented the truth–which I will continue to do. Third grade is over. If the Mayor is looking for an apology, he should start writing one now–to the people of Rye.
With respect to all,
Leon Sculti
Whenever a regular citizen pops their head up to let you know that your personal agendas are apparent and annoying you quickly coordinate to insult them back into silence.
Time to stop - There's no conspiracy - There's just people doing their best for us all. If we had a choice between our current public servants and the critiques, I think we'd have a pretty clear statement from the community.
Maybe you should all run for council next time - Let the public decide if you guys have a viable position...That would be fun..
Quote from the Journal news January 20th 2012
“French says he’s facing up to a not-unusual situation — albeit in the public eye.”
From: "Whitty, Noreen P."
Date: February 10, 2012 10:09:06 AM EST
To: *****************
Cc: "Pickup, Scott D."
Subject: RE: Form RP-496 Application to Renounce Previously Granted Exemption
Mr. **********:
In response to your inquiry, with the exception of Mayor French, no taxpayer has ever made restitution on a renounced STAR exemption. Presently there is one other taxpayer in the process of making restitution.
In answer to your second question, the answer is no.
Noreen Whitty
City Assessor
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