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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, December 16, 2015
City Hall protesters clash with council
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front of City Hall earlier in the day - waved signs reading,
“Let’s fix the council,” “The city manager stays,” and
“Corruption robs us all.”
“’Corrupt’ is the new word for the N-word,” said Lee,
referring to signs in the audience. “You would never
disrespect any white person,” Lee said, speaking to one
audience member. “I know I’m a bully, I get like that with
a mob.”
Her provocative comments drew such ire from audience members that some approached the council table
waving their arms. Others shouted, “Remove her.” Lee
threatened, “You try to remove me and see what happens.”
“Let cooler heads prevail,” city Mayor Judy Kennedy
implored, threatening to shut the meeting down if people
didn’t settle down. “If there is one person out of control,
fine. When you get 25 out of control, it’s not so fine.”
The four dissenting council members have asserted,
among other claims, that Ciaravino hasn’t communicated
openly or effectively with them. “He has a closed-door
policy,” said Brown. “Any good manager has an opendoor policy.”
When Lee was calmer, she spoke about an investigation, spearheaded by Ciaravino she claimed, which
centered on a city employee who allegedly collected disability pay when he was fit to work. “Now, we’re going to
be sued,” she said. “This is a matter of poor judgement.”
Kennedy pointed out that it would take five votes, not
four, to appoint a new city manager. “Per our (city) charter, it takes five people to appoint a new city manager,”
she said. “At this point, you do not have that majority to
do that. That’s just the fact of the situation.”
Until that majority exists, said the mayor, a city manager search is a “wasted effort of money, time and energy
on everybody’s part. And, there’s so much to do.”
Regarding concerns over wasted money, Councilwoman
Angelo said, “It’s not going take a lot of money to do a
Protesters holds signs at Monday’s city council meeting.
search.” Suggesting protesters might better serve the
community in other ways, she asked, “Doesn’t anyone
own a broom that they can sweep in front of their businesses?”
Councilwoman Karen Mejia said she would not participate in a city manager search which would cause
“unnecessary destabilization” in the city. Kennedy spoke
of a citywide referendum, held four years ago, in which
residents voted to require a super majority to hire and
fire a city manager. The vote helped to halt the turnover
of city managers due to “personal agendas” and other
gripes, she said.
Lee and Brown, the two most vocal supporters of the
city manager search, will exit the council at the end of
the month. “The new council will need to make decisions
about the city manager, not the old city council,” said
Councilwoman Genie Abrams, adding the vote had been
“wrongly” conducted to begin with.
Councilman-elect Torrance Harvey spoke plainly on
the subject. “I do support Michael as city manager,” he
said. “Michael will stand up to anyone that applies for the
job. His record will speak for itself.”
Brown referred to “many fires” he alleged Ciaravino
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