KINGSTON, N.Y. ? Mayor Shayne Gallo on Thursday said he?s confident the city will be victorious in a lawsuit filed against it by dismissed Fire Chief Chris Rea.
Gallo?s comments, during a wide-ranging 80-minute interview with the Freeman, were the first on the subject since Rea filed the suit last month against the city, Gallo and all 10 members of the Kingston Common Council.
Rea?s suit calls for either his reinstatement or an explanation about why he has been under suspension without pay since early February.
Gallo said the city expected to file a formal response to the suit by the close of business on Thursday.
?I can just state specifically that the allegations or the defenses that are raised in Mr. Rea?s petition are clearly false,? Gallo said during the interview, which was conducted in his office and livestreamed on the Freeman?s website.
?I am confident that the public will see that what was done was done in the public?s best interest and that I had specific factual information to proceed,? said Gallo, a longtime lawyer.
Rea, who joined the Kingston Fire Department in 1986, was appointed city fire chief by Gallo on Jan. 27, three days after Chief Richard Salzmann retired under a cloud of suspicion about what the mayor called ?time in attendance? issues that had been referred to the Ulster County District Attorney?s Office.
On Feb. 9, Gallo, just five weeks into his term as mayor, rescinded Rea?s appointment, suspended him from the fire department? without pay and said he was referring the matter to the District Attorney?s Office, also because of ?time in attendance? issues.
Continued...
Gallo said on Thursday that he did not know when District Attorney Holley Carnright will complete his investigations of the Salzmann and Rea matters.
In the lawsuit, Rea claims his dismissal as chief and suspension from the fire department were not based on adequate investigation and were an abuse of discretion, a? violation of his employment contract with the city and a denial of his due-process rights under the state and U.S. constitutions.
Rea?s suit asks the state Supreme Court to order the city to either reinstate him as assistant fire chief (the job he held before being promoted to chief) and pay him the salary he has been denied or levy disciplinary charges against him so he can answer them.
?At no time has (Rea) received notice of the disciplinary and/or misconduct charges that are the alleged basis for his indefinite suspension without pay,? the lawsuit states.
Gallo said he was ?protecting the taxpayers? of Kingston by taking disciplinary action against Rea.
?What Mr. Rea did was unconscionable,? Gallo said during the interview on Thursday. ?Mr. Rea, allegedly, and I am confident I have the factual information, committed misconduct and incompetence.?
Gallo has never explained the ?time in attendance? issues that led to his actions against Rea, but the lawsuit offers a glimpse into what the allegations could be.
The suit details a meeting Rea said he had with Gallo and city Comptroller John Tuey prior to his appointment as chief to discuss what Rea claims Gallo and Tuey called ?an ?administrative error? that resulted in Rea being paid for 11 days between November 2008 and January 2011 when he worked as an instructor at the New York State Fire Academy.
Rea says in the lawsuit that he was unaware of the error and denied any wrongdoing. He also says that during the meeting with the mayor and comptroller, Tuey suggested ? ?with the implicit authority and consent of Gallo? to ?correct that administrative error? ? reducing Rea?s vacation and personal time to solve the problem.
But if that?s the reason behind Rea?s suspension, his timeline is different than the one laid out by Gallo, who said, in announcing Rea?s suspension on Feb. 9, that the ?time in attendance? issue came to light just five days before Rea was suspended. Continued...
That would have been after, not before, Rea was appointed chief.
The complete Freeman interview with Gallo can be viewed here:
reggie wayne taylor allderdice vincent jackson vicki gunvalson pierre garcon brown recluse spider wiz khalifa taylor allderdice
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.