French Fends Off Accusers; Explains Ethics Board Decision Not to Review
Mayor Doug French issued a statement on Thursday addressing the Ethics Board recent meeting.
After convening and discussing a recent call for a formal ethics review of Mayor Doug French last week, the remaining members of the City Ethics Board–minus recused ex-officio members Scott Pickup and Kristen Wilson–decided last week they had no standing to initiate a review based upon the public allegations of impropriety made by Ray Tartaglione prior to last week's council meeting.
As forecast in Rye Patch last week, the Ethics Board cited the municipal code as clearly procluding them from acting upon a request for review not made by a city official or employee.
The three members also decided that they were not obliged to recuse themselves from any such proceeding. In his letter, released to Rye Patch, Tartaglione charged that every member of the Ethics Board had prior relationships with the Mayor that constituted conflicts of interest with regard to Mayor French.
On Thursday, January 19, Mayor French released a letter addressed "Dear Resident" that summarized the minutes of the recent Ethics Board meeting and addressed the alleged improper tax exemptions he received from 2001 to 2010.
Accrding to French's letter, the minutes of the Ethics Board meeting included a request that Deputy Mayor Peter Jovanovich "as a City Official and per our code" submit a request for a formal ethics review of Mayor French's receipt of allegedly improper STAR tax exemptions at secondary property owned by him at 13 Richard Place.
By way of Twitter, Rye Sound Shore Review reported yesterday that Councilman Joe Sack "supports an independent investigation of all city officials implicated in the mayor's alleged ethical violations."
Mayor French also said in his letter that he purchased the 13 Richard Place property as a primary residence in 1992. French said that the previous owner of the residence contacted the city building department to attest that the conversion of the residence from a two-family dwelling, the status which it was originally and legally zoned, to a single family configuration had taken place in the early 1970s–well before French's purchase of the property. The mayor said he is working to bring the property into building code compliance.
Regarding allegations that he had improperly received tax exemptions for the same property for the past ten years, French indicated a 2011 change in the STAR exemption application process had uncovered the erroneous reimbursements. French said the exemptions had been "misapplied" and indicated he would make full restitution of the improper exemption amount as well as any penalties attached once determined by the Assessor's office. French did not indicate exactly how the 'misapplication' had occurred.
tedc
9:26 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
See RyeDad?
Renea isn’t asleep. Or secretly suborned.
Mayor French needs to resign before anything else comes up. And it will.
And along with him should go the City Manager and the City Attorney – shame on them – for so foolishly trying to cover-up this whole shabby affair – all about money and secrets in Rye as usual. That 3rd floor bedroom is an illegal firetrap with no egress window, sprinkler system or fire escape mandatory under NYS law.
For those of you who haven’t seen a 1st Amendment train wreck in motion yet, watch below how Mr. Tartaglione is treated when he persistently tries to show the Rye City Council a summary 5 minute presentation on the issues he’s uncovered. And while you’re watching, join me in calling shame on all of them on that bench.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=nCRJfm3CJv8
RyeDad
3:06 pm on Friday, January 20, 2012
tedc:
I have to agree with you. Excellent coverage and story by Renea.
Let's hope the rest of the Rye City Council supports an independent investigation of all city officials implicated in the mayor's alleged ethical violations as Councilman Sack and former Judge/Mayor Carey have called for.
Let's hope French, Pickup and Wilson all resign prior to next Wednesday nights Rye City Council meeting so they can no longer hide behind their positions. This way the dedicated employees in the building department and assessors office will not be fearful of their jobs when questioned about the sordid details.
tedc
11:09 am on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Write it here – see it there. I mentioned yesterday in my comment ABOVE that something else would come up – and it has. (So soon Mr. French?)
Yesterday the local filmmaker who produced “13 Richard Place” – the investigative documentary that exposed Mr. French, City Attorney Wilson and City Manager Scott Pickup in something closely resembling public malfeasance – apparently had his NAME and A LETTER HE SENT outlining a series of 1st Amendment issues concerning the management of Rye TV (I.E. - taxpayer paid-for TV) referred by someone in city hall to the Rye City Police Department. Think about that. And please now see my related comment BELOW.
tedc
11:10 am on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Here is a 2-part Rye TV panel discussion program mentioning key evidence collected under court order about Rye’s Schubert’s Pond matter that’s been long suppressed by Rye City officials.
When it was “aired” previously on Rye TV, a series of so called “technical difficulties” prevented Rye TV viewers from getting clear simultaneous audio and video tracks for the show – thus many gave up watching within a few minutes out of frustration and complained bitterly.
These now YouTube-ed sessions were made from a disk copy obtained directly from Rye TV a few weeks ago. As viewers can see, there are no “technical difficulties” at all in the show – which was taken directly from the original master disk, archived by Rye TV.
Schubert's Pond- Season 4, Episode 1 Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWsRNBcYA64&feature=related
Schubert's Pond- Season 4, Episode 1 Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVuqmEoATcc&feature=related
RyeDad
1:05 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
More bad news for French, Pickup and the City of Rye Corporation Counsel's office.
Councilwoman Parker seems to be saying Pickup lied when he conveniently said he didn't refer this matter to the Rye Board of Ethics.
http://soundshore.lohudblogs.com/2012/01/20/rye-councilwoman-sees-conflict-on-ethics-board-in-review-of-mayors-property/
If Pickup and the Corporation Counsel's office supposedly said they were recusing themselves from the Board of Ethics review, why were they both there for the Board of Ethics meeting?
Why did a representative from the Corporation Counsel's office (Wilson's subordinate) go into executive session with the Board of Ethics?
Councilman Sack, Councilwoman Parker and Judge Carey must all smell the same dead rat that the rest of us smell emitting from Rye City Hall.
French, Pickup and Wilson all need to go.
tedc
1:23 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
April 8th, 2011 - Rye City Tax Assessor Noreen Whitty discovers a STAR tax exemption on Mayor Douglas French’s rental house on 13 Richard Place. She removes it.
(Last 3 pages here) http://healtheharbor.com/french/french_13-richard-STAR-info.pdf
Now both the Mayor and the Assessor have access to all the tax records of 13 Richard Place going back to the Mayor’s purchase of it in 1992. Those online public records indicate Mayor French has taken this same STAR exemption on 13 Richard Place as a rental house for the prior 10 years. So the Mayor and the Assessor apparently DO THE FOLLOWING:
April 2011, nothing. May 2011, nothing. June 2011, nothing. July 2011, nothing. August 2011, nothing. September 2011, nothing. October 2011, nothing. November 2011, nothing.
December 2011 – On December 5, 2011 Heal the Harbor announces Mayor French has illegally taken a STAR exemption on a rental property for a decade. A flurry of contradictory, accusatory explanations and excuses pour forth in the press and from city officials. So on December 7, 2011 - Public meeting question to the Mayor –
“Do you know if you got that STAR exemption sir?”
Public meeting answer from the Mayor – “Um, I’m going to find out.”
See it here starting at about the 5.00 minute mark -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSqIOZYCuok&context=C32e830eADOEgsToPDskLEueJMRci3NQXYfD8fomfd
tedc
1:24 pm on Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The NYS Attorney General’s Office in Suffolk County, describes this behavior is a “felony filing of a false instrument and defrauding the state.” – See North Country Gazette “STAR Scam article at the link below (copy attached).
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/101206STARScam.html
And here’s another case from Sachem Patch.com -
http://sachem.patch.com/articles/holbrook-property-owner-arrested-for-unlawfully-collecting-star-exemptions
And how much do you want to bet that every single Suffolk County property owner charged and convicted in these cases initially claimed some variation of the “mistakenly,” erroneously,” “negligently,” defense?
So the question in Rye today I think is – can we trust the people involved here anymore? Because I’ve always found that a key measure of personal integrity is what someone does when they believe no one else will ever find out.