After meeting at City Hall in closed session for nearly 45 minutes, the Rye City Ethics Board decided Friday morning they will reconvene on April 12 to gather facts related to a letter submitted to the City Council in February by Rye TV employee Andrew Dapolite.
Former Rye Councilwoman Elizabeth Matthews, chair of the Ethics Board, said the body determined during the executive session that they would continue their consideration of the allegations in the letter at the April meeting. Neither city manager Scott Pickup nor Corporation Counsel Kristin Wilson was present for the meeting. Attorney Vincent Toomey, of New Hyde Park, NY, served as pro bono counsel.
At the April meeting, Matthews said the board would invite specific parties to offer facts related to the allegations.
In his letter, Dapolite alleged Rye TV employee Nicole Levitsky and city manager Scott Pickup purposefully concealed the recording of a January 25 budget workshop.
During that meeting, the City Council discussed Pickup's recommendation, subsequently adopted, to change the Rye City Charter to require the Board of Wardens- which represents the fire departments volunteer members- to answer to his office rather than the council as the city charter originally proscribed. Also present at the meeting was consultant Barry Nechis, Captain of the New Rochelle fire department who drafted an advisory report pro bono for the council's consideration.
At one point during the meeting, Councilmember Catherine Parker asked Pickup if the session was being broadcast or recorded and he said it was not. Later, Andrew Dapolite alleges he found a recording of the meeting on the Rye TV servers and was told by Nicole Levitsky she had been asked to conceal the recording by Pickup.
