Police called to town meeting as arguments ensue between supervisor and councilmembers

A heated argument at a recent Monroe Town meeting caused the police to be called in.

The dispute centered around whether to seek proposals for a new human resources firm. Town Supervisor Maureen Richardson said she’d decided not to continue working with the town’s current firm, Public Sector HR and wanted to move the discussion on the matter to executive session.

Councilmembers Bethany Stephens and Mary Bingham wanted the search for a new firm to begin now, before budget time, with Stephens proposing a motion suggesting the same.

During the exchange between Richardson and Stephens, Councilmember Sal Scancarello called on Richardson to let Stephens speak. Richardson said Stephens had her time to speak. In the wake of a public reaction, the supervisor said she would call the village police. After a five-minute recess was called, the village police showed up to Town Hall.

After the recess, Richardson said, “We did in fact have to call the village police, and this has been an ongoing problem with disrupters from the audience as well as from the dais. We will be investigating this as it moves forward and try to remedy this for the taxpayers to get through town business. I apologize to the full-time staff and the consultants who have put in several complaints about this.”

Stephens motion to seek proposals from HR firms passed three to two.

Should elected officials be able to access another official’s town email?

During the meeting, Stephens made a motion to prohibit elected officials from having access to other elected officials email communications without the express written consent of that official. Stephens alleged at the previous town board meeting that Richardson deleted emails from Stephens’ inbox.

Richardson made a motion to stop Stephens from posting accusations online that she is being censored and monitored. Richardson said that Stephens was duly investigated by the legal team, and that the email accounts are subject to FOIL at any time.

Richardson then said she and the legal team with the aid of the town IT department may investigate whether Stephens’ allegations are false, which Stephens denied.

Bingham said a discussion about her emails, which she said were also subject to town investigation, should have happened before Richardson looked into them. Richardson said the town has the right to investigate the email accounts.

Who can talk to whom?

Bingham and Scancarello supported Stephens’ motion allowing town board members’ and department heads’ ability to communicate with town consultants and advisors. The motion also moved to limit board members from authorizing expenditures and signing contracts without legal authority.

Richardson agreed that no individual should make those decisions without legal authority. She also said there have been issues with members reaching out to contractors without checking with each other and they are getting “double billed.”

Richardson agreed with the sentiment of the motion, but voted against it, along with Councilmember Luis Rivera, because she did not approve of how it was worded.

Agreement about establishing a safety committee

One item the board all agreed on was Stephens’ motion to establish a Public Safety Advisory Committee to review the safety needs of the Town of Monroe.