During that time, ALBB reported on cited tensions in the Highway Department here: “Beacon’s New HR Director (Gina Basile) Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department.”
Gina then left her position within the year without the issues she brought up being resolved, according to employees in the Highway Department. Gina was replaced by Sara Morris, who is Beacon’s HR Director today.
During Reuben’s unpaid leave, City Administrator Chris banned Reuben from speaking to any Highway Department employees or touching any property of the City of Beacon during work hours.
After the City of Beacon extended his unpaid leave by another 30 days (but had to pay him for those, as per CSEA Union rules) Chris put Reuben on a second unpaid leave later that June 2021, while Reuben fought in arbitration hearings to keep his job. Reuben was placed back into employment, but was isolated in the Street Sweeper truck, where he is only connected to other employees via walkie-talkies.
A suspected $111,000 of City of Beacon’s budget was allocated to pay the City’s legal efforts to terminate Reuben during that process under Chris White’s recommendation. Reuben’s efforts to keep his job continue as new actions by City Administrator Chris continue.
ALBB ITSELF WAS ALSO Banned By City Administrator Chris For Saying “Hot Mess” In Headline Of Article in 2021
After ALBB published that article series, which included “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement,” Beacon’s City Administrator Chris scolded Katie at ALBB via email, and declined to answer any more of her questions unless he could have editorial control over her word-choice in articles (see his letter to her at the bottom of this article here).
Chris went so far as to ban every City Department head from answering Katie’s questions for other reporting (not even to answer a summer paving schedule when Katie served as the Spirit of Beacon Chair), according to several department heads, including Mark Price (Parks and Recreation Director), former Chief of Police Sands Frost, and then Lt. Tom Figlia who is now the Chief of Police.
Who Is James (Jimmy) Cottrell?
According to his resume attached to the Resolution hiring him in 2022, James is a “self-starter, physically fit and strong.” His specialty and passion is climbing trees and evaluating them before trimming or removing them and grinding the stumps. He owns Cottrell’s Tree Service, where he ran a crew of workers when not serving in municipal Highway Departments.
James was a Tree Trimmer for Yorktown Highway Department, and assumed the position as foreman in their absence. He operated and taught coworkers, how to operate excavators, skid, steers, brush hogs skidder buckets. This, while he served as a main climber and taught crews how to operate equipment like bucket trucks, and how to climb trees safely and properly.
He got his start at Lewis Tree Service in Westchester County from 2004-2016, where he developed operational knowledge of using stump grinders, a stump router, forklift and bobcat.
James had since been terminated by the time the Highway Department took down the fallen tree during a violent storm last month, so ALBB does not know his impression on if proper safety measures were taken, or if a professional tree removal crew should have been hired.
When Did The Alleged Harassment and Targeting Of James Start?
James said it started early when one Employee A began not liking him. Then James became friends with Kyle, which James said caused tension between him and his new boss Mickey. James told ALBB: “So basically, Employee A started not liking me because I became friends with Kyle, and Mickey didn't like me because Employee A doesn't like me now because I became friends with Kyle, and that's kindergarten. I told Mickey, ‘I don't want to be a part of it,’ you know? So basically, this is where it all started.”
After several incidents, James filed complaints with his union representative, Jordan Rider. One impressionable time for James was when he was driving the truck during snowplowing. The Highway Department came in during a storm and were plowing at 10pm through the night. “The next morning,” James told ALBB and Jordan for her union paperwork: “everybody's out getting breakfast at 9 o'clock in the morning, and I was one of them. I have to eat too. So Employee A drives by and he sees me at Bob's. Employee A gets on the radio. He's like, ‘Oh, I see Jim getting a breakfast sandwich at Bob's, 9 o'clock in the morning.‘ Meanwhile, we're supposed to be plowing. Meanwhile, we've been out since 10 o'clock at night.”
Before continuing, there are two things to know about snowplowing:
“Areas” Highway Department employees are assigned to “areas” of town that they are responsible for. These are unofficial grids that even former Mayor Randy Casale enforced when he was Highway Superintendent for 16 years (Randy is who appointed Rueben to the Superintendent Role role after Zep Thomesalli retired, and before Mickey Manzi’s involvement to kick Reuben out of that department head position). Randy confirmed to ALBB that these invisible grids are not formed or regulated by the union or any other entity. Just neat and tidy attempts to organize the crew. These “areas” have since been used against employees like James and Reuben when collecting charges of Misconduct and/or Incompetence, if they are to venture out of the area. Like to Bob’s Corner Store instead of Mr. V’s, if Mr. V’s is in the “area” of that employee.
Radio Walkies: Everyone can hear on the radio, including Reuben when he’s in the Street Sweeper truck being kept away from other employees. Though usually in the winter he is “allowed” to drive the snowplow truck. Dutchess County can also hear dialogue on the radio, which is recorded. Both later commented about how unprofessional this radio interaction about a breakfast sandwich was.
James continued with his story in an interview with ALBB: “I call Employee A on the phone, and he doesn't answer. Then I call him an hour later. I said, ‘Employee A, is this really necessary?’ I was like, ‘This is not kindergarten. I'm not dealing with this. Why would you want to do that?' I'm hungry and I'm getting breakfast.’
“Employee A was like, ‘Well you're out of your area.’
“I was like, ‘My area is a quarter mile down the road and there’s a deli up the road from my plower area. What are you talking about?’
“Employee A said, ‘Well, you know, you shouldn't be going out of your area.’
“I was like, ‘So I should starve. What's this really about?’”
“So this is the stuff like the petty stuff that Mickey was doing. Another example is when Mickey would go over to radio. All the roads would be black. He'd go on the radio purposely to make me look like an ass. He’d be like, ‘Jim, your plow is not down.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, that's because the road is black Mickey, and, uh, you know, it's, it's not snowing right now.’”
What Are The January 7, 2026 Termination Charges Against James?
There are nine charges total, presented in full below, that were in his Termination packet, which was signed by Mayor Lee Kyriacou:
Charges 1: “On [specific date], you called out of work without having enough accrued time resulting in your use of unpaid time without authorization.”
Charges 2, 4, 5 and 6 were more specific: “On August 28, 2025, you were absent from work and disregarded a counseling and/or memo from the Superintendent of Streets, Michael Manzi, without having enough accrued time resulting in your use of unpaid time without authorization.”
Charge 3 had to do with the punching in the timeclock: “On October 24, 2025, you were late to work and failed to follow a directive from the Superintendent of Streets Michael Manzi, when you asked another employee to punch you into work on your time card at 6:59am when you were not at work, engaging in theft of time and/or public money.”
James concedes to ALBB that these instances did happen. He says there are more charges than these examples, which an employee would need to dispute each one with proof and paperwork to absolve them.
When being terminated by the City of Beacon, the employee has the right to object to the notice of termination and statement of charges by filing a grievance within 8 days or exercising their rights under Section 75 and/or 76 of the Civil Service Law. James opted to pursue rejecting the charges.
Elaboration On Charge Of Earned Time Off (ETO) and Approved Time Off
In some situations, the charges of Misconduct are debatable, and are rooted in technicalities that his boss Mickey has discretion to wave or pass charges on. For example, James told ALBB, he gained verbal approval from Mickey on being able to leave for an appointment with his attorney (James was going through a divorce at the time), but James neglected to get a note from the attorney, which then counted as the unapproved leave as a charge of Misconduct or Incompetence, though he had verbal approval of it, but forgot to follow through on the attorney note as evidence.
In another example, James told ALBB that he requested time off for an appointment with the ETO (Earned Time Off) he earned from overtime in snowplowing, but Mickey denied him the privilege of using his ETO for the time off. “He denied me on that ETO,” James told ALBB, “but he granted ETO to a new guy who had been there three months who also accrued the time. I had accrued the time in overtime I completed that year, but Mickey said that in a previous year’s bracket, it was off. I told Mickey I’ve been here 3 years and this guy has been here 3 months and this is a new year. Mickey told me ‘don’t worry about it,’ and did not grant me my ETO for my appointment.”
Elaboration on Time-Card Punch-In or Out
As for the punching in or out on the time-card charge, that issue was in James’ Discriminatory Harassment Complaint, as he alleges that he witnessed this policy be enforced selectively, with other employees punching in and out for each other without getting penalized.
James said that after 2 years of his alleged ongoing discrimination and harassment, one time of having someone else punch him in on the time clock was reported. "There was a notice up there on the time clock that said nobody could punch anybody in or out on the time clock. Sometimes when someone was like 6 minutes late, someone called someone, saying, 'Hey, can you punch me in?' So, I mean, I’m not saying it's right. But everybody was doing it.”
When ALBB asked if the notice had always been up there, James answered that it got put there because so many employees in the department were doing it, including the person who made the initial observation complaint to the boss Mickey. “The notice went up because, Employee P, the mechanic and Union Shop Steward at the Highway Department, went to Mickey to tell him he saw it happening. But Employee P was doing it as well. So that didn’t make sense. After the sign went up, Employee P still did it, as did other employees. In fact, one employee regularly comes in to work 30 minutes late, and nothing is said about that.”
James continued: “Three weeks later, another guy who was doing it before starts doing the same thing already again, having somebody punch him out because he wanted to leave 15 minutes later. I'm like, 'What the heck's going on here?' So, a few weeks later, I had my buddy punch me in because I was running like, I don't know, 4 minutes later or something. I should have just took it on the chin and not even asked him the favor, but I asked him, he's like, yeah, sure, I'll punch you in. Everybody else was still doing it. But then Employee P, the guy who was also doing it and first reported it before the sign went up, reported me after the sign went up. And it seems he reported only me and no one else.”
James got called down to City Hall to have a meeting with Mickey. “I get called down to City Hall, and the other guy did not. I'm said, 'What's this about?' and Mickey said 'Somebody punched you in. We got you on camera.'“
James explained to ALBB that the room with the time clock in it had no camera, but they may have seen him drive in his truck. “I'm like, 'Everybody else was doing it, and you didn't call them out.' He told me it doesn't matter. So I said 'So you're still targeting me.' And Mickey said 'I didn't say that.' So we had another meeting about me being targeted. Nothing got done.”
He told ALBB: “I went to Jordan and I went over all this stuff, dating back for like 2 years of all the bashing that came to me and all the targeting. We went over it and she wrote all the notes of all the bad stuff that happened. But nothing got done about it. We had a meeting with the CSEA representative Jordan and Scott Hughes, our Highway Department employee union president, Beacon’s HR Director Sara, and Mickey Manzi, Beacon’s Highway Superintendent of Streets. In that meeting, I said: ‘You guys are targeting me.’ Mickey said ‘No, no.’ I was like: ‘I'm telling you, in front of Jordan and Scott, that you are, because you know you are, and you're denying it right now in front of me and them. It’s got to stop.”
The First Reporting Of Alleged Employee Recording
James told ALBB of the first time he reported what he says was an employee videoing other employees. "When the Mickey doesn't like somebody,” James said, “he wants you fired and he'll do everything he can in his power to do it. Even though you're out doing your job. So then you gotta do your job and then look over your shoulder. With Mickey, you got Employee A from the Water Department. He's his buddy out there. He also got Employee RK. Foreman. He was actually filming my buddy, Chris Servedio. Employee RK was Mickey's crony for videoing us to make sure we're out not doing anything wrong, which we weren't.
"Finally, I said in the last meeting that I had with Jordan, the union rep, and Scott Hughes, the employee union president, and then Mickey and Sara. I said: 'You guys are aware that Employee RK videoed us, right, for 2.5 years now?'
"Mickey's like, 'No, I'm not aware of that.'
"So I said: 'I'm telling you right now.'
Mikey's like: 'Well, he's not.'
"I'm like: 'No, I'm telling you he is.'
"He's like: 'Oh, you have an example?'
"I was like: 'Yeah, Mickey, I do.' And Sara is there looking at me all wide-eyed, waiting for an answer. I was like: 'Here's the example: 2 weeks ago. Chris was sitting in his dumptruck taking his 10 minute break from 9-9:10am while collecting Bags and Brush over at Forestall School where the little Central Hudson driveway is, not doing anything wrong. Employee RT passes him, comes back, has his phone out and he's videoing Chris taking his break.' And I tell Mickey that, he's like: 'Ah, I'm not aware of that happened.'
"I was like: 'Well, I'm making you aware in this meeting and I'm making all you aware of what's going on.'
"And then Scott was like: 'I didn't know what was going on.' And I said: 'Yeah, you don't even know the half of it.’”
James concluded in his interview with ALBB: “After I said all that in the meeting, he stopped videoing us. But after I brought it up in the meeting, they told me to video him back to get proof. I just left it alone. I was filmed about 20 times and saw him. Filmed me when I was with him and not with him. Pretty crazy environment out there. I tell you, it's very toxic."
James’ Complaint One Month Prior To Being Terminated About Being Recorded by An Employee Wearing Video Glasses
On December 10, 2025, one month before filing his next set of complaints, James filed a formal workplace complaint regarding a different unauthorized recording of him by a second person, Employee RB, thus causing a hostile work environment, he said in his complaint.
His letter read:
To Whom It May Concern,
