Weeks before Labor Day, on Monday, August 16, 2021, the City of Beacon’s City Council approved of an amendment to the 2021 City of Beacon General Fund, which authorized a transfer of $66,418 to “Employee Discipline” area of the budget “to provide for costs associated employee discipline beyond the budget to date,” according to the resolution document.

Also on that day, Monday, August 16, 2021, longtime City of Beacon employee with the Highway Department, Reuben Simmons, had just completed his 9th Employee Disciplinary hearing held on Zoom between the City of Beacon, versus himself. On the call were the City of Beacon’s labor attorney, Lance H. Klein with Keane & Beane, P.C. who has represented the City of Beacon on the employment status of Reuben for several years, Attorney Carina Zupa also from Keane & Beane, P.C., as well as Reuben’s attorney William (Bill) Burke of O’Neil and Burke, LLP. The arbitrator and mediator ruling on the call and on this case is Jay Siegel, Esq.. Beacon’s Highway Superintendent, Michael (Micki) Manzi was also on the call, as well as a local witness that Reuben’s side was presenting for a short testimony.

The $66,418 was transferred to the “Employee Discipline” area of the budget from two other areas: “CSEA Union Matters” ($24,418) and “Fire/IAFF Union Matters” ($42,000), according to supporting documents for Resolutions for the meeting. Beacon’s Director of Finance, Susan K. Tucker, CPA, did not return a call to ALBB to expand upon how the funds were being spent, and to which person(s) or entity they were being paid. City Administrator Chris White did not return an email asking for clarification.

Employment Background On Employee Disciplinary Action For This Case

As a brief background, Reuben, has been employed by the City of Beacon since 2002. In that time, he worked his way up to being the CSEA Union President for Beacon from 2009-2017. In 2017, he was appointed to Highway Superintendent under Mayor Randy Casale and recommended for the promotion by Beacon’s previous City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero. Anthony resigned last year for a job with Dutchess County Department Of Behavioral & Community Health.

Subsequently, the Highway Department’s head job title that Reuben was appointed into (Highway Superintendent) became a topic of employment dispute in 2018. Rueben told ALBB: “The position (Highway Superintendent) was always Superintendent of Streets even when Mayor Casale was there. What I found out after being appointed was that Dutchess County would not let me take the Civil Service test (Superintendent of Streets) because I ‘never held a supervisors title,’ was their reason. What also came to light was the job duties had evolved over time but the title for the position remained the same. Superintendent of Streets appeared to be an out dated title and not consistent with the job duties I was asked to perform in my interview, nor were they in line with the duties I actually performed during my time as head of the Highway department.”

During a employment battle at City Hall in 2018, Reuben was demoted back down to Maintenance Worker, and then up to Working Supervisor. During that time, Randy Casale was Mayor. After a podcast recording with ALBB, Randy called losing that battle to save Reuben’s job the biggest regret of his Mayoral career.

What also factors into being eligible for a Civil Service job like this is a “list,” where eligible people who have taken and passed the test are listed on the list. Michael Manzi, Beacon’s current Highway Superintendent/Superintendent of Streets, was on that list. After Reuben’s demotion, Michael became Reuben’s supervisor (which had just been the other way around), and was behind a 7 month surveillance-style investigation of Reuben’s work, along with Beacon’s new HR Director, Gina Basile, according to Reuben. Gina was previously the Manager of Human Resources for the New York State Bridge Authority.

The findings of that investigation have resulted in the pursual of Reuben’s termination, as signed off on by City Administrator Chris. To this day, Reuben alternates between being on Unpaid and Paid Leave, if City Administrator Chris files new charges against him, until a decision is reached in Reuben’s employment hearing. Details are outlined below.

In January 2021, during one of Beacon’s heaviest snowfall seasons, during the height of the snow plowing season, during the economic crush of the pandemic, Reuben was placed on unpaid leave by Beacon’s new City Administrator, Chris White. Prior to this cut in pay and ability to complete job duties, Reuben, who is mixed-race and identifies as Black, began speaking out about his employment experience with the City of Beacon in 2020, during a Speak Out Open Mic Session after one of the first racial awareness peaceful protests in Beacon. Months later, his pay was cut, his seasonal overtime earnings opportunity missed, and his Employee Discipline hearings began.

ALBB saw the charges against Reuben made by the City of Beacon to justify their alternating Unpaid and Paid Leave statuses, and read the employment letter written by City Administrator Chris, instructing Reuben that he could choose between 3 options:

• voluntarily resign on his own

• sign a last chance agreement with with a pre-signed resignation

• go through the hearing process

Reuben opted for the hearing process. City Administrator Chris instructed Reuben not to communicate with any city employees or go onto any city-owned property during work day hours. The charges were numerous and included items like: “At the corner of X and Y, Reuben did not do his work.” The worst of the charges, that ALBB has seen, is a vehicle collision at the Transfer Station, where Reuben hit a vehicle. While informing his supervisor, Michael Manzi, of the accident, curse words ensued. Using curse words, ALBB is told by Reuben, is a common linguistic form of communication in the department, and was not unusual. ALBB intends to submit a FOIL to the City of Beacon to see if other collisions have happened, either to cars, or to City-owned buildings like the new Highway Garage, and if those employees were treated the same way. It is unconfirmed at this time if collisions happen by employees, and are ever encouraged not to report a collision of any kind for any reason.

The letter placing Reuben on unpaid leave stated that it was for 30 days. At that point, paid-leave would resume, and it did. Then in June 2021, around the time of Juneteenth, another act of unpaid leave was enacted. Reuben continues to be on paid leave, unless new charges from the past are delivered to him, and then another period of unpaid leave is enacted. Meanwhile, he opted not to resign and defends himself in disciplinary hearings pursued by the City of Beacon.

Reuben grew up in Beacon, was a coach for the Beacon Bears, is the founder of I Am Beacon, and has been involved in numerous other volunteer and leadership positions in the community.

ALBB Attended Employee Disciplinary Hearing As An Observer

A Little Beacon Blog had been invited into the Employee Disciplinary Hearing by Reuben weeks prior, and was sent the Zoom invitation by the Arbitrator Jay shortly thereafter. The intent was to attend as an observer. The observation was for a short time, but some information was learned about the hearing process. Before being asked to leave the call at the City of Beacon’s objection, each attorney debated about whether or not the case was open to the public or not. Ultimately, the City of Beacon said that they wanted no reporters or bloggers attending the hearing. Additionally, no transcripts or recordings were created for the 9 hearings so far in this case.

During the beginning of the call, while everyone was arriving, turning on screens and muting or un-muting, the Arbitrator Jay and Reuben’s Attorney Bill engaged in small-talk, using the meeting to catch up. They discussed whether either of them had received a transcript for an unrelated case yet, to which, they said had not. After everyone was situated, the hearing began.

Arbitrator Jay told everyone that witness who were there to testify would be excluded from the room until they were called as a witness.

Reuben’s Attorney Bill stated that Reuben had wanted certain people to view the proceedings, stating “Mr. Simmons had wanted certain people who wanted to view the proceeding…He had made an application of certain members of the public to view his disciplinary matter.”

Arbitrator Jay, who emailed the Zoom invitation to attend the meeting, stated that he would like to know who the observers were, and asked if the City knew, and if the City had objection. Reuben responded: “The only one who I see on is Katie, a blogger who follows a lot going on in the city.”

The arbitrator noted that everyone else in the hearing had been present prior. The City’s attorney Lance mentioned Executive Session, and then continued, saying: “If this was an open hearing, it needed to be an open hearing from the beginning. Not when Mr. Simmons wanted it to be. You have ruled on that already. I don't see a need to go back to that. The City made its case. No reporters, bloggers, etc. If Mr. Simmons wanted it open to the public, his lawyer knows that...After 9 days of hearing....9 days worth of testimony....9 days worth of testimony that people have not been able to hear. He does not have that opportunity to do that now.”

Reuben’s attorney Bill responded: “That is not my recollection of the first day of proceeding. My recollection is that Rueben had indicated a desire for this to be an open hearing… I remember we did bring this up at the beginning of the proceedings.”

The City of Beacon’s attorney Lance responded: “People have been excluded because Mr. Simmons did not want it open to everyone. You've already excluded several individuals open to everyone. Mr. Simmons didn't want it open to everyone. This is nothing new.”

Arbitrator Jay intervened: “Obviously we don't have the benefit of the transcript [to] parse my words on the record. While we may not have a way to address this,” he continued, and then mentioned “clearing a transcript” that was never produced. He continued that he had concerns opening the hearing in a public way. “We have had 8 hearing days...It is prejudicial and problematic to suddenly open this up. When 2/3rds of the case has been completed.” He closed by asking Ms. Hellmuth (me) “to go off of this meeting.”

After leaving the hearing, I emailed Arbitrator Jay to ask him if it was unusual for the entire hearing - all 9 days of argument and testimony - not to have been recorded or to have had transcripts provided to capture the written word by a stenographer. He answered: "It is not my practice to ever comment on anything about cases I’m in the middle of or have decided so I cannot answer any of your questions about this case. I will only generally address your question about transcripts and/or recordings for labor arbitration proceedings. While parties sometimes spend the money for stenographers and transcripts, a great majority of the labor arbitration cases I’ve conducted over my 16 years serving as a labor arbitrator have not been recorded in any manner. Parties typically take their own notes to record what witnesses are saying and the arbitrator takes his or her own notes to utilize during deliberations."

In following up with Reuben to ask if he did request for the hearing to be open, he responded: “I have asked to make it public from the beginning. I was in favor of everybody and anybody wanting to observe from the start. That’s what ‘open to the public’ means.”