How LaStar Gorton Followed The Process And Was Still Denied The Ballot For Ward 1 In 2023

When The Write-In Candidate happened for Beacon's 2023 Mayoral race, it exposed the question of why it can be so hard for some people to get onto the ballot. LaStar Gorton is one such Beaconite who was denied getting onto the ballot by Dutchess County Board of Elections, despite getting all of her homework in on time to run as an Independent. She was also questioned in an uncomfortable way, she says, by the Beacon Democrats Chair, Lisa Jessop, an hour after she submitted her paperwork to the Dutchess County Board of Elections.

LaStar was born and raised in Beacon, and currently lives in Tompkins Terrace with her children. Very important to her is being able to stay in Beacon to raise her children in Beacon. While her income is not nothing, it qualifies her to live in Tompkins Terrace, but makes it difficult to buy a home that fits her family. As Beacon considers the size of new apartments, single and double apartment units, and property in general, it clear in their planning of as many small units as possible it is not thinking of families who are growing out of their tiny apartments.

When Tompkins Terrace was going through the "temporary" re-housing of residents to renovate most of the apartments after the City of Beacon granted it a 40 year tax break to the luxury community managers of the low-income community in Beacon, LaStar joined residents there in being vocal at community meetings about the re-housing, to ensure that residents could return without qualification challenges by Tompkins Terrace management.

When another shooting happened at Tompkins Terrace in May of 2023, LaStar decided to turn it up a notch and run for City Council for Ward 1 as an Independent. She said that she missed the deadline to run as a Democrat, but could run as an Independent. After doing all of her work and hitting all of her deadlines, LaStar was denied by the Dutchess County Board of Elections. She was also questioned in what she felt was an uncomfortable approach by the Chair of the Beacon Democrats, Lisa Jessop, as to why she didn't come to the Beacon Democrats first to ask to be considered by them.

This situation is not the first that A Little Beacon Blog has heard of this happening. The details in this particular situation are the most simple to relay, however. ALBB tried reporting last election on when former Beacon City Councilmember Ali T. Muhammed, a Muslim Black man, was trying to run for Mayor in Newburgh against Torrence Harvey, a Black man. Ali acquired the signatures he needed, but was challenged.

Ali told ALBB: "Someone has to challenge your petitions, then Board of Elections rules on the signatures...This is a tactic to keep candidates off the ballot. If not voter suppression, it's lack of democracy. My signatures were challenged from the Democrat line. They started weaponizing that tactic/tool against me since 2016. I’ve won a couple court cases to reverse the ruling. I’ve been disqualified in a couple races because of the rulings, with no resources to fix."

LaStar's story is part of why Reuben Simmons threw his hat into the ring for Mayor in the final hours before election day. Before ALBB’s interview with LaStar, Reuben shared his light-bulb moment of when he started questioning the process of getting onto the ballot. Reuben’s reaction happened after Coucilperson Justice McCray proposed increasing the small salary the councilmembers currently get, in the name of increasing accessibility to people who want to serve, but may need more money. This is not a new proposal. Paying Beacon City Councilmembers is suggested every now and then within different administrations.

Said Reuben to ALBB: “When you want to serve, public service, it is a service, not to supplement your income, when you have workers who can't afford to live here...Maybe this increase in Council dollars will entice people to run. It just made me think, LaStar wanted to run for her ward. She seeked out the signatures and she went through the process. I witnessed her party actively work against her and become a barrier. So it made me question the hypocrisy of 'what is the raises really for?' Star is here and she can share the process she went through. When she initially was running...we share similar support groups so to speak. I was aware and kept my ear in to what was going on; just given my little education on it. If people who want to run can't even get on because a certain party has us in handcuffs so to speak, and has a lock on the election process, I'm not exactly sure the contradiction of these stories.”

As for the Republican party in Beacon, and why there were no contenders in Beacon, ALBB cannot speak to why there were no candidates put forward. The Republican party in Beacon was quite stained after Trump, making wins for Democrats easier. If a member of the Republican party wants to speak to ALBB about their issues, they can do so.

ALBB asked LaStar to tell us the entire process for her to do try to get onto the ballot. This is what she said, which you can also here in this interview, and has been transcribed in full below:

"I originally did not know what the entire process was. I live down in Tompkins Terrace, and a shooting had happened [in May 2023]. I went to our rehab meeting because they are about to redo the entire complex. I went to speak on it. Our Councilwoman Molly [Rhodes] was sitting in the back not really saying anything. All of my friends were like 'Instead of you just going to a City Council meeting and voicing your opinion, why don't you go run for this election.' I'm like 'Ok, cool!' I went onto the Board of Elections website, and found out I was too late to run as a Democrat, but I was still in time to run for the Independent. So I came up with a whole party name for myself; I wrote up my ballots; I sent them to the County as well as our city Board of Elections to ensure that my ballots were correct before I got them signed. My petitions: I got the signatures that I needed. I handed them in on the last day, the 30th of May. I went there, and I handed them in.

"About an hour after I handed in my petitions, I got a text or email from Lisa Jessup, the head of our Beacon Democrats here, saying that she would like to speak to me. We had a very long phone call. She asked me why I didn't run as a Democrat. I said at the time I did not know, and this issue just came up, and I was passionate about trying to save my part of the city, and make it batter for the people that live there.

"There were a couple of odd things said, like 'We could back you off the ballot if we wanted to...I'm not sure your petitions are all correct.' I said I know that every signature is not correct, but I have more than enough to be put on the ballot. But none the lease, in order to accept it, I received a letter in the mail on June 3, that said I needed to accept the position by June 2. But the letter was not mailed until June 1 [letter was postmarked June 1].

"But Lisa received this phone call on May 30 when my ballots were handed in stating that I handed in my ballots. I did call the County Board of Education and went there myself personally and spoke with the Dutchess County head there, and she told me that Lisa had FOILed for my petitions in order to see them.

"I said 'well how did she know to FOIL for them if I just handed them in? Who informed her that I handed in my petitions on the very last day at 12pm in the afternoon? Someone had to let her know that they were there in order to FOIL them. For her to get them so quickly, and be able to call me so quickly within the hour and to ask for a phone conversation. But you mail me out my letter on June 1 so that I don't received it until June 3, and I had to accept it by June 2.'

"I went there [to the Board of Elections] in person on June 5 to ask if there was any way I could accept it. She said 'well hold on, let me ask the Republican side. We have to be in agreeance in order for you to be able to accept.' She went away for 2 seconds, came back and said that they said no. So that was it.

"I did email the Enforcement Agency in Albany but I have not received an email back regarding it because I believe it was done on purpose and maliciously [it is November 5th as of this interview, and LaStar emailed the Enforcement Agency in May].

"Lisa and Molly both still reach out to me wanting to talk. They had a very long conversation asking me my ideas. Afterwards, I was like 'Oh, you dummy, you just gave them all of your ideas that they probably didn't know of the issues actually going on in Ward 1.'

"Molly actually knocked on my door Friday. Saying 'I just want to make sure you knew we are voting, since this is closed down. I still want to meet up with you and talk to discuss this whole Council process.'

LaStar's response: "I'll see you in 2 years. And I'll be starting from the top."

ALBB emailed Lisa Jessop on November 9th for comment on these events, and did not receive a response. On that same day, ALBB shared an election results article, “Beacon Election Results: The Significance Of The Unopposed Party, And A Few Other Races,” which pointed out that the Write-In Candidate for Mayor won 16% of the vote, when other Write-In results for other seats were 1%. A representative from the Beacon Democrats’ Instagram commented in that thread: “This post is misleading. Anyone can run for office, but NY state and Dutchess County have filing requirements. If you go to elections.dutchessny.gov, you’ll find all the requirements spelled out in great detail—gathering of signatures (which are sometimes challenged), financial statements, etc. It’s not like someone wakes up on Nov 6 and says, ‘I think I’ll tun for City Council, vote for me tomorrow’. Is it a perfect system? No. Could it be better? Yes. Anyone who wants to get involved with how elections are tun should contact the Board of Elections—they’re slways looking gor more help.”

The Beacon Democrats IG representative than posted a correction Comment: “Apologies for misspelled words in last paragraph—it posted before final edits. It should say: Anyone who wants to get involved with how elections are run should contact the board of elections – they’re always looking for more help.”

The Write-In Candidate: Beacon's Mayoral Race Now Has A Choice: Reuben Simmons Enters As Candidate

It was a drowsy hyper-local election season in Beacon this year, with the usual Democratic candidates running or not running unopposed for City Council and the Mayor position. All City Council positions are running unopposed in the Democratic line, with Paloma Wake and Dan Aymar-Blair also claiming the Working Families line. Mayor Lee Kyriacou, who unseated two-term Mayor Randy Casale last round, was running unopposed - until last Friday when lifelong resident Reuben Simmons decided to run at the request of those around him, he told ALBB last evening.

Before Reuben entered the race, the Beacon Free Press interviewed Mayor Kyriacou for last Wednesday’s print edition. The newspaper asked him: “What do you think it says that no one is running against you?” Mayor Kyriacou answered: “Well, I certainly can’t speak for those who might have thought about running. What I hope being unopposed says, is that Beacon residents think the city is in good steady hands, that I truly listen to and try to represent everyone in our community, and that I’ve provided strong but inclusive leadership. I guess my track record in Beacon elections - 11 races, 11 wins - may also have been a little daunting; I have knocked on every single door in our city multiple times. I would of course welcome competition - that’s democracy - which makes us stronger and more inclusive.”

A week before that print edition came out, friends of Reuben Simmons began texting friends that Reuben had entered the race as a Mayoral candidate as a write-in candidate. Reuben was born and raised in Beacon, is a 20-year employee of Beacon’s Highway Department; is a co-founder of the volunteer group I Am Beacon which is quietly or loudly behind many signature efforts in Beacon like Turkey On Every Table; at one point production of the the City’s fireworks for the centennial celebration, the This Is Beacon podcast; and other initiatives.

Who Is Reuben Simmons?

Longtime locals to Beacon know Reuben very well. Some know him as Coach Yogi, from when he coached Beacon Bears youth football, and via coaching and leadership of Beacon Hoops, which is youth basketball. Newcomers to Beacon may not know him yet. Readers can listen to this interview with him recorded on Sunday evening at his rally gathering at Max’s on Main.

Picture of the sample ballot. The write-in box is at the bottom. Print clearly and slowly. DO not write a signature. Just write the words in print.

Reuben says his recent decision to run in addition to Mayor Lee Kyriacou, is to give people a choice, he told ALBB at the rally held for him by Richie Kaplan, owner of Max’s on Main. At this stage, Reuben has not performed the traditional campaign things, like raising money, printing and distributing yard signs, going door to door, mailing postcards, etc. It’s just him and his support network of friends and family. With one day away from the election, he is relying on word of mouth in the community to get the word out that he is running.

That, and that people will need to spell his name correctly on the ballot: Reuben Simmons. (HINT: the “e” goes before the “u”).

Reuben maintained that people wanted a choice in how they were voting. He told ALBB: “People said that they want an option. How I feel about politics, I'm not really involved in the political side, I just feel people should have a choice.”

In ALBB’s interview, Reuben describes how, when he was Highway Superintendent, he put together the budget for the Highway Department, which consists of other departments under the umbrella of the Highway Department including City Mechanics Garage, Parks Department, and Transfer Station. Beacon Parks and Recreation Department Director Mark Price crafts and delivers his budget each year.

Regarding Reuben’s Experience Working Hands-On With City Government

ALBB asked Reuben about his 20 year experience working with the City of Beacon, and how that translates to a Mayoral position: “Through just what I do throughout the city through my volunteering, working and meeting and talking with people throughout the city, there was a lot of frustration that people felt like they were handcuffed to an election. They felt like there was a certain party that just has a hold on the election process and doesn't allow other people to run.”

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

Over the years, the Democrats have represented in City Council. The Republican and Independent efforts have been almost non-existent.

For example, this year, there was a new attempt to run for City Council Ward 1 by LaStar Gorton, but she seemed to have been shut out, she told ALBB. LaStar attended Reuben’s rally, and spoke to ALBB about her experience trying to get onto the ballot as an Independent. She says she was questioned by Democrat Lisa Jessup about the ballot one hour after she filed. LaStar says that she was questioned regarding her signatures. LaStar was sent an acceptance letter after she filed, but the letter was postmarked one day before she needed to submit her acceptance. She received the mail after the deadline, and was not granted an extension for the unworkable postmark by the Dutchess County Board Of Elections.

ALBB has seen signature blocking before, the last instance being when former Beacon City Councilman Ali T. Muhammad was running for Mayor of Newburgh on the Democratic line. Many of his signatures were rejected by the Board of Elections. Ali explained to ALBB: “They started weaponizing that tactic tool against me since 2016. I’ve won a couple court cases to reverse the ruling. I’ve been disqualified in a couple races because of the rulings and no resources to fix.”

Listen to LaStar’s experience in the interview below, and read about what prompted her to want to run in the first place. Should you want to write her in for Ward 1, there would be nothing stopping you. Ward 1’s current Councilmember, Molly Rhodes, is running unopposed in the Democratic line.

What Qualifies Reuben Simmons?

When ALBB asked what qualifies Reuben, he answered: “I do think I'm a candidate to consider - given my two decades of working and volunteering within the community - the connections I've made through residents, business owners, civic groups, church groups alike. The people asked me. The more and more that people asked me, I looked into it, I do have a good knowledge of how the City operates. I have been working for the Highway Department for 20 years now, straight out of high school. I started as summer intern and worked my way up to Superintendent.”

In terms of crafting budgets, Reuben has the experience: “I had to put together one of the biggest budgets in the City of Beacon that has multiple departments. By running, I'll be learning and working with great people that work with the City, I'll be able to learn and understand how budgets operate, and how the City operates as a whole.”

Before he was Highway Superintendent, Reuben served as the Union President. He served for 7 years, winning 2 terms, and negotiated 2 contracts with the City of Beacon. His second contract was voted by 100% approval rating by all the workers represented by the union the Public Works division. "I take that with pride. I listened to what the workers want. That's the same type of leadership I would bring in to local government. That's the same type of leadership I would bring in to any avenue I have. Listening to the people. This situation I'm in right now, this write-in opportunity, is by response of listening to the people.”

Reuben’s Approach To Zoning and Development In Beacon

ALBB asked Reuben how he would approach zoning in Beacon. Especially now as Rte. 52 is in the spotlight with the Healey car dealership selling their property along that strip. Reuben stated: “I would listen to the residents that live in that area, and how that is going to effect residents as a whole. I have learned a lot about development in this city and the history of it. I think to move forward, we have to understand our history. Right now, I am working with the Beacon Historical Society, The Highlands Current and the Howland Public Library, where I'm learning a lot on what happened during Urban Renewal. A lot of things that we are hearing and learning throughout that, I'm seeing a lot replicated today. I'm willing to bring that aspect of what I'm learning there, and what we can do to move forward for the rezoning on Rte. 52.”

Would Reuben Have Priorities As Mayor In Beacon?

ALBB asked if Reuben would come in with a set of priorities. He answered: “I can't speak to the priorities. This was a last minute move in response to people asking for this. This was not something I was planning. It's not something I was marketing myself for. My experience of working within the City and still being out here volunteering and working, I am confident that I'll be caught up to speed in a good amount of time.”

Overall, Reuben reflected: “It's a collective effort. I'm community-first, community-minded. When it comes to a priority list, or how I make decisions, I make decision not based on what is best for me. I base it off of what I hear in the community. A lot of that is going to be a lot of meetings, and understanding, and talking and round-table discussions. I've seen it operate that way in the past, and I think that's the best way to move forward.”

Where To Vote: Polling Stations For Beacon

The Dutchess County Board of Elections has the locations for Beacon. To find Beacon, look scroll the list for C/Beacon (aka City of Beacon), which is really confusing, as it is not in any kind of alphabetical order.

The Beacon Democrats website makes it more clear, and presents other voting issues to consider on the ballot:

• Ward 1, ED 1 & Ward 2, ED 1 & 2: South Ave. Elementary School, 60 South Ave.

• Ward 1, ED 2 & Ward 4, ED 1 & 2: Beacon Memorial Building, 413 Main St.

• Ward 3, ED 1 & 2: Forrestal Elementary School, 125 Liberty St.

Rally For Reuben Simmons Write-In Candidacy For Mayor Of Beacon At Max's On Main

Reuben Simmons, a lifelong Beaconite, has just decided to run for Mayor in Beacon, as a write-in candidate, at the request of those around him, to give people a choice in an un-opposed mayoral race. Reuben told ALBB that people voiced their frustration at not having a choice in this year’s race, as Mayor Lee Kyriacou runs unopposed in what would be his second term in office as Mayor. Mayor Lee has been in Beacon politics since the 1990s as a City Council member throughout the years.

Article to come on Reuben’s candicacy next. Owner of Max’s on Main, Richie Kaplan, offered to host a rally for Reuben on Sunday evening. Reuben and Richie serve together on the Beacon Parade of Green committee, which is one of several local volunteer committees Reuben serves on. Article to come.

Beacon's First HR Director Resigns After 1.5 Years In Position: Instrumental In Bringing Firearm, Diversity, Etc. Policies

Beacon’s first HR Director, Gina Basile, has resigned after one and a half years in the position. The position which started in July 2020 was originally shared between Fishkill and Beacon. Previously, she spent a number of years with the New York State Bridge Authority.

“I have heard employee concerns about discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions,” Gina stated in her printed presentation. “We need to address these issues head-on, and policies and procedures are only the beginning. We need a long-term plan on how to address these issues.””

— Gina Basile, then Beacon's HR Director

Then City Councilmembers including Terry Nelson expressed relief at hiring an HR Director to help with employment issues. Some issues include the ongoing employment issue the City is pursuing with Reuben Simmons in the Highway Department, which began with City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, who has since resigned to work for Dutchess County. Anthony was replaced by current City Administrator Chris White.

During her first public presentation to the City Council on December 14, 2020, Gina mentioned “many discussions with our employees about how they feel about working for the City,” ALBB reported at the time. At that time, she also met with the community group Beacon4Black Lives.

After holding a Meet and Greet with all department heads individually, she scheduled a Meet and Greet with the Fire Department, which needed to be rescheduled due to COVID-19-related issues. Gina held a Meet and Greet with the Highway Department, which is where she began her focus to discover overall themes employees experience when working for the City.

According to Gina’s presentation, several themes emerged, including:

• “Concerns surrounding diversity and equality.”

• “Concerns regarding our Hiring Practices.”

• “Growing Tensions in the Workplace.”

• “Lack of clarity in intra-departmental policies and inconsistency.”

Gina confirmed: “I have heard employee concerns about discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions,” Gina stated in her printed presentation. “We need to address these issues head-on, and policies and procedures are only the beginning. We need a long-term plan on how to address these issues.”

A few of Gina’s next public steps were to introduce new policies that the City of Beacon had not had before, including a Firearms Policy, Domestic Violence Policy and Diversity and Inclusion Policy. While some City Councilmembers expressed surprise that anyone would bring a firearm to work, they assumed it occurred in the police department. However, there has been an unreported instance of an employee casually bringing a firearm to work in another department, during a time of increased employment tension.

Gina has accepted the position of Talent Acquisition Manager at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. Gina had also served on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Hyde Park, according to her LinkedIn.

Beacon Paid $50,452 To Willing and Able Highway Department Employee To Not Work

In 2021, the City of Beacon paid $50,452 of admin leave to Reuben Simmons, an employee with the Highway Department who is of mixed race and identifies as Black. ALBB has confirmed this amount with Reuben when we asked if he would make public his payments from the city for 2021. This is as per union rules as Reuben understands them, when an employee is presented with a discipline, the City can give up to 30 days suspension without pay, after which the employee is placed back on payroll while the process continues. Reuben has been served with 2 disciplines totaling 60 days over a course of at least 8 hearings with the City and their attorneys.

Reuben has worked for the City of Beacon in the Highway Department since 2002, where he started in the Summer Help position. He worked his way up to Laborer, then Maintenance Worker. During that time, he was appointed Union President for the City of Beacon CSEA Local 814 Unit 6662.

In 2017, Reuben was appointed Highway Superintendent, the lead position in that department, by then Mayor Randy Casale, with the support of then City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero. In 2018, Dutchess County reached out to the City of Beacon to let the City know that the job title was incorrect, and that Superintendent of Streets was the proper title, but required a different Civil Service exam to qualify for the position. Fellow employee Michael “Micki” Manzi qualified for the test, and replaced Reuben as Superintendent of Streets. All of the people mentioned here except Reuben are white. To this day, the job title is stated on the City of Beacon’s website as Highway Superintendent.

During this transition under the management of then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, Reuben was not given the opportunity to take the required Civil Service exam in order to accept or maintain his job position of Highway Superintendent. Extending this opportunity to someone in an existing role is not unheard of in the City of Beacon. Listen to Reuben tell it in his own words on the “Wait, What Is That?” podcast.

For example: at the 5/17/2021 City Council Meeting, current City Administrator Chris White announced that longtime Water Department employee Ed Balicki, who is white, would become Superintendent of Water and Sewers. “We are moving Ed to the proper title,” explained City Administrator White to the City Council at that meeting. “Ed will have to take a Civil Service Exam…We don't think there will be any issue.” Ed passed the exam, and was re-titled.

In Reuben’s case, he was stripped of his title, and demoted back down to Maintenance Worker, then promoted to Working Supervisor, and demoted to Maintenance Worker within a 2 year period. During the first week of January 2021, he was placed on his first round of unpaid leave, and the order of City Administrator Chris, accompanied by a stack of charges against him signed by City Administrator Chris, which ALBB did see documentation of. These charges amounted to lists of generalities of what intersections Reuben was accused of not doing work, returning late from lunch, and an auto accident that Reuben reported to his supervisor Michael Manzi by way of announcing it on the Highway Department radio, and again in a later discussion, according to Reuben.

Auto accidents are not uncommon in the Highway Department, or other departments within the City of Beacon where vehicles are driving by city employees. What is not disclosed by the City of Beacon is when these auto accidents happen, and if they are reported. For example, the public is not informed of when the new Highway Garage gets a dent in a garage door,, for instance, or if an employee did get into a fender bender, and if that incident got reported or not. Additionally, the public is not regularly informed when an employee resigns or is fired, but the public is informed of each new hire when that employee is presented to the City Council the night of a vote to hire them.

Recently, two employees of the administration resigned, which were announced during City Council Meetings: Beacon’s first HR Director, Gina Basile, who left after a year and seven months on the job, according to her LinkedIn, and the Mayor’s Assistant, Collin Milone.

Gina was tasked with reviewing the Highway Department’s work atmosphere, and found it to be troubled: “Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department.”

Shortly thereafter, a Diversity and Inclusions Statement was presented and passed in the City of Beacon, when then City Councilmember Air Nonken Rhodes stated: “This isn’t lip service.”

The City of Beacon has hosted at least 8 hearings against Reuben in 2021, which involve the city’s labor attorney and an arbitrator. During the 8th meeting, the City of Beacon actively closed the meeting to the media, by requesting that ALBB leave the call (ALBB was sent an invite to the hearing via Zoom by the arbitrator at Reuben’s request). The city attorney stated that the meeting was closed, and that Reuben had wanted it closed. Reuben denied that, stating that he wanted the hearings open to the public from the beginning, and then stated it again in an article on ALBB.

During this time, In 2021 alone, the City of Beacon under the direction of City Administrator Chris has made two transfers to cover unplanned costs from unrelated areas of the budget to another area of the budget called “Employee Discipline,” bringing that unbudgeted total to over $110,000.

Reuben was put on unpaid leave in January 2021 for a 30 day period, followed by a second 30 day unpaid leave period for disciplinary reasons. The City of Beacon has not made public what those disciplinary reasons are (though ALBB has seen the first stack of the vague charges), or why they have spent so much money for a willing and able Highway Department employee to not work for over a year, during a national labor shortage. During the summer of 2021, the City of Beacon could not completely fill the 6 Summer Jobs it seasonally fills to fill its department.

Over $111,000 Unplanned City of Beacon Dollars Spent On "Employee Discipline" Matter(s) - What's Going On?

According to locals living in Beacon for decades, the City of Beacon is not known for firing city employees. When the you, you might find out by clicking refresh on the latest FOILs that were published by the City of Beacon. You certainly will hear about new hires and promotions by the City of Beacon during their weekly City Council Meetings, where City Councilmembers usually need to vote on a hire or promotion.

But if anyone is being fired, you will not hear about it. Such decisions are made in private during something called “Executive Session” which is a private meeting with the City Council that the public has no access to.

To seek information, just ask several people who know people who have worked for the City of Beacon over the past few decades. In these stories, you may hear stories of a white employee(s) testing positive for marijuana before it was legal to smoke in public or banned in Beacon’s public parks. You may hear stories of a vehicle accident that was never reported. Or of a gun casually being brought into a department destination before Beacon banned personal guns from being brought onto city property during work hours last year. You might see bent metal on the garage door of new Highway Garage, indicating that a vehicle backed or rammed into it, but that a collision report never made it into the books. On background, ALBB has seen a few photos, and heard from people with knowledge of such examples.

During the 12/13/2021 Monday Night Workshop Meeting, the City Administrator Chris White put forth to the City Council an approval to move $45,900 more dollars from an unrelated area of the budget - a real estate area of the budget - into a legal section of the budget to cover “associated employee discipline beyond the budget to date,” as noted in the proposal included in the Agenda packet for the City Council to review for the record.

This is not the first transfer of thousands of unplanned dollars for “Employee Discipline” during the pandemic, which has resulted in a nation-wide labor shortage and highlight of poor working conditions that may include emotional abuse in several industries. The first noted transfer of unplanned dollars was $66,418 to “Employee Discipline” from “CSEA Union Matters/FIRE IAFF Union Matters,” which ALBB wrote about here. This brings the total of unplanned spending on “Employee Discipline” to over $111,000 by the City of Beacon for 2021 alone.

The second noted proposed transfer tonight of $45,900 to “Employee Discipline” is being transferred from “In REM Sale of Property.”

What is an REM Sale of Property? An “REM Sale of Property” means, as City Administrator Chris White explained during the meeting, that when the City of Beacon takes control of a property in Beacon usually due to inability to pay, the City of Beacon can then resell that property and keep the profit. In 2020, there was a handful of those properties. In 2021, Chris noted, there was one such property. Therefore, they had real estate cash sitting that apparently had not been earmarked yet.

Who Or What Is The Employee Discipline Of Over $111,000 In 2021 For?

Reuben Simmons, former Highway Superintendent and current employee of the City of Beacon in the Highway Department.
Photo Credit: LinkedIn

The City of Beacon will not answer this question if ALBB were to ask, as they have a blanket policy of not answering to “personnel matters.” However, there is at least one employee who has had at least 8 Employee Discipline Hearings this year, and has been on forced paid and unpaid leave for the entirety of 2021: Reuben Simmons. ALBB sat in on at least one of those hearings.

Reuben Simmons, longtime employee in the Highway Department since 2002, and a Beaconite who is an involved member of the community, was Beacon’s former Highway Superintendent (ie lead position in that department, listen to ALBB’s podcast about it here) and has been the subject of Employee Discipline for quite some time. Starting in 2018, his case has taken unusual twists and turns. Including the dissolving of his job as Highway Superintendent based on a Civil Service technicality of the incorrect job title.

Beacon’s current head of the Highway Department, Superintendent of Streets Michael “Mickey” Manzi, who used to serve under Reuben as a staff member, replaced Reuben as head of the department after Reuben’s job title dissolved. According to documents that ALBB has seen, Michael “Mickey” Manzi continues to find fault in Reuben’s past work performance, and writes him up on charges that the City Administrator Chris White justifies for Reuben’s paid or unpaid leave status.

Those charges resulted in at least two 30-day periods of unpaid leave in 2021. Otherwise, Reuben has been kept on paid leave, but according to a letter sent to him by City Administrator Chris White, cannot come to public spaces in Beacon or talk to fellow employees within the working hours of the work day, until his disciplinary hearings are done. ALBB has attended one such hearing at the invitation of Reuben and received the Zoom link from the mediation attorney Jay Siegel, Esq., but was asked to leave when the City of Beacon objected to any reporters or members of the public attending.

What Are These “Charges” Justifying Unpaid Leave, Paid Leave, and Over $111,000 In Unplanned “Employee Discipline” Money?

Labor Attorney for the City of Beacon, Lance Klein, who is going against city employee Reuben Simmons.
Photo Credit: Keane and Beane

ALBB has seen the documentation of charges sent to Reuben, attempting to justify the “discipline,” which ALBB has learned amounts to accusations of things like talking to people for too long outside while on the job, or taking too long of a lunch.

Lunch for the Highway Department employees, ALBB is told, is 30 minutes. Which really just gives enough time to order and go from Mr. V’s and eat it in a Highway Department truck.

Witnesses have been called to at least 8 hearings deliberating Reuben’s case, where the City’s attorney Lance Klein of Keane and Beane questions those people included in the charges. Some of those witnesses have denied the charges and length of time that Reuben has spoken to them while outside on the job, or the logistics of a long lunch time that deserves penalty.

Current Beacon Superintendent of Streets, Michael “Mickey” Manzi. Writes up charges against Reuben resulting in new Unpaid Leave statuses for Reuben as Reuben’s hearings to defend himself progress.
Photo Credit: City of Beacon

One example of a disputed charge against Reuben is allegedly talking to a member of the public in Memorial Park (which is also the location of a Highway Department shed) for 2 hours. The witness for this charge allegedly denied it during the hearing when questioned by Lance the attorney.

If Reuben and this member of the public did speak for any number of moments, then a policy of any Highway Department employee speaking to any member of the public while out on public city streets, sidewalks, or parks would be in violation of some policy in the City of Beacon, would seem odd, counter-intuitive of an inclusive community and unproductive. Members of the public are not allowed to speak to city employees while on the job? Or risk getting written up if on the wrong side of a supervisor? Those supervisors being Michael “Mickey” Manzi and David Way.

In addition to speaking to members of the public in public, Reuben has also been accused of taking an extended lunch break. Lunch breaks for the City of Beacon are 30 minutes. Any moment after that due to long lunch lines or traffic could qualify as a violation equal to this treatment.

Members Of The Public Begin Speaking Out

City of Beacon Employee for the Highway Department, Reuben Simmons, speaks out about his communication with the City of Beacon. Reuben is currently on a rotation of forced unpaid and paid leave by the City of Beacon as they hold “Employee Discipline” hearings against him. There have been at last 8 Employee Discpline hearings so far, and a total of $111,000 of unplanned city budget money transfered in the City of Beacon budget to cover unplanned “Employee Discipline” legal expenses.

After years of silence, Reuben spoke out at a recent City Council meeting, addressing the elephant in the room - himself. He spoke directly and was well spoken in his thoughts, as he was when presenting city street status updates to the public and City Council during his time as Highway Superintendent from 2017-2018.

The City Council often meets in private Executive Sessions discussing “Personnel” and “Litigation” and have the legal protection of not disclosing who or what they are talking about.

Reuben - who is Black and is one of the few Black employees in the public works departments - has also been accused of speaking loudly to his supervisor Michael “Mickey” Manzi while voluntarily reporting an accident Reuben had in a City vehicle. According to multiple sources, Mickey, the Highway Department’s Superintendent of Streets who used to be Reuben’s employee years ago, found Reuben’s tone uncomfortable. Therefore, Mickey added the tone to the charges justifying unpaid leave.

This issue with “tone” is despite rumors from multiple people - in a generational age range - that several in the Beacon public works departments speak gruffly to each other on a regular basis, possibly even using racial slurs. Those direct mentions have not yet come to light yet in any public confessions.

It is notable that when Reuben was first placed on unpaid leave in January 2021 for the pursuit of these charges, the City of Beacon unveiled it’s Diversity Statement months prior in October 2020, where Beacon’s newly hired HR Director, Gina Basile, noted there was tension in the Highway Department.

During the City Council Meeting on December 6, 2021, longtime hawk of city government and regular participant in Public Comment, Theresa Kraft, spoke up. Not naming names, she made allusions: “Beacon is a strong, supportive community. It always has been, and always will be. We watch out for our neighbors. But enforcement is key [referencing to the spike in unlawful driving in Beacon and the recent death on Main Street and Teller Avenue]. I question how much the city wasted on litigation of an employee who took too long of a lunch break. I see at the end of tonight's agenda there is an executive Session for Personal and Litigation. Perhaps that alone could have paid to ease the food insecurity throughout Beacon for a few years. Holding a grudge is holding all Beacon residents hostage.” You can listen to her full speech here.

Background On Reuben’s Unpaid/Paid Leave - An Additional Expense To The City Of Beacon

Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris White, who authorized Reuben’s first round of 30-days of paid leave on Chris’ first week on the job.
Photo Credit: City of Beacon

Starting in January 2021, Reuben was placed on unpaid leave for more than one session of a 30-day unpaid leave status by City Administrator Chris White. Unpaid leave is difficult at any time, but for a Highway Department employee, January is the gravy month. It is the month they make overtime pay in plowing days during blizzards.

When not on unpaid leave, Reuben remains on paid leave. Unless new charges are filed against him, and he gets a new letter from City Administrator Chris White stating that he is on unpaid leave again.

The Union protecting and advocating for Highway Department Employees is CSEA. In January, Beacon’s representative and president was Paula Becker, who works as an employee in the Finance Department for the City of Beacon with Susan Tucker, Beacon’s Finance Director who signs off on these budget recommendations. Paula recently received a promotion and raise from the City of Beacon.

When ALBB called Paula to confirm Reuben’s unpaid status back when it started in January 2021, City Administrator Chris White emailed ALBB to say that ALBB should not contact any staff with questions, and to only address him. After publishing an article on this matter, City Administrator Chris White declined to answer any more questions from ALBB on any matter.

Listen to Reuben explain the start of his employment situation on ALBB’s podcast recorded in July 2020 here. His employment disputes started in 2018.

City Administrator Chris White Refuses To Answer Questions From ALBB After Questions Confirming Employee Job Titles

After a series of articles highlighting hiring practices in the City of Beacon’s Water and Highway Departments, in March 2021, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White declined to answer any questions from A Little Beacon Blog unless a face to face meeting was held. City Administrator White has also instructed all staff to not take questions sent via email or voice mail, including the Park and Recreation Director, Mark Price. The previous City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero continued to answer questions from ALBB, even when the questions were about employment and grew uncomfortable.

Beacon’s former Mayor Randy Casale, known for his brazen and outspoken style, told ALBB when asked if he ever declined to answer reporter’s questions: “Not during my administration unless the lawyer advised him because of litigation, but that would only be about that subject. I do not believe it wise if you want transparency!”

Later, when Mayor Kyriacou participated in a COVID-19 vaccination event, City Administrator Chris ignored questions seeking comment about the event, to encourage others to get vaccinated.

Chip Rowe, the Managing Editor of the Highlands Current, a leading newspaper in the region had this to say when asked by ALBB if having a standing no-comment policy from a local government administration was normal: “There have been politicians who said they won't talk to certain outlets, Obama did that to Fox for a while.”

When A Little Beacon Blog was researching disciplinary action taken by the City of Beacon on Highway Department employee Reuben Simmons, after he was put on paid leave the first time in January 2021, and was seeking confirmation of the unpaid leave from the Highway Department’s CSEA Union Representative, Paula Becker, I left two voicemails with Paula seeking confirmation of the unpaid leave status. At the time, I did not know that Paula was an employee with the City of Beacon in the Finance Department.

City Administrator Chris emailed me in response, saying: “I received notice from other staff that you had called regarding a personnel issue. As I mentioned previously, the City does not comment on personnel issues. I would appreciate you contacting me if you have questions in the future.”

Paula Becker is an employee of the City of Beacon, and the President of the CSEA for Beacon. That combination, in this case, has led to a conflict of interest for pursuing research for employment articles.

Reuben Simmons, the City of Beacon employee in the Highway Department on unpaid and paid leave, was also at one point the President of the CSEA for Beacon, and says he understands the pros and cons of having an employee be a Union President. While in that leadership position, he recalls how he as the president needed to advocate for employees, as well as give them answers they did not like.

To get the background on Reuben’s employment situation, listen to ALBB’s podcast with him here. The podcast also provides an employment and demotion timeline.

Below is City Administrator Chris’ email outlining his position. I declined to meet him for the conversation, as I do not think it necessary to outline or negotiate editorial standards with a governmental entity, or any subject a publication is reporting on. Other reporters may have chosen to meet, in order to warm a relationship. With three kids in Remote Learning at the time, and 3 jobs I hold down, this is not something I wanted to make time for. All I need are answers to simple questions, and those can be sent via email. It should also be noted, with regards to the “simple conversation” he referred to below, I had asked him these questions via email. The opportunity to clear anything up had already happened

Katie,

Thank you for your response. I am unable to respond to further questions until you and I have some discussion about journalistic standards for your articles. Since I replaced Anthony, I have tried to treat you as I would a news outlet, but I’m realizing that your blog does not operate in the same manner. I have to say that I also liked your blog’s focus on small businesses in Beacon so I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt in responding to you as time allowed.

The article that you just published on City hiring, which is referred to as a “hot mess,” certainly does not meet basic journalistic standards for unbiased reporting. If you would like the City to respond to you as we do with news media, we will need to establish some comparable reporting standards. With a simple conversation, we could have cleared up some of the inaccuracies and misleading assertions in this article, which is what the local papers would have done before publishing.

If you would like to have a conversation at some point to discuss this further, please let me know, and I will try to be available to you. However, until we can establish some sort of standards, I am not able to respond to further questions.

Best regards,

Chris

---

We See You... We Know You're Out There...

To send the recently published articles about the racial discomfort happening in some departments of the City of Beacon, namely Highway and Water right now, I wrote something special to the newsletter subscribers. I wanted you to see it too - because not everyone is subscribed to the ALBB newsletter. A few notes, however, before I proceed:

1. I do not like using first person here. And I do not like interjecting myself into these stories. There is a person commenting to me in the 30-Day Unpaid Leave story, who seems very upset at the City Administrator’s treatment in that article. This is not a drama I want to continue. We all have better things to do. Like keep our jobs and treat people with respect. But.

2. This type of story needs a personal narrative. Otherwise, it will get glossed over. Civil Service is too boring with this slodge of requirements. And that tedium is what has given all of this protection. Boring Civil Service stuff, and decisions made in “Executive Session,” those private meetings that happen after public City Council meetings.

3. This story is being pursued so heavily because it is not just about Reuben Simmons. It is about so many employees with the city - Water, Highway, Beacon City School District Building Department, maybe Police. And it’s not just this year. It’s decades ago. It’s part of Beacon’s fabric. And probably Wappingers. And Fishkill. And Poughkeepsie. So we’re going hard on this topic. A slap of cold water on the face because it’s not OK. I mean… What personal stories do you want us to put up here? Personnel files are denied paper trails. There are no other places for inquisitive people to go. Don’t challenge this story if you don’t want inequalities revealed, of what white employees get away with when employed, while Black employees are dismissed. Keep insisting on this, keep treating people unequally, and the stories will follow. I don’t know what else to tell you.

The Message Newsletter Subscribers Received:

On Friday, while ALBB sends the happy weekend retail newsletter, one of the City of Beacon’s employees, who normally plows snow from the streets and fixes stop signs, was in a “Hearing” with city officials, listening to how his job would be taken from him. Community organizer and volunteer, Reuben Simmons, is mixed race and identifies as Black. He has worked for the City of Beacon since 2002, coming in as “Summer Help” and at one point, making it up to Highway Superintendent. He was placed on Unpaid Leave for 30 days starting January 2021, during a pandemic, during Black History Month, and after the City of Beacon legislated a Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement.

A Little Beacon Blog has been following this story for two years, recorded a podcast on it, and has several articles that present more of the story than what is widely known today. The story is being told because it impacts other people - people who work in Civil Service (jobs in Police, Highway, Water, etc. departments) and in many ways, how Black people are treated in an environment within those jobs.

While Reuben's professional fate at this time is unknown, he says this about his years-long experience with this issue: "Maybe I'm the best person to be in it. I'm embarrassed to be in this. I'm ashamed of the city. In my 19-year career here. It's disturbing and disgusting. Beacon is better than this."

The articles closely covering this are below. But first, we have to unpack the silent segregation in the room.

The Silent Segregation In The Room

Listen. When your family says racist things to you - thinking you'll laugh at their statement, observation, joke, whatever - you don't divorce your family. I mean, you could divorce your spouse of course, but your blood family is your family. When they say an egregiously racist thing to you - about any race - Black, Arab, Puerto Rican, Asian - anybody - it takes a tremendous amount of courage to call them out and ask them to stop. Better to get that out of their heart. To not think those statements in the first place.

The only way to do that is to call out your friend. Your family. Beacon as a community is family. We have all heard the racist statements made. To different degrees, we have heard them in our homes. In our driveways. On the sidewalk. In the grocery store. At a City Council Meeting from the Public Comment microphone to whispers or hollers in the audience area of the courtroom (listen to minute 51 of the City Council meeting years ago when the Highway Department cheered a new hire after someone or something triggered Reuben's job to get dissolved by Civil Service law).

Additionally, extremely condescending statements or chuckles count as impacting someone's life the same way direct racist statements do. Those in and of themselves are oppressive in any situation for any race or gender. Every day, every one of us - even those of us writing about it - needs to keep ourselves aware of what we say and think and do to others. Little people around you - kids in school - may have already put someone in their place. Because they are growing up right now in this open environment, are seeing their adults struggle through it, and are so far, hopefully, having clearer vision.

Black people in this community have not been heard regarding their employment opportunities and experiences. Laws exist to keep those experiences very private and confidential. Having no other official and legal avenue to be heard (lawyers are expensive, and even during that time they’re involved, rules can require something to be private; sometimes nondisclosure is a requirement for settlements, thereby locking the issue into secrecy forever), people from the Black community - mixed race, Jamaican, and people from more cultures - have started using open mics at rallies in Beacon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and surrounding communities to hope their voices are heard.

Beaconites cannot not hear these voices anymore. No PDF on a website or a wall is going to fix this. It has come time to say: "Dude. Bro. Girlfriend. It is time to take a deep look into your roots, into your soul, ask yourself why you are so comfortable making someone else so uncomfortable and not heard, and begin your journey to uproot that from your body."

Some of you are going to unsubscribe from this newsletter right now. We see you each time you do it when we feature something remotely Black. Others will reply with a "Thank You." And that's all we need to keep going.

The time has come to talk about this. Beacon is not alone in the treatment of people in Civil Service (aka City or County jobs). This is a nationwide issue that is currently not on the national radar, as police reform is/was. Civil Service needs a second look.

Thank you.

Related Links:

• Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer, Put On 30 Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021

• "Wait, What Is That?" Episode 5: Reuben Simmons And His One-Time Job Position As Highway Superintendent
  Hear it from Reuben himself, the summer before he was put on 30 Day Unpaid Leave

• Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department

• These 2 Black Beaconites Describe Being Ignored When Applying For Recent Water Department Or City Jobs

• "Beacon's Water Department Is A Completely Caucasian Department...Some Of Their [Highway Department Employees] Behaviors Are Questionable"

• During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• Beacon Gets New City Administrator Chris White - Taking A Moment To Look Back At Past Administrator Actions

• Why Black Lives Matter (BLM) Signs In Storefront Windows Still Matter In 2021

Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer Put On 30-Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021

This is the notice to the public that Beacon’s City Council will be going into a private meeting called Executive Session, after the public meeting, to discuss “Personnel.” They don’t divulge which city employee it is they are talking about. So we don’t know for sure if they will be talking about Reuben on Monday. It is notable that Reuben’s employment “hearing” after his 30-day unpaid leave was Friday, March 5, 2020. He has not returned to work, as the unpaid leave letter stated that he would not until after the hearing.

Related Links:

• Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer Put On 30-Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021

• "Wait, What Is That?" Episode 5: Reuben Simmons And His One-Time Job Position As Highway Superintendent
  Hear it from Reuben himself, the summer before he was put on 30-Day Unpaid Leave

• Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department

• These 2 Black Beaconites Describe Being Ignored When Applying For Recent Water Department Or City Jobs

• "Beacon's Water Department Is A Completely Caucasian Department... Some Of Their [Highway Department Employees’] Behaviors Are Questionable"

• During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• Beacon Gets New City Administrator Chris White - Taking A Moment To Look Back At Past Administrator Actions

• Why Black Lives Matter (BLM) Signs In Storefront Windows Still Matter In 2021

During the winter of the pandemic.
During Black History Month.
During the traditional and budgeted-for overtime season for the Highway Department where all of the employees are in trucks day and night, plowing Beacon out, and the employees earn extra money.
During a time when Beacon’s first official Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement got signed into law.
During the presentation given by Beacon’s first ever HR director stating that she is hearing about “discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions” in Beacon’s Highway Department.

Beacon’s new City Administrator, Chris White, in his first days on the job after he finished training with former City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, put a Black employee on unpaid leave for 30 days in January into February, after that employee declined to resign, and declined to sign a document saying that Beacon could fire him at any time for any reason, but wouldn’t give a reason, according to that employee, Reuben Simmons.

“Civil Service” Jobs - An Employment Chess Game

Designation of an Unpaid Leave of 30 Days comes with a letter. And a packet of complaints, which fulfill an obligation of finding satisfactory grievances for a “Civil Service” job to get rid of someone. These jobs exist within a city or town. Civil Service guidelines are the rules that govern how it’s all going to work. Like a game of chess. We learned a little (OK, a lot) about this when Reuben spoke about it on a podcast the summer of 2020.

Reuben at the time was speaking about how his job title of Highway Superintendent dissolved in 2018. Disappeared. Into dust. He went back down to Maintenence Worker because Dutchess County told the City of Beacon that the job title didn’t exist for Beacon - after Reuben had been promoted by others into the job. But how or why or when did Dutchess County know that? After then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero recommended Reuben? And after Mayor (at the time) Randy Casale, who referred to himself as “Highway Superintendent for 16 years” every chance he got, also recommended Reuben?

Beacon’s “Highway Superintendent,” which - according to why he got the job that replaced someone else and made their job title dissolve - should be titled “Superintendent of Streets.” This word choice is what dissolved former Highway Superintendent Reuben Simmons’ job in 2018.

A technicality was triggered. Which is what made Reuben’s co-worker, Michael Manzi, get promoted to the job title that Dutchess County said was accurate for Beacon: Superintendent of Streets. This simple word change (with at least one more job qualification that came with it), dissolved Reuben’s position of Highway Superintendent. To be replaced by Michael Manzi as Superintendent of Streets. There was a lot of hooting and hollering by the Highway Department the night of the vote on Michael’s promotion back in 2019. Reuben wasn’t even demoted. His position just dissolved into Maintenance Worker. All legal. See minute 50:17 of the Beacon City Council video.

But even today, March 6, 2021, Michael Manzi is still identified as Highway Superintendent, not the job title with which he allegedly checkmated Reuben. This isn’t the only job title inconsistency on the City of Beacon’s website: See “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement.” But the City of Beacon currently won’t comment on it.

Former Mayor Randy Casale spoke about this job situation also on a podcast. Off-mic, Randy called Reuben’s then-demotion the “biggest regret” of his mayoral career, because he couldn’t stop it. But he tried. Issues of Civil Service, run by Dutchess County, can be triggered by anyone who wants to switch up how a job hire or promotion is going to go, and can make a job disappear. Legally.

But that demotion was in 2018. The 30-day unpaid leave comes in 2021.

The Only Reason ALBB Knows About The 30-Day Unpaid Leave -
The City of Beacon Won’t Comment

When people are hired or promoted, there is a public vote on it by City Council. When they are put on unpaid leave, or perhaps fired or asked to resign, there is nothing public. In fact, police officers who were recently hired, fired or resigned are only traceable because of a public inquiry via a FOIL (freedom of information law) request. That link is offered here on the City Clerk page, but has not been updated since the mayor promised it would, in August of 2020.

How did I find out about Reuben’s $0 income? And how he’s looking at a career loss at the end of it?

He called me. After the first mega blizzard dumped 2.5 feet of snow on Beacon, I answered the phone and right away thanked my friend Reuben Simmons for keeping Beacon plowed. In every City Council meeting, councilmembers had been thanking the Highway Department for plowing.

Reuben had been part of the team driving the trucks clearing the streets for years. This January was another year where he would have been out in the early morning into night, earning overtime that is part of Beacon’s annual budget each year. The overtime is not a surprise. The employees count on it. And they plan for surplus salt, trying to estimate how the winter is going to go.

“I’m sorry, Katie,” Reuben responded to my appreciation. “I haven’t been in the trucks. I have been put on unpaid leave since mid-January 2021. I am embarrassed and I don’t know what is going to happen.”

This isn’t the start of Reuben’s story. His story started years ago. This is the current step.

30-Day Unpaid Leave - How That Works

In the letter sentencing Reuben’s 30-Day Unpaid Leave, City Administrator Chris White instructed Reuben to not speak to any staff of the City of Beacon, or touch any property of the City of Beacon, during work time.

Reuben, who served as the department’s CSEA Union President from 2009 to 2017, had been organizing employees - those who would listen to him, anyway, since not all of them liked him. Especially those who he gave low marks to when he was CSEA Union President, like the employee who allegedly casually brought in a gun to the workplace 6 months after Reuben filed a harassment complaint against him for circulating an unsanctioned petition against Reuben to keep him off a negotiation committee for a contract, or those who didn’t like him being their boss. And then they became his boss when his job title conveniently dissolved.

Reuben’s organizing efforts included supporting the 2 other Black employees. Contract negotiations were happening for their salaries. He wanted all employees to know about their rights, and think about their best interests. Employees of the Highway Department have been without a new contract for some time. The City of Beacon links to one from 2015. According to Reuben, the employee health insurance payments have increased, and with the rising cost of rents and property taxes, people are not earning enough to keep up.

Verifying Reuben’s 30-Day Unpaid Leave - Stonewalled

To begin researching the story, I sought verification from the City of Beacon. I emailed City Administrator Chris White. Chris replied: “We do not comment on personnel matters.”

I then pursued the CSEA Union President, Paula Becker. Not being able to find her anywhere on the internet, and not realizing that she was a City of Beacon employee, I called her number and left a voicemail. And again the next day. The day after that, I received the following email from Chris: “I received notice from other staff that you had called regarding a personnel issue. As I mentioned previously, the City does not comment on personnel issues. I would appreciate you contacting me if you have questions in the future.”

Respecting his original request, I hadn’t contacted any staff. His response got me thinking that someone was impersonating me. I didn’t realize that Paula’s phone number extension was one digit different from Chris’, and that the CSEA Union President was a staff member of the City of Beacon. Did that yield fair representation or advocacy?

Union President As City Of Beacon Employee - Helpful or Fair?

Reuben was used to the dual role of staff and union president. He used to be the CSEA Union President as a Highway Department employee, before he was Highway Superintendent. “I was comfortable with it because I was a strong individual. Some people are not fine with it because the employer can give them certain benefits. Makes it an uncomfortable and tough situation. I was comfortable with having those battles,” Reuben reflected. '“It depends on your character and your personality. Paula, I believe, has a great heart, and wants to see the good in everybody. That's not necessarily the characteristics that sometimes you need, to be tough and fight back face-to-face.”

Verification Gained - ALBB Sees The Unpaid Leave Letter & Complaint Log

To publish this story, I felt better seeing the letter outlining the unpaid leave. I believed Reuben, but I wanted to see the letter and see how it was worded. I wanted to see the complaints behind the disciplinary action. The first response from anyone I verbally tell this story to is: “Well, what did he do? He must have deserved it.” Reuben maintained his answer: “I don’t know.”

“But did they show you a list of complaints?” I pressed.

“Yes, but they don’t say exactly what I did,” Reuben explained. “For example: I ‘drove out of City limits in a company vehicle.’ But I went to Glenham. But Glenham is outside of City limits if I have to service it. If I drive over the I-84 bridge to turn around in the Hudson View apartments to turn back to Beacon, I’m outside of City limits.”

Eventually, Reuben trusted me and showed me the letter. It said exactly what he said it said. Behind the letter was a thick stack of papers. “What are these?” I asked.

“The complaints,” he answered. He was reluctant to let me see them. We chatted some more, and I asked again if I could see them. “What could be so bad that I cannot see them? Is there something unimaginable?” I rattled off some unimaginable things. Surprised, he smiled and said “No,” and his hesitation disappeared. I turned the page to start looking through the stack of complaints. The stack of paper was thick, about half an inch.

These complaints started in the summer of 2020. They weren’t the first against Reuben in his life. He’s already been through another set in 2019, which you can read about here. The summer of 2020 was the same time that Reuben began speaking out at Black Lives Matter speaking events at Pete & Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park about his long history of working in the Highway Department, and racially charged and unfair treatment he has seen, experienced, and been told about while working there.

The complaints read as rows and rows of almost the same words on different line items of dates that said something vague like:

“On July 23*, 2020, Reuben Simmons was at the intersection of South Avenue and Main Street fixing a sign, and did not complete his work.”

“On July 23*, 2020, Reuben Simmons returned late from lunch.”

Copy/Paste those two complaints, change the dates and the intersections, and multiply by 50. Many, many rows of the same repeated. And then finally, a different complaint:

“On September 12*, 2020, Reuben Simmons…” and it was something about how he used a certain number of his Personal hours within a 4-hour period in a way that did not fit compliance.

*The number of this exact date has been estimated. I didn’t take a screenshot. But these were the months.

The worst complaint was a vehicle accident at the transfer station where he hit a civilian car with a company truck. OK. People have accidents. I’ve turned around several times in the transfer station, and it is tight. Question is: Have other employees who have also had accidents in company vehicles been disciplined with a 30-day unpaid leave? We wouldn’t know, because the City of Beacon won’t comment on personnel matters. And they may not answer all FOIL requests. None of mine, at least. And none of them, if answered, have been published since August 2020, as Mayor Kyriacou promised.

So what happened? The accident itself was reported as a complaint. Reuben was supposed to call his supervisor to report an accident, which he did. But the next complaint was that Reuben used curse words to his supervisor during that conversation.

“Curse words?” I asked? Reuben answered: “Yes. I used curse words about the situation in response to what my supervisor was saying. Not calling my supervisor any curse word directly. But speaking about the situation.”

Having a potty-mouth myself, I asked Reuben: “Does no one use curse words in the Highway Department?”

“They use them all the time. Worse. They use racial slurs,” he said matter-of-factly.

Next Step: A “Hearing.” With Witnesses Called By The City Of Beacon

After Reuben refused to resign or sign the letter saying that Beacon could fire him at any time for any reason, he had the option of having a “hearing.” At that hearing, the City of Beacon told him that they were bringing witnesses.

According to Reuben, the list of witness names were not given to his attorney, William T. Burke.

Ironically, back in the day when Reuben filed a harassment complaint about the unsanctioned petition, that the City of Beacon via City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero did not pursue because of lack of physical evidence of the paper petition, the City of Beacon did not care about witnesses. Reuben said he had 2 witnesses: the 2 Black employees who were eventually shown the unsanctioned petition. And Paula, the current union president who allegedly had the unsanctioned petition show up on her desk (perhaps how like Councilperson Jodi McCredo had a mystery letter show up on her front porch, putting her in a very awkward position), which then allegedly disappeared. None of these witnesses mattered for that hearing.

But on March 5, 2021, in a hearing to further detail complaints made against Reuben, the witnesses mattered. What’s that people say about All Lives Matter?

How Long Has Reuben Worked For The City Of Beacon?

Reuben has worked for the City of Beacon Highway Department since 2002, starting as “Summer Help.” His resume goes like this: City of Beacon Summer Help in parks, 2002-2008; Laborer, 2008-2012; Union President for City of Beacon CSEA Local 814 unit 6662, 2009-2017; Maintenance Worker, 2012-2017; Highway Superintendent, 2017-2018; Maintenance Worker, May 2018-August 2019; Working Supervisor, August 2018-March 2020; Maintenance Worker, March 2020-present.

After the summer of 2020 rush of complaints, the City presented Reuben with the opportunity to resign. When he declined, they offered him a letter that he could sign saying that they could fire him for any reason. He asked what that reason could be, and they would not specify. So it easily could have been: “Reuben was at the intersection of Liberty and East Main fixing a sign and did not complete his work.”

He declined to sign these. As he said he did years ago when the City presented him with a letter stating that there were no “racial tensions” in the Highway Department.

“Why Would This Be Happening To You?”

The obvious question is: “Why is this happening to you?” Due in part to Reuben’s role as union president for those years, he may have made people upset. Recently, however, the public has started speaking out, beginning with Stefon Seward, a founding member of Beacon4Black Lives who spoke out on a City Council call during the public comment period, resulting in this deep dive by ALBB to learn new information.

Reuben concluded: "I try to exhaust all internal avenues and best efforts to avoid the situation I am in today, and the City ignored all of that (see past article for reference). Maybe I'm the best person to be in this. I'm embarrassed to be in this. I'm ashamed of the City. In my 19-year career here. It's disturbing and disgusting. Beacon is better than this."

What is at stake if Reuben is fired or resigns? “My career will be cut short and I will lose the opportunity to receive my full retirement potential.”

How ALBB Knows Reuben

Unfortunately, in hearing stories of Black lives, or maybe any life, it comes down to who you know, and why you know it. I first got to know Reuben in 2019 when he got the idea to organize Beacon’s live music event, Rock Out 4 Mental Health, the first music event to bring mental health services throughout the Hudson Valley together in one place set to music, so that the community could easily meet them and get to know these services better. Reuben wanted to de-stigmatize mental health.

I didn’t know at the time that his good friend had died of substance abuse. I heard that friend’s story from his mother, who spoke at the event that June. In attendance at the event were Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro, who is a huge advocate for mental health, and state senator Sue Serino, whose brother died by suicide.

Reuben’s nonprofit organization, I Am Beacon, asked me to be on the planning committee for Rock Out 4 Mental Health. I don’t say yes to many things because of time, but I said yes to this immediately. Reuben ran every planning meeting that we had in my old office on Main Street every other Tuesday. I brought my toddler. Reuben ran in one morning in his bright yellow Beacon Highway Department sweatshirt, to give us notes and direction for the meeting. Reuben says he got personal time approved through Payroll, then attended the meeting. He said he saw his boss, Michael Manzi, that morning. They waved to each other, but then 2 months later Reuben was written up about the attendance of that meeting as a form of discipline, which Reuben says he later disputed.

That morning, he got written up by his supervisor, Highway Department Superintendent of Streets Michael Manzi, for being late. The complaint went into Reuben’s personnel file. If you have heard the podcast about it, you’ll know that it was during this event planning experience that I learned that Reuben was no longer the Highway Department Superintendent. You’ll remember that when I went to write the article about the event, I visited his LinkedIn to get his proper job title. LinkedIn said he was Maintenance Worker.

I asked Reuben about it, thinking nothing of the question. “Hey Reuben - what’s your job title? I see something different in LinkedIn.” He answered that he couldn’t talk to me about it. Couldn’t answer the question. Was going through some things at work legally, but maybe he could tell me later.

Later came one year later during the Black Lives Matter movement. We were going to have the Rock Out 4 Mental Health event again, and were going to ask the City, which had a new Mayor in place, if we could use Riverfront Park again. The former Mayor Randy Casale and Reuben had been close. They argued in public - both having loud voices coming from passionate places - but they were tight.

Randy Casale was part of why Reuben was promoted to Highway Superintendent. Not long after, however, Reuben’s job title of Highway Superintendent dissolved. Turned to dust. Never existed. He was demoted but there was nothing to demote him from. He just was Maintenance Worker again. Why? That doesn’t make sense, right? Right. Two words of how it happened: “Civil Service.”

The pandemic hit, and all events paused. Except Black Lives Matter marches. Or protests in the name of Black Lives Mattering more than the status quo. Whichever you want to call it. Whichever brand you feel comfortable saying, as people tried to chip away at the original meaning of BLM. Which was that Black people were dying, being fired, being ignored, and having to work extra hard to sustain success they made for themselves. Because of white people keeping them down. You. Me. All of us. Systems in general. “All lives” were keeping them down in the name of comfort. That feeling you get when you feel discomfort, so you turn your eyes away and feel comfortable again in your own little world.

Reuben attended a protest march and took to the microphone at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, and for the first time, in a shaky but strong voice, told his story. Even prior to his taking the microphone, there had been tensions between Reuben and the Highway Department. Complaints had already been written about him.

City Cuts Off ALBB From Responding To Questions

Since ALBB published the article, “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement,” Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White has refused to answer any questions from this publication. Our door remains open. We will continue to send questions on this and other totally different matters. Even if we send them into the abyss and only hear crickets back.

City Administrator Chris White asked for a FaceTime-type call to get to know each other, since I keep emailing him questions. I email questions to lots of people. To the office of Dutchess County, or to business owners. No one else has requested a video chat to get to know each other better. I get it. I’m a people person too. I like to meet people. But in the media sense, it’s not necessary.

Chris’ final words, for now, to this publication are below. These are very similar to when Mayor Kyriacou responded to one of my questions asking him if he really said something that I had heard. Mayor’s Kyriacou’s response was to give me the definition of hearsay. Hearsay is when you don’t seek confirmation after you hear about what someone may have said. I’m not sure what it’s called when someone doesn’t answer the question but gives you a run-around, condescending, derogatory response.

For the record: Chris seems to do very great work. I am looking forward to his work in project management that he will do in the name of the natural environment. In the name of personnel matters, the experience thus far has been surprising. Perhaps that will change some day.

Until that time, while the City stonewalls any questions about treatment of employees by its employees and its employers, A Little Beacon Blog will continue to receive stories from residents of the community, and will continue to listen to them with compassion. If these stories line up with other stories, and begin matching and forming a pattern, those stories will continue to get published.

some physical proof cannot be seen in words. Slinging racial slurs will never have proof. Unless they are recorded, as with much, much worse happenings like with Rodney King or George Floyd. No one is free from racist behavior. Every day, every single one of us must keep ourselves in check. We must educate ourselves; reach out to make new friends and deeper friendships, to keep ourselves in check.

This treatment of a friend is nothing I would have expected from the City of Beacon. But this story is not new. It’s just not told in a public way.

Below is the current City Administrator Chris White’s last response to me. My response to him follows. Again. I think Chris is very talented. Anthony Ruggiero is very talented too, and I’m so bummed that he resigned. As the City of Beacon has stated: “We have work to do.” Anyone, in any position they are in now, can do better, and shift moves made in their past.

---

3/4/2021
In response to an invitation to speak on Zoom to get to know each other, which I declined.

Katie,

Thank you for your response. I am unable to respond to further questions until you and I have some discussion about journalistic standards for your articles. Since I replaced Anthony, I have tried to treat you as I would a news outlet, but I’m realizing that your blog does not operate in the same manner. I have to say that I also liked your blog’s focus on small businesses in Beacon so I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt in responding to you as time allowed.

The article that you just published on City hiring, which is referred to as a “hot mess,” certainly does not meet basic journalistic standards for unbiased reporting. If you would like the City to respond to you as we do with news media, we will need to establish some comparable reporting standards. With a simple conversation, we could have cleared up some of the inaccuracies and misleading assertions in this article, which is what the local papers would have done before publishing.

If you would like to have a conversation at some point to discuss this further, please let me know, and I will try to be available to you. However, until we can establish some sort of standards, I am not able to respond to further questions.

Best regards,

Chris

---

3/4/2021 Response:
Hi Chris,

I understand where you are coming from.

I do not know about other news outlets having conversations with administrations about how those administrations are covered, but having that discussion is not something I would need to have in order to get accurate information for a story, or try to at least. Informing about known or unknown information is what I would do.

Oftentimes, when a positive adjective is used, people are happy. When an unflattering one is used, the word “unbiased” gets returned.

As for coverage of businesses in Beacon, thank you. However, there may be times when local government decisions are unfavorable to business, or a certain businesses, and you may then not like that coverage, or that article.

Any reporter is biased, as a human. Only so many words and topics can get covered because of time and space (paper and digital), so by the very nature of publishing, every piece of content produced is biased.

With a simple email response, you can always shed light on inaccuracies if there are items that need corrected.

As a local paper would have done before publishing, I did try to get answers from you, in order to get as much accuracy as possible. Which you would not give. And now are stating will continue to not give any unless we have a conversation.

Thank you for your consideration in time in responding prior. We are all busy.

Thank you for the rest of the work that you do. There is a lot on your plate.

Best,
Katie

###

This article is not just for Reuben. As torturous as this is to watch. This is for all of the other Black employees who have been ignored by the City of Beacon, or squashed down into dissolved positions.

The people involved in that - are probably some of the best people. Some of the best friends. Families who your family may have had play dates with. This is your check. My check. Everyone’s check. The check of all people’s lives.

Stories resulting from past articles on this are already coming from people who have been ignored on repeat. Most likely, this will extend into the Hispanic, Arab, Jamaican, Everyone community. Get comfortable with people who sound different than you. Are louder than you. Move differently than you.

Maybe you could shake it up and move differently too! Let your own passion out! Without shaming someone when they do it.

Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department

Related Links:

• Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer Put On 30-Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021

• "Wait, What Is That?" Episode 5: Reuben Simmons And His One-Time Job Position As Highway Superintendent
  Hear it from Reuben himself, the summer before he was put on 30-Day Unpaid Leave

• Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department

• These 2 Black Beaconites Describe Being Ignored When Applying For Recent Water Department Or City Jobs

• "Beacon's Water Department Is A Completely Caucasian Department... Some Of Their [Highway Department Employees’] Behaviors Are Questionable"

• During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• Beacon Gets New City Administrator Chris White - Taking A Moment To Look Back At Past Administrator Actions

• Why Black Lives Matter (BLM) Signs In Storefront Windows Still Matter In 2021

During the December 14, 2020, City Council workshop meeting, Beacon’s new HR Director Gina Basile, who was hired in July 2020, gave a presentation about “many discussions with our employees about how they feel about working for the City.” She also met with community group Beacon4Black Lives. After holding a Meet and Greet with all department heads individually, she scheduled a Meet and Greet with the Fire Department, which needed to be rescheduled due to COVID-19-related issues. Gina held a Meet and Greet with the Highway Department, which is where she began her focus to discover overall themes employees experience when working for the City.

Gina started by presenting her first 4 months as HR Director (hired in July, presented findings in December), according to Gina’s presentation, which she delivered in-person during the City Council Meeting held over video conference, several themes emerged, including:

• “Concerns surrounding diversity and equality.”

• “Concerns regarding our Hiring Practices.”

• “Growing Tensions in the Workplace.”

• “Lack of clarity in intra-departmental policies and inconsistency.”

“I have heard employee concerns about discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions,” Gina stated in her printed presentation. “We need to address these issues head-on, and policies and procedures are only the beginning. We need a long-term plan on how to address these issues.”

ALBB has reported on some of these issues here.

She recruited the assistance of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider The Work Place, a work-based intervention program designed to identify and assist employees in resolving personal problems. She called for “a third, neutral party to help us develop a plan on how we move forward.” They assigned 4 of the EAP counselors to assist the City of Beacon, and stated that “based on need, we began with the Highway Department.”

“Needs Assessment Counselors met virtually with all Highway Department employees one-on-one to ask questions about working for the City of Beacon, their Work Environment, and to hear any concerns they want to bring forward. The virtual meetings were held in the conference room in the Highway Department, and I was present in the building so employees knew their confidentiality is maintained,” Gina said.

After the meeting, “the Counselors presented us with Overall Themes that they heard from our employees. They did not tell us what a specific employee said.” From there, a plan has been developed, which includes recommended group and individual training, as well as suggestions on how to improve the City of Beacon’s work environment. EAP recommended and will provide individual counseling, as well as recommended development of policies and procedures. EAP “provided us tools on how to handle issues as they arise,” Gina continued in her presentation.

In conclusion, Gina said that EAP “will guide future group and individual conversations that may be difficult, and uncomfortable at times, but are necessary. We acknowledge that this will take time, and this is something that is going to take commitment and a lot of work.”

Steps To Address The Concerns

Gina presented a plan for how to address the concerns, which include:

• “Diversity and Inclusion Statement” (this was completed soon after, on October 5, 2020, during a night that included confusion about new hires in the Water Department, and reported on here by ALBB)

• “New Hiring Procedures”

• “Standardizing the Promotion Process”

• “Diversity and Inclusion Certification Program”

• “Diversity and Inclusion Training for ALL Employees”

• “Multi-Year Plan”

• “Open-Door Policy/Investigate All Concerns”

• “Streamlining Policies and Procedures throughout the City”

• “Third-Party Involvement”

• “Open, Community-Based Chief of Police Search Committee”

In terms of next steps, Gina outlined that they “would review the findings of the needs assessment … and discuss the kind of improvements we will be making.” She indicated that she wanted “everyone to be a part of the process and part of the solution.” She then thanked the Highway employees "for taking part in this process, and helping us identify issues, and develop a plan to move forward.”

A Step Signed Off On By City Administrator

One of the next action steps, signed by City Administrator Chris White, soon after his own first day on the job, was to place a longtime Highway Department employee, Reuben Simmons, who is mixed race and identifies as Black, on unpaid leave beginning in January 2021 for 30 days. January is also overtime season for the Highway Department, where they are out plowing and salting city streets during winter storms.

Reuben has been outspoken in complaints about behavior in the Highway Department (listen to his podcast with ALBB here from the summer of 2020), both as an employee and during his time as a Union President advocating for fellow employees during contract negotiations. Reuben told ALBB that he declined an opportunity to resign, or to sign a document that he would agree to be fired for any reason, without that reason being stated or indicated in advance, he told ALBB.

He opted instead for a hearing, during which the City of Beacon will reportedly present witnesses, to further clarify details of a stack of complaints that include dates and general areas of topics but no specific details that ALBB has seen.

The hearing for Reuben’s employment is today, Friday, March 5, 2021 at 10am. The hearing was scheduled to be in City Hall in an office in the basement, but has been moved to be on Zoom. The hearing is not open to the public. Reuben was told that the city will be presenting witnesses, but did not provide a list of those witnesses, or what details they would be expanding upon.

"Beacon's Water Department Is A Completely Caucasian Department... Some Of Their [Highway Department Employees'] Behaviors Are Questionable"

For the record, since this statement was made about the Water Department being “completely Caucasian,” on September 21, 2020, a person of Color may have been hired to the Water Department.

Related Links:

• Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer Put On 30-Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021

• "Wait, What Is That?" Episode 5: Reuben Simmons And His One-Time Job Position As Highway Superintendent
  Hear it from Reuben himself, the summer before he was put on 30-Day Unpaid Leave

• Beacon’s New HR Director Hears From City Employees About Discrimination, Inequality, Growing Tensions; Suggests Solutions; Begins With Highway Department

• These 2 Black Beaconites Describe Being Ignored When Applying For Recent Water Department Or City Jobs

• "Beacon's Water Department Is A Completely Caucasian Department... Some Of Their [Highway Department Employees’] Behaviors Are Questionable"

• During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement

• Beacon Gets New City Administrator Chris White - Taking A Moment To Look Back At Past Administrator Actions

• Why Black Lives Matter (BLM) Signs In Storefront Windows Still Matter In 2021

On September 21, 2020, many issues were discussed in the public City Council meeting: how the virtual Spirit of Beacon Day Parade was going to work (a day that was founded as a method of healing, coming together, and showing appreciation after racial eruptions and riots in Beacon in the 1970s), the spike in COVID-19 cases in a local nursing home, easements for Edgewater (a hot-button property for development hawks), handling of the 2020 Assessment Roll as it pertains to Property Taxes, etc.

The promotions of 3 employees of the Highway Department that were also on the agenda otherwise seemed mundane. Under the surface, however, in private meetings of City Council called “Executive Session,” where no press or the public is allowed, these promotions were a loaded topic. Steve Bechtold, Peter Delfico, and Nicholas Durso are Highway Department employees slated to receive promotions.

In order to approve the promotion, the City Council needed to vote on it. The vote was postponed that night, after Stefon Seward, a community member called in during Public Comment to voice his concern, was later validated by Councilmember Jodi McCredo, who stated she was uncomfortable with the vote. The vote was tabled, and A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to the City of Beacon to see if any movement has been made since then. We are awaiting a response, but the City usually doesn’t comment on personnel questions.

This article explores the details between the question from a member of the public at the beginning of the meeting, and the response from a Councilmember, which was almost silenced by the then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero (who has since left that job) by the end of the meeting.

Question On “Behaviors Are Questionable” Expanded Upon

Stefon Seward, a founding member of Beacon4BlackLives and an appointed committee member to the Beacon Police Chief Search Committee, called in to that September 21, 2020 night of the City Council Meeting to voice his concerns about the promotions in the Highway Department.

He stated: “I'm calling to talk about the 3 individuals that are going to get a raise, who you are voting on today. I think you should put a freeze on that, because some of their behaviors are questionable. I think there should be a little more talk before they get that raise.”

A Little Beacon Blog inquired about what behaviors Stefon was referring to. In an earlier podcast recorded this summer at “Wait, What Is That?” ALBB learned from Reuben Simmons, a Highway Department employee, that Steve Bechtold had brought a personal gun to work on company time, making other employees uncomfortable. Reuben, who is Black, emailed management Michael (Micky) Manzi about it. Michael is the current department head (Reuben used to be his boss, but was demoted on a job title technicality), Superintendent of Streets. Michael emailed back that Steve would be told not to bring the firearm to work in the future.

Reuben requested to have Michael’s email about the gun included in Reuben’s personnel file, but City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero declined that request, Reuben told ALBB.

The bringing in of the gun was about 6 months after Reuben filed a harassment claim against Steve in 2019, after Steve allegedly circulated an unsanctioned petition which advocated to have Reuben not be on a negotiation committee for the Highway Department’s new contract, which has remained unsigned after it expired (the City of Beacon’s website links to a latest contract of 2015), and is up for renewal any day, or whenever it makes it to the next agenda of the public City Council meetings.

According to Reuben, who served as CSEA Union President from 2009 to 2017, Steve made an assumption that Reuben was on the negotiation committee, and Steve did not want him there, so he had written a petition and circulated it around to the white employees of the Highway Department, without showing it to the 2 other Black employees also in the Highway Department, according to Reuben.

Reuben learned about the petition, and went to the department’s current Union President, Paula Becker, about it, who allegedly said she did not know about the petition. “My issue was that if you're going to petition,” Reuben told ALBB, “show it to everybody so that it's fair.”

Paula works for the City of Beacon as a staff member, in addition to serving as the Union President for CSEA. The union structure is to have the president also be an employee of the city. When A Little Beacon Blog reached out to Paula in her capacity as union president to confirm a future development concerning Reuben’s current employment status with the City of Beacon, the current City Administrator Chris White (Chris replaced Anthony Ruggiero in January 2021) gave instruction not to contact any staff about these issues, and to contact him directly. Chris also did not comment as to Reuben’s current employment status.

According to Reuben, the 2 other Black employees were then shown the petition, and did not sign. The petition allegedly was delivered to Paula’s desk. Superintendent Manzi knew about the petition, Reuben said, as he and Manzi discussed it during a meeting with then-Mayor Randy Casale in his office. “Management [Michael Manzi] should not have been influencing and condoning this behavior,” Reuben told ALBB. Current Mayor Lee Kyriacou was a city councilmember at the time.

To follow up on the harassment claim rooted in the petition against Steve, then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero inquired with Paula to see the petition, but that time he was told that this was a Union issue, and protected under certain laws, according to Reuben. No one saw the petition after that, according to Reuben. He said that the City of Beacon, by way of City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, did not investigate the harassment claim, citing that there was no physical evidence of its existence.

Months later, when the gun was allegedly brought to work, Reuben did not seek to file another harassment claim because of how his first claim was handled. Reuben still wonders why the petition to keep him off a committee was circulated, since he was not on the negotiation committee in the first place, he told ALBB.

It should be noted that the City Administrator works with a labor attorney on these issues. In this issue, the City was working with Lance H. Klein of Keane & Beane, the law firm that the city works with on real estate, labor, etc. When ALBB first started reaching out to get more information on this employment story in the summer of 2020, City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero could not answer all of our questions, and CCed the labor attorney Lance Klein on the responses, and offered to have a phone call instead.

This year, City Administrator Chris White has also offered to have a phone call in response to questions asked about job titles, and has decided that until an in-person conversation about how ALBB writes articles happens, after the publication of yesterday’s article “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement,” he will not be answering any questions from ALBB.

“Completely Caucasian Department” - Diversity Needed

Now that we have partially unpacked that issue from 2019, let’s get back to September 21, 2020, the night of the City Council meeting and votes for Highway Department promotions. Stefon went on to state: “We need more diversity in the Water Department. It is a completely Caucasian department, and that's a little scary, being that we are a diverse town. I feel that we need to have a diversity look in every walk of life, everything we do for our town.”

A Little Beacon Blog looked into the demographics of the Water Department. The City of Beacon will not release stats, even when we asked about the demographics of the Police Department and were told by then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero to submit a FOIL to get the information. The FOIL was apparently ignored. This was before the City of Beacon published all of the names of the police officers on their website, after pressure from the national Black Lives Matter movement that went local on Beacon’s Main Street in the form of protests, emails, and calls into public City Council meetings, along with the New York State ordered re-imagining of the policing in the community with Executive Order 203.

To get an idea of the demographics, we asked for thoughts from Reuben Simmons, who has worked for the City of Beacon since 2002, and who served as the union president for the City of Beacon CSEA Local 814 unit 6662 from 2009 to 2017. His response: “I did look into it a few years ago while I was the union president, because an employee from the Water Department who was white was uncomfortable with racial slurs being spoken regularly by Water Department employees, including supervisors, in reference to other city employees who were Black. It resulted in me having to have an employee transferred from the Water Department to the Highway Department.”

City of Beacon Regulates Personal Guns In The Workplace in 2021

On December 14, 2020, during a City Council workshop meeting, Beacon’s new HR Director, Gina Basile, introduced new policies that she wanted the City of Beacon to adopt, one being a Firearms Policy. The Firearms Policy states that City employees cannot bring personal guns or weapons of any kind, including knives that are 4 inches or longer, and cannot store them on City property (ie inside of a locker or vehicle).

During that December 14, 2020, public City Council meeting, the councilmembers pondered the ramifications of this for Police Officers, wondering if this was confusing with their professional guns used for work. Gina and Anthony advised that there was no crossover; guns assigned for work were fine. The City Councilmembers were mostly certain that no person would bring a personal gun to work, but Councilperson Dan Aymar-Blair said that he had received a complaint from a constituent about a police officer bringing a personal gun to work.

Councilmember Jodi McCredo’s Statement To Pause Highway Department Promotions, Wanting More Information

Councilmember Jodi McCredo has been aware of the employee tensions in the Highway Department for some time, as have other councilmembers and Mayor Lee Kyriacou. Years ago, Jodi was the subject of a hand-delivered, unsigned letter written in the first person (using the word “I”) but from the Highway Department at large, delivered to her front porch.

That letter described discontent using ill logic at the appointment of a fellow employee, Reuben Simmons, to the position of Highway Superintendent (which he was later stripped of, using Civil Service rules to legally do so). The letter stated that the appointment did not encourage promoting “from within,” despite Reuben being a current employee. It was if he did not exist. A Little Beacon Blog has seen that letter, and published it along with the podcast here. At the time years ago, Jodi brought in the letter to a private Executive Session meeting, not knowing what to do with it, she told ALBB.

The results of that letter campaign resulted in Dutchess County telling the City of Beacon that Reuben did not have the qualifications to hold the Superintendent of Streets title because he “never held a supervisors title.” Thereby moving him and his salary back down to Maintenance Worker. The Superintendent of Streets position went to Michael (Micky) Manzi after Mark, the City’s first candidate off the Dutchess County list, turned the job down, according to Reuben.

Michael Manzi currently holds the position today. Back then, on February 4, 2019, Jodi was part of a unanimous public City Council vote for Michael’s promotion, where before casting it, she turned to the audience in the courtroom and asked: “What do you guys think?” She was met with shouts of agreement and applause, which can be seen on the Council video here at the bottom of the page. Jodi has gone on to say to ALBB that the letter “had absolutely no influence on any decisions.”

Back to September 21, 2020, with the promotion of the 3 Highway Department employees on the agenda for the evening. Jodi was not so sure this time. Resulting from Stefon’s comments, and having the prior experience of not knowing details and then learning them later, Jodi moved forward with speaking about her hesitation concerning the promotions. She stated:

“Stefon Seward mentioned a couple of things that I want to address: He spoke about people getting raises today. I want to clarify - “ At this point in her statement, then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, who has since left this job for another in Dutchess County, attempted to interrupt her to stop her from speaking with an "Um…".

Normally, the City Administrator likes the Council to not discuss personnel issues in public, but Jodi continued and kept speaking.

“It’s not an issue with a raise, it's an issue with a promotion because of position. But I also want to go back to something I have said in the past many times, which is I really don't feel comfortable voting on things like that without having all of the information. I don't know what it was he [Stefon] was referring to when he said what he said. Now I am in a position again where I do feel uncomfortable about this and I do think it is something we need to talk about.

“I'm just going to throw that out there because if I'm not in the situation and people aren't coming to me, I don't know what questions to ask, and it's a little awkward. I also want to put out to the public if you do have information that you think Councilmembers should have before a vote, please share that information with us. You have our phone numbers and you have our email addresses. Contact us, talk to us. Inform us. Nine times out of 10 we don't know, and that helps us know what questions to ask and what information to look for. I'm not saying anything about what he said specifically, because I have no idea. But the point is, I have no idea. And I probably should.”

All of the other City Council Members agreed to table the promotion, and Air Nonken Rhodes made an enthusiastic motion to move the discussion to Executive Session, where it could be further discussed in private.

There are times when people do know or are told about something, but may not be presented with paper documentation to prove something without a doubt, and then the information gets dismissed, contributing to a silent segregation. During this time, decades after the Civil Rights movement resulted in laws that are intended to prevent discrimination, actions taken even within those laws can still create a form of silent segregation that is harder to prove.

While the City of Beacon recently apparently hired a person of Color in the Water Department - Ricardo Brown - Mayor Kyriacou stated the night of that vote that diversity was added. Not only has the City of Beacon not confirmed with A Little Beacon Blog what Ricardo’s job title is - after a possible mix-up on the City’s agenda for Justin Herring (the agenda said Justin was Water and Sewer Superintendent but Edward Balicki is currently listed as that, even though Ed’s LinkedIn has him listed as Chief Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator at City of Beacon) - having true diversity means to embrace others, to listen to them, and believe them. Call them back after a job interview. Include an email complaint in a personnel file.

As to the confusing development of Water Department job titles after October 5, 2020’s meeting to hire employees, City Administrator Chris White has declined to provide confirmation.

Diversity Is Not Guaranteed By A PDF On A Wall Or Website

Any city can put up a PDF of a Diversity and Inclusion Statement on the City of Beacon on a wall or on a website, but that’s not a guarantee that diversity or even fairness and decency are happening. Not when complaints are ignored, dodged and delayed with FOIL requests. When Mayor Lee Kyriacou said that Beacon delivered diversity on October 5, 2020, with the hire of one person of Color, that does not make the diversity cup even half-full.

Diversity is speaking up against a vote. It is believing a story. It is asking questions about a story in public to find more connections in order to believe it. Diversity is being anti-racist, which means that you are actively speaking up against something that feels like a person was just made to feel invisible, and then became invisible, with a legal checkmate of a demotion. Diversity means to question current Civil Service laws, to see if they are working as intended, or if they are protecting a comfort level that doesn’t serve all equally.

And these are only the stories we know about. When a City does not comment to confirm a story told at a City Council meeting, like when Wendel Henson called in to say that he was interviewed for a position in the Water Department and was never contacted after that, these stories will require paper documentation, which the City will not release, and the reader will be left to wonder. Which often leads to doubt, but then fades away.

Silent segregation.

Village Of Wappingers Mayor Resigns; Town Of Wappingers Faces Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Of Highway Department

On Monday, October 26, 2020, the Village of Wappingers Falls Mayor, Matt Alexander, announced to residents via letter that he was resigning, effective December 2020. He has been the Mayor of the Village of Wappingers Falls for almost 14 years. In his letter, he stated: “Over this extraordinary past year, in enforced solitude and decreased mobility, I reflected on my own needs. With great sadness, I am announcing that I will be stepping down as mayor in December to pursue other opportunities.” His full letter is published below.

The announcement broke into the news cycle on Tuesday morning, followed by a press release from County Executive Marcus Molinaro wishing him well, and concluding with a discovery that the Mayor had accepted a job of Comptroller in Peekskill. He is a graduate of Notre Dame and is a certified public accountant.

The Mayor told MidHudson News of his new job: “I’m really looking forward to a community like Wappingers Falls urban and diverse and full of opportunity,” he said. “They just got the Downtown Revitalization initiative – a very prestigious award in New York State – and I am very excited about working on that with them.”

The soon to be former Mayor had run for New York’s 19th Congressional Seat in 2012 against Nan Hayworth, and owned a 19th Century building that was destroyed in a large fire in 2017, which prompted the #WappingersRises movement. Matt owned the shop, Stone Bridge Antiques, which he re-opened in a nearby location, according to Hudson Valley Magazine.

Village Of Wappingers Falls And Mandated Police Reform

All municipalities in New York State are under obligation from a Governor’s Order to supply a police reform plan that works with their unique communities. Mayor Alexander is no stranger to police reform. In 2018, the Village of Wappingers Falls had voted twice to dissolve their Police Department, preferring to use Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office instead, according to a Poughkeepsie Journal article. On August 30, 2018 the Board voted to disband the police force to begin on Jan. 1, 2019.

A judge ruled that the votes were unauthorized, and required a public vote. The judged ruled that the Village of Wappingers Falls did not conduct an environmental review, as required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, according to the article.

The public vote, after the Village’s 2 rounds of voting to disband were denied, was spearheaded by 2 lawsuits, according to Deming Headlight, resulting in the people of the Village Wappingers Falls voting to keep their Police Department. After that vote to keep the Police Department, Mayor Alexander proposed creating a Citizens Board. ALBB has not reached out to confirm if such a Board was created.

The Police Commissioner of the Village of Wappingers Falls, Carl Calabrese, resigned after 11 years of service, on April 8th, 2020. The Mayor and the Village Board of Trustees honored the Commissioner’s service in the Resolution accepting his resignation. Police Commissioner Walter Burke is currently in the position.

Some legal cases are listed in connection with former Police Commissioner, Carl Calabrese, including NOVICK v. VILLAGE OF WAPPINGERS FALLS, NEW YORK, which revolved around the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), retaliation against the Police Union rules or advocacy of rules, bladder cancer of Officer Novick, reporting correctly or incorrectly into the job for health issues, “Disciplinary” actions, a demotion of Officer Novick, and other details.

Another lawsuit in 2011, PISTOLESI v. CALABRESE, centered around the removal of a towing company used by the Village of Wappingers, as directed by then Police Commissioner Calabrese. The lawsuit named Officer Novick and Commissioner Calabrese, among others, including a then Board Trustee, for harassment. Years later, Officer Novick filed a lawsuit against Commissioner Calabrese and the Village of Wappingers in the lawsuit named above. The newspaper clippings below can be clicked to be enlarged.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Meanwhile, In The Town Of Wappingers…

A racial discrimination lawsuit was brought against the Town of Wappingers (different from the Village with different departments, and the Mayor does not preside here, as it is managed by the Town Supervisor, Richard L. Thurston) in 2019 by Troy Swain, who was 4 months into the job of Highway Superintendent when he was fired by a unanimous vote by the Town Council of the Town of Wappingers, due to allegations that he did personal tasks while on the job.

Troy was the first and only African American to serve as Highway Superintendent. Troy now works for the City of Beacon as a Heavy Equipment Operator, where he is 1 of 3 Black people working in that department in Beacon. Another worker, Reuben Simmons, had also served as Highway Superintendent for the City of Beacon, before also being unanimously voted out by Beacon’s City Council when they deemed that the job title did not exist in Beacon, and required a Civil Service exam he was not entitled to take (see ALBB’s article and podcast about this).

According to an article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, The Town of Wappingers also thought that the job title did not exist when Troy Swain held it. “Some members of the town board disputed the existence of the position and said Swain was ‘erroneously’ promoted. The union believed the position should've gone to someone with seniority, according to the documents.”

The same logic was used in Beacon in Reuben’s case in an unsigned mystery letter delivered to a Councilmember’s front porch, even though Reuben had been working for the City of Beacon for as long as his replacement, Michael Manzi.

In the Town of Wappingers, according to Swain’s attorney, Masai Lord of Lord & Schewel, he believes Troy’s termination was retaliation for filing an earlier racial harassment complaint. “Swain claims while on the job he was addressed with racial slurs. He said he had spoken about the harassment to his supervisor and a union representative, but wasn't provided a remedy,” he told the Poughkeepsie Journal.

In a lawsuit against the Town, Troy alleges he was discriminated against and denied due process before being fired, among other claims. He's seeking punitive damages. The trial is set for March 2021, due to a delay with COVID.

The goal of the trial, Masai told A Little Beacon Blog, is that “Mr. Swain needs to be compensated for what he went through. Not just the years of racial harassment, gratuitous use of the N-word, and wrongful termination and retaliation, but violation of collective bargaining agreement, and denied his constitutional due process rights.”

The Town of Wappingers voted unanimously via Resolution to terminate Troy on June 13, 2016. He received his termination notice on June 14, 2016. The lawsuit was filed in 2019, and named individual Board Members instead of the Town as a whole. The Board members tried to reverse by filing an appeal for qualified immunity in May 2020, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal article. That appeal of dismissal was denied in the U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit in mid-June 2020.

“The Southern District Court of New York also denied the Town's motion for summary judgement on the claims of discrimination, retaliation and retaliation based on the town's opposition to Swain getting unemployment compensation, meaning those claims will be moving forward to trial,” the article stated.

The Letter From The Mayor Of The Village Of Wappingers Falls Reads As Follows:

For ease of reading, Mayor Matt Alexander’s letter of resignation has been republished here:

Dear fellow residents,

It has been the privilege and honor of my life to enjoy the reward and fulfillment of service to my neighbors as mayor. However, all things must come to an end and my service to you has come to that point.

For over eighteen years, I served the people of the Village of Wappingers Faslls, with almost fourteen, as mayor. Over this extraordinary past year, in enforced solitude and decreased mobility, I reflected on my own needs. With great sadness, I am announcing that I will be stepping down as mayor in December to pursue other opportunities.

Our time together has been full of success and failure, joy and grief as well as growth and decline. But from the past fourteen years, I hop you see mostly good. I will do just that. I see how we have made great changes in our community over time. Though, I have some regrets, my belief is that, together, we have left the Village in a much better place than it was.

The best of our Village is its people and I have gotten to know o many of you in a special way that has made me better for it. I will miss this job more than any other. It was a very difficult decision, but I am confident that wonderful things lie ahead for all of us.

Godspeed and be well my fair Village. I will see you next as a fellow private citizen and hope to enjoy the future with you here for many years.

Reuben Simmons Speech In Reaction To Behavior At Support The Beacon PD Rally In July

During the 8th March to support Black lives mattering more, many speakers spoke at a soundstage down at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park on July 25, 2020. This protest was organized by Next Step Hudson Valley and Ali T. Muhammad, a former council member in Beacon for Ward 2, and a local community organizer that has been working to bring the sister-cities of Dutchess and Orange Counties together for this movement and improved way of life.

Both of their speeches are below. Transcription by Yvonne DeMoss.

INTRODUCTION: Ali T. Muhammad’s Introduction for Reuben Simmons

Ali T. Muhammad
Photo Credit: Ali T. Muhammad

“You're hearing it. You're hearing it from our people, from around the county, from the area that are involved, that are involved in so many different facets that are needed.

”Something that Matty and his family and Club Draw were working on, based off of a lot of discussions that we've had. Based off of experience. Experiences in these communities. Things that we got to think about with, why Black lives matter.

”American music is Black music. Privilege is thinking something is not a problem when it's not a problem to you, personally. Systemic racism is real. Teach your child early what you learned late. Racism is a public health crisis. Racial justice is a feminist issue. Black trans lives matter. Decolonize education. Decolonize health care.

”I heard “Decolonize wellness.” That was fire. I never heard that before. That's a good one. Uproot systemic racism. Uproot white supremacy from your personal life. Uproot white supremacy from your personal life.

”Systemic oppression is not broke, a broken system. You cannot fix a system that works exactly as it was intended. We need to rebuild our systems to serve the people. Standing up for your fellow Americans is the act of a true patriot.

”Amplify Black voices. Racism is so American that when you protest it, people think you are protesting America. “Radical means grasping at the root.” Angela Davis. “Walls turned sideways are bridges.” Angela Davis. “I can't believe what you say because I see what you do.” James Baldwin, Newburgh native. Freedom is not a state. It is an act.” John Lewis.

”I say this to say we need to create opportunities like this so that way we could educate more. I mean with memes and social media, there's ways to reach more people. These are these ideas are not solely to one person like Anusha said. “Decolonize wellness.” There's so many areas that we need to work in and again that's why we're here.

”The next person that I'm going to call up is Reuben Simmons, Someone I've been working with and I've been close with for years. He works for the City of Beacon and he has a story to share, but most importantly solutions for what's next. Reuben.

”Again, we have water straight ahead. We've got some snacks if somebody needs food or needs something, please reach out. We can get you something delivered or ordered because I don't know if everybody likes pizza or not. But if you do need something, really come over, okay. Reuben Simmons.”

SPEECH: Reuben Simmons

Reuben Simmons
Photo Credit: Reuben Simmons

“Good afternoon, like Ali said, my name is Reuben Simmons but I'm also known in this community as Coach Yogi. I work in the city. I work in the city of Beacon Highway Department. I was born and raised in the city [of Beacon]. I was born in the hospital before it closed in ’84, Highland Hospital off of Delavan Avenue. I lived in the city my whole time.

”Anybody from Beacon here? Make some noise if you're from Beacon, if you live in Beacon, if you do anything in Beacon, if you came to support Beacon, you came from out of town, you make some noise! I'm gonna touch on the importance of both of those reasons, I will be remiss if I don't thank the organizers of Beacon 4 Black Lives.

”I want to publicly thank Ciarda Hall, Stefon Stewart, Xavier Mayo, Cedric Parksdale, and Justice McCray. If it wasn't for the momentum that they built with the Black lives movement and the protests that they've been doing in the city, I'll tell you right now. I wouldn't be standing here, today.

”People call me a community leader. My response? Leader? I'm no leader. ‘I do what I have to do and sometimes people follow.’ Edgar Friendly. Those young adults motivated me and I seen something in em’ that I seen when I was younger and people identified me as a leader so I thank them.

”This is the 8th protest in this city. No looting, no rioting, and nothing negative. All peaceful. Give them a round of applause. Anybody there last Sunday and Beacon up on 9D? Well, we're going to talk about that because we're going to talk about why it's so important.

”Last Sunday, there was a Support the Police campaign rally. We're seeing all over the nation all over the country that these rallies are dividing communities. We brought our stance to their rally. They haven't hijacked or counter protested any of our protests. The goal wasn't to counter protest them. The goal was to let them know we got issues here and we want to make sure that we come to the table and you hear our issues. Word spread out.

”There's people from Beacon and support just like you guys here from out of town so automatically we cannot, we cannot control the social media. (train whistle blows) That's one reason Beacon’s so popular, the train to the city, we cannot control the narratives that are going to be written all over Facebook. But what I saw on Saturday, last Saturday in Pleasant Valley. Did you guys see that? That is ugly for any community. That will not help move things forward.

”Sunday, I participated in a demonstration that showed you can support the police. You can counter protest and support Black Lives Matter and the demonstration can be done peacefully because that is your constitutional right to stand for what you believe in and we demonstrated it last Sunday here in the city of Beacon. For some people may not know some good things came out of that.

”I'm gonna tell you right now, people, that I've seen that seen me grow up in the city as a child, some white people they're uncomfortable right now. They're upset, they're confused, they're saying "Yogi we know you. What were you doing on the other side?" My reply is there is no other side. This is one Beacon and subconsciously you don't understand what we said, what we mean when we say Black lives matter and you need to know and if we have to go to war, know where I'll be if you try to divide this community.”

“I’m gonna tell you right now, people, that I’ve seen that seen me grow up in the city as a child, some white people they’re uncomfortable right now. They’re upset, they’re confused, they’re saying “Yogi we know you. What were you doing on the other side?” My reply is there is no other side. This is one Beacon.”

— Reuben Simmons

[Editor’s Note: For reference, back during the moving of the bench controversy, former Mayor Randy Casale spoke out for the first time since his term as mayor. He was emotional during discussions of moving the bench that was a dedication to his stepson. In voicing his disagreement, he used language like “I will divide this city if they move the bench,” in his social media, and in the original 3hr recording of a podcast on “Wait, What Is That?”]

”There's going to be another shout out I want to give. We went from one end of the city all the way to the river side of the city. You've seen all the police officers out there. The police department's union has told me, has confirmed with me that they want to sit at the table with us to address the issues moving forward. So I want to applaud them for helping us protest peacefully and I want to applaud them for being the big people to understand that they want to sit with us and hear what we have to say, and that is done by Justice McCray.

”Pleasant Valley is-was very ugly. It was very dangerous. What I didn't know last Sunday, where some people went to Pleasant Valley Saturday, those same people came to support us in Beacon on Sunday and I want to apologize to them, because yes I do move militant like Malcolm. My goal is to, to increase peace like Martin, so sometimes I come off with no compassion. So if there's anybody that felt disrespected by me on Sunday, I apologize.

”But at no time did I ever felt you were in danger in my city cause I'm gonna tell you right now: My mother was out there. My sisters were out there. My uncle was out there standing on the other side of the street. He came over across the street for conversation. So if my family's out there, I wanna make sure nothing happens to them. So please believe nothing's gonna happen to you.

”The police were out there. You seen the way the police respect what we're doing here. That's what we need in every community. Pleasant Valley, I don't even know if they have a police department. They're patrolled by state troopers. They're patrolled by county sheriffs. And yes, you could give a boo to the county sheriffs. That's a big reason why I believe we need to start in cities, because cities have their own police department.

”The City of Newburgh has a police department. The City of Poughkeepsie has a police department, and we see them at our community events. When you guys are out there, the people at the counter protest last Saturday, last Sunday in Beacon. The police that you see, I see them all the time. When you guys are in your community, you guys see these people all the time. Let's make sure we're having that conversation and we're bridging the gap. That was a goal of ours last Sunday when we went up for the counter protest.

”Yes I know, that's what it looks like on the optics. I'm not trying to control optics, I'm trying to move this city forward and if we could create a blueprint I would be happy. I would be honored to stand with you guys in your community and see how we could address things forward because you need your local elected leadership which right now, did you see any of them here? I want to give a shout out to them, that's why I want to make sure.

”You need your local elected officials, you need police representation and if they're in a union you need that union representation and you need the Black community. You need to support the police community, and that's a table that we're currently building right now in the city of Beacon. And I'm proud of everyone who's doing the work and I just want to applaud them and I just want to let you guys know, thank you for the support and I think what we're doing here, we could do in many other communities, but it's going to take you as the individual.

”I'm going to wrap it up because I know we're going to move into breakout sessions. Aliyah that has asked me to stand in for, uh, on, on employment. I work in the city of Beacon. I work in the Highway Department. I work my way up. I share the story with anybody who wants to come to the area I'll be at, I'll probably be over here, um, we'll talk about Civil Service Law. We'll talk about application processes. We're talking about how people get hired, how people don't get hired. School districts. Public, um, police departments, things like, things of that nature.

”Once again I just want to thank everybody. I think we're doing good work to move things forward and I want to thank you guys for allowing me to speak. Once again, my name is Ruben Simmons, they call me Coach Yogi.”

Watch The Speech In The Video

This speech has been transcribed from the video below. Hear it in Ali’s and Reuben’s words by pressing Play.

Episode 5: Reuben Simmons And His One-Time Job Position As Beacon's Highway Superintendent

Skipping ahead on the episode release, this is one of our longer podcasts, but it needed to be in full length so that you could hear how everything works before settling into a decision. Normally topics like this are glossed over, but this current time period is creating space for once dismissed situations to be looked at a second time.

This podcast features Reuben Simmons, a Beaconite who had a job position for a year, and then didn’t. The reasons why are presented in this podcast, and outlined in an article on “Wait, What Is That?”

Announcing New Podcast From A Little Beacon Blog: "Wait, What Is That?"

Hello!

The inspiration for A Little Beacon Blog came from not knowing about things in Beacon. Could  be the timing of a Spring Egg Hunt, or it could be why the Spirit of Beacon Day started (answer: after youth inspired racial riots decades ago!).

As the City of Beacon began growing with development of apartment buildings, a reader lamented one day: "A Little Beacon Blog isn't going to be so little anymore." And here's the truth: A Little Beacon Blog has the word "little" in it for 2 reasons:

1. The assumption was that there would be a lot of blogs about Beacon. Turns out, that manifested in the form of Instagram accounts, which are awesome.

2. ALBB always focuses on the little details. Could be a rose, could be a tree, could be an honoree, could be a bench, could a wrench.

In The Beginning...

At the beginning of the pandemic, people starting recording more videos. Disconnect people from each other, and we break out of comfort zones into new mediums in order to connect. This happened at A Little Beacon Blog too, in the form of a podcast. We set up a studio in Katie's shed, which is ventilated with 2 doors, a fan and an air conditioner, and we wear masks during interviews. Plexiglass is next.
 

About The Co-Hosts...

Brandon Lillard is the co-host of this podcast, and the recording producer. Raised in the City of Beacon, some of you may remember him from that time he attended Beacon High School and created a character for himself: Mr. Beacon High. This was his way of working with many different people. Brandon went on to become a community organizer, youth mentor and podcast producer with Youth Podcast Program, and is a board member for I Am Beacon. Brandon had nudged ALBB's publisher Katie for a while (ok, 5 years) to start a podcast. When in a pandemic, she said yes.

We are so excited to announce to you today the start of the podcast extension of A Little Beacon Blog, called "Wait, What Is That?" It's a podcast dedicated to finding out the answers behind simple and hard questions. Sometimes during our interviews, we discover more questions, and pursue new topics to dig deeper. This could be about donuts made in Connecticut but named after Brooklyn, or the Federal Investigation of the Beacon Police Department many years ago.

We have 5 episodes to start you out with. Do carve the time out of your day during your commute to nowhere, or your gardening time, or your outdoor fitness time.

Many of these episodes will serve you well in your homework for issues going on right now in Beacon.

EPISODE 1: The Beginning
Brandon and Katie record their first podcast. Not sure what they were going to talk about. And then Brandon brought the Brooklyn Baking Company Donuts. Which are from Connecticut. And go…

---

EPISODE 2: Let's Do This
Because sometimes you just need a cup of coffee and a Popsicle. In discovering their voices, Brandon and Katie take a deep dive into that house on the corner of Cross Street that is a storefront window. Brandon remembers when it was a deli and he went there daily on his way to and from the old Beacon High School.

---

EPISODE 3: Former Mayor Randy Casale
Well HELLO. Our first interview is with the former Mayor of Beacon for 2 terms: Randy Casale. A born and bread Beaconite who knows everything about everything Beacon. Everything.

We interviewed Randy when he was fresh out of his political silence, during the debate about his stepson's bench and if it should be removed or moved. The original interview was 3 hours.

At the recommendation of his attorney, the podcast was edited down to 39 minutes. The bench issue has been settled for now, so he did not want to reignite.

We talk to him about his experience with the Beacon Police Department, his insistence on and fight for body cameras, and the Federal Investigation of the Beacon PD years ago.

He also discusses with us about the demotion of a Highway Superintendent, Reuben Simmons, who was demoted back down to a worker position, how a mysterious letter dis-crediting Reuben was hand-delivered to a council person's porch, how Civil Service rules worked to legally let it all happen, and if the City of Beacon had an opportunity to keep Reuben in his job, but did not take that route. Even though Randy voted for the appointment of the current Highway Superintendent, Randy said Reuben having the position be taken from him was one of his biggest regrets.

---

EPISODE 4: Mayor Lee Kyriacou
BAM. Our next interview was with current Mayor Lee Kyriacou. During Randy’s interview, and during the 1st biggest BLM protest in Beacon, we learned that Lee spearheaded the look-see into Beacon’s Police Department in the early 2000s, which resulted in a Federal Investigation. We wanted to learn more about that.

---

EPISODE 5: Reuben Simmons
Following up on what we learned earlier, we interviewed Reuben about how and why he no longer has the position of Highway Superintendent, after 1 year of serving in it. Katie worked with Reuben when he created the Rock Out For Mental Health music event last year. Many service agencies came together at one community event, which impacted a lot of people.

When Katie wrote the article about Reuben's inspiration for the event, she went to confirm his job title, which had been Highway Superintendent. Reuben worked for the Highway Department since 2002, and she was proud of his promotion. But LinkedIn showed a job descension: where he once was the Highway Superintendent, he was now Maintenance Worker. What happened?

Reuben couldn't answer at the time, as he was filing a complaint about the experience. One year later, at the first BLM sound stage, Reuben spoke out about it. Reuben walks us through the chess match of Civil Service rules which determine how a city can hire, fire, demote, and discipline employees.

Reuben says he did not know about the mystery letter until much later. A Little Beacon Blog has a copy of it, and published it with this podcast so that you can read it. Additionally, we have published the City Council Meeting from February 2019 where each City Council Member voted to appoint Reuben's co-worker to the job under a technicality. During that meeting, many from the Highway Department were in the audience (except for the 3 Black workers in the Highway Department, including Reuben, who say they were not told about the date of the appointment). The staff from the Highway Department can be heard hooting and hollering during the vote. Many on the Council laughed with them.

Reuben continues his work every day for the City, but has this to say on why he speaks out now: "I have experienced unfair treatment, harassment, and retaliation in the Highway Department that has continued after my efforts to bring a number of issues to the attention of city management and leadership. I share my story as a response to the many narratives and rumors spread by childish individuals and because I don’t want it happening to anyone else."

The letter, the public City Council meeting with the laughter, and a timeline of events have been published with this podcast. A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the City Administrator for confirmation of the timeline, and was responded to with an invitation to talk to the City's labor lawyer. While we don't need a conversation, we are awaiting an email response to our questions.

If you're following Police news with any hiring of positions, you'll want to listen to this podcast to get familiar with Civil Service chess. If you want to learn about how someone gets safely removed from a job without legal ramifications, you'll want to listen to this podcast.

---

EPISODE 6: Ali T. Muhammad
Ali T. Muhammad was born and raised in Beacon, NY, walking every day down a literal pathway between prison and public school, as his home was on the grounds. He walked the “school to prison pipeline” (and tells us about what that means on this podcast). His father was incarcerated for 12 years, and upon getting released, became the Chaplin for Fishkill Correctional Facility. Ali’s mother was a teacher at Rombout Middle School (and was Brandon’s teacher!).

Ali lived the life of a Black youth in Beacon, and continues to as a Black man in America. As a way to keep himself occupied and on a straight path, he began getting involved with local politics, getting elected as a Council Member for Ward 4 at an early age.

Ali served on Beacon's City Council years ago, and after a period bucking his own Democratic party, wasn't elected back. He was known to stay focused on issues of inequality for Black and poor communities, but was often dismissed. His concerns are coming back to make sense now to more people during this racial revolution. Katie and Brandon talk to Ali about those issues, including how to build a WeePlay Tot Park at Davies Terrace and other low income housing projects that are owned by private, large, wealthy real estate companies. Lots of times kids in the low income housing projects don't have access to transportation to get to city parks, and depend on taxis to get to the Beacon Pool - if they can afford the ride. We discuss this and more.

Next Up: We interview Katie's son, Cole, who wanted to talk about his feelings upon hearing that Paw Patrol might be canceled, and then fact checking the White House who in late July said it was canceled, but was in fact not. Cole tells us what he values about Paw Patrol.

Then: We'll meet our sometimes 3rd co-host, Blake Daniel Leslie, a musician, artist, actor and podcaster. And Brandon's best friend. You might recognize Blake from his days with the cover-band Skin and Bones who used to play around town.

And a few more: We have a few more interviews on deck. We interview on Wednesdays, and will release as they are produced.