Summary of the 9/13/2021 Beacon City Council Workshop Meeting :: Housing, Meeting Time Off, Etc.lea

The September 13, 2021 City Council Workshop agenda and video recording of the meeting have been added to A Little Beacon Blog’s Easy Access City Government section.

In short, a brief summary of some of the items discussed on the agenda is below. Click here for links to the agenda items for any digital resources linked to the topics discussed, as well as the video recording of the meeting.

Housing Initiative Prioritization + Parking

The City Council discussed Mayor Kyriacou’s Affordable Housing Proposals, lingering on the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) component. The Mayor, who is a landlord who has owned several properties in Beacon, wants to see the right to have an Accessory Dwelling Unit be approved as of right for homeowners to build and rent out. An Accessory Dwelling Unit is like a giant garage/studio, that is a stand-alone structure built next to someone’s home, that can have water and electricity flowing to it. There are restrictions as to how far it needs to be from the house, and how large it can be.

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Editorial Note 9/20/2021: The paragraph above originally included a line stating that Mayor Kyriacou “is married to a realtor,” which has since been deleted. Mayor Kyriacou submitted what can be taken as a correction during the City Council Meeting on 9/20/2021. While he did not email or phone in with this correction, as is standard with most publications, he included it after his public service announcements, leading with sarcasm: “I've been made aware that I am a bigamist, which I find interesting. My spouse of 30-some years is a professional and spent most of the last dozen years in higher education as a marketing and communication executive. The last 6 years at West Point, but before that at Fordham and at RPI. But apparently I have a second spouse who is a realtor. So, unbeknownst to me, I've been married twice. And I wanted to say, whoever you are out there, come say ‘Hi,’ and I'll learn a lot more. I could at least have some fun, right? Oh, and I learned that online, by the way.”

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Currently, Beacon’s zoning laws make building Accessory Dwelling Units difficult. In general, ADUs have not been popular with the public - rather - the public who is motivated enough to attend public meetings to speak out against them. Including when homeowners want to build an ADU for in-laws or caregivers. The fear by some of the public is that the ADU will be used by developers and homeowners as rentals. Which seems to be the goal of affordable housing.

The Mayor’s proposal encourages small residential units and more cluster housing. City Administrator Chris White projected his vision of who Accessory Dwelling Units was intended for: couples and single people moving from New York City who do not need large homes, he said, and move to Beacon without cars. He referred to this concept for the ADUs as “workforce units,” and stated that he did not think homeowners would build luxury Accessory Dwelling Units, similar to the expensive apartments on Main Street. He assumed homeowners would use low or moderate grade materials to keep costs down. Which does not indicate what the homeowner may then charge for that unit.

Perhaps he has not seen the adorable tear-down renovation of the tired house with studio garage on Cross Street.

Parking Requirements Possibly Waved For Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

Parking requirements for Accessory Dwelling Units is also under consideration to be waved. Parking requirements are the number of parking spaces a property owner must make available to tenants. Often, these requirements are used to stall a building project if street parking cannot be found.

Councilmember George Mansfield suggested that people are moving to Beacon without cars. City Administrator Chris stated his belief that generally, people moving to Beacon do not have cars, and therefore do not need parking spaces. Councilperson Air Nonken Rhodes suggested that people do buy cars after moving to Beacon in order to leave the bubble of Beacon for necessities, jobs and enjoyment.

City Administrator Chris stated that with people moving from New York City without cars, there is less of a need for parking. He stated that he feels that assuming someone would want to buy a car after moving to Beacon, and to park that car in one of the property’s parking spots that the building owner is required to offer, is a “social justice” issue, concluding that poor people do not want to own cars and absorb the burden of incurred expenses from car ownership, and instead can rely on existing public transportation as a better idea.

City Administrator Chris stated: “Where is the evidence that you need that level of parking that we require in our code? I felt like, as a planner, a lot of this was made up. 'You have this size unit, you need 2 cars or 3 cars.' There is no evidence that you necessarily need that. Also, just be aware that we have new technology and common solutions that we could implement. The new technologies...George rode here on an electric bike. We see the proliferation of micro-mobility through scooters. If you watch people whipping up Beekman from the train station, you'll see a lot of people are looking at these things as much cheaper than maintaining a car with insurance and repairs. Again, a social justice issue is that we shouldn't have to require every poor person to own a car to get around. The other part is the societal thing which is moving toward that micro-management where there is on-demand transit. The County seems to be moving in that direction, and I've talked to them about piloting something like that in Beacon. Because again, you have 5 square miles. It's a walkable, compact community. Particularly with the new e-bikes. It really makes it accessible to someone who never would have been able to ride a bike."

Councilmember Air reiterated: "The issue is getting out of town."

It should be noted that there is no requirement of a person living in a building or house to own a car, even if they have access to a parking spot from the building owner.

Additionally, for couples who move into these units, who start families and stay in these small dwellings because they cannot afford to buy larger homes, may eventually have kids old enough to go to soccer or ice-hockey practice. Getting the family to soccer practice in Beacon on an e-bike would be impossible, and getting the family to ice-hockey practice in Poughkeepsie would be very difficult on public transit.

No Discussion Of Families With Children

There was no discussion of families - parents with children - who have moved out of Beacon because they grew out of their small apartment or rental in a duplex, and cannot afford to buy a house in Beacon with a yard. Nor was it discussed how many families are living in cramped quarters in their current small apartments because they do not want to move out of Beacon, or move out of the Beacon City School District.

City Administrator Chris stated: “Now you see more people moving in who are single adults, empty nesters, younger people who maybe have a different...or are single or are just 2 people. We are building houses for these huge families...and I know I look a lot of the housing as someone who is single, and it doesn't fit. It would never fit. I don't need that much house. I think a lot of people think that way."

Several families have also left Beacon because they could not find a house to buy with several bedrooms with a yard in their price range.

Also not discussed was how many people of high and low incomes do buy cars after moving to Beacon from New York City. Leaving the bubble of New York City for any community outside of that island usually involves leaving the municipality for doctor appointments, different grocery shopping experiences, dining out in new locations, visiting family, going to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, etc.

Some people who do not have cars hire taxis to get their children to school, to the public pool, to Girl Scouts. Some take the bus, however, getting children onto public transportation is work.

Recreation Needs Assessment Scoping

Parks and Recreation Director Mark Price was called to the meeting by City Administrator Chris to present Mark’s early vision of what the Recreation Study could look like. Now that the Recreation Department is done with the Kids Camp Program and the Public Pool Program, the City Administrator said that he felt that Recreation Director Mark had time to think about preparing the study.

In last year’s budget planning, where there was a groundswell of demands from the public for more money to be placed into the Recreation Department, which Recreation Director Mark voluntarily decreased. Mayor Kyriacou earmarked at least $50,000 for a Recreation Study to discover what people needed.

During this City Council Workshop, Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair pointed out that he wanted to see the building of a new and larger Recreation Community Center be part of that study, and recalled that the budget earmarked two studies for $50,000, totalling $100,000: one for programs, and one for a building. He did not want to see the building left out.

Mayor Kyriacou and City Administrator Chris responded that they wanted to see programs first in order to see what kind of building to build. For instance, City Administrator Chris suggested that a theater program could happen in the Memorial Building, which has a stage and according to him, sits empty most of the time, he said.

It should be noted that the Memorial Building was dedicated to the Veterans, where Veterans are regularly requesting maintenance to it as it is in disrepair.

Councilperson Air Nonken Rhodes stressed their desire to see a space for “hanging out,” that is not structured with programming, but just is a place for kids to come hang out, in addition to programming going on around the space.

Hiring and Promoting City of Beacon Employees

In the hiring and promoting of City Employees, the Council has requested more information before they make hires, which they do by voting at public meetings. Spearheaded by Councilperson Jodi McCredo, who wants to see more information before the Council votes to hire people, she has made a suggestion to City Administrator Chris to see resumes before being presented with a candidate at public meetings. In past workshops, City Administrator Chris has responded to that concept that he did not want to “waste their time” with sending resumes, but could consider obliging.

It should be noted that the public is not regularly informed when city employees are terminated or quit, unless the position is in the the public eye, such as the City Administrator position last year, Police Chief, etc. Terminations or resignations of employees of Police Officers, Highway Department, Water Department, etc. are not regularly shared in public meetings or in Resolution documents that are uploaded to the internet. One usually needs to find out by submitting a FOIL request.

Proposed Amendment to 2021 City Council Meeting Schedule

Mayor Kyriacou would like to have less City Council meetings, similar to what was tried during the summer of 2021 when public City Council meetings were paired with Workshops where the public is not allowed to speak. The lighter summer schedule left some Monday nights open with no meetings scheduled.

Mayor Kyriacou consistently tells his constituents that he is a “part time” mayor while he is out chatting in the community, or even during his most recent testimony against the Damskammer plant, as reported by the Beacon Free Press.

City Administrator Chris referred to the preparation for weekly meetings as a “hamster wheel” that was a lot of work. Mayor Kyriacou positioned the proposed change of reduced meetings as not necessarily a reduction of meetings, but as a way to favor seasonally crowded meeting agendas, such as October’s budget season.

Councilperson Dan disagreed with the proposal, and cited that he saw this as a reduction in meeting times. Though he figured his kids would like to see him on Monday nights, Councilperson Dan felt it right to continue with the weekly meetings. Councilperson George Mansfield noted that while he has been attending the weekly meetings for 12 years, and would appreciate an open Monday, he also wanted to continue with regular meetings for consistency for the public.

The Council was not aligned with the Mayor’s vision of a reduction in meetings, so the Mayor suggested hiring an additional support person for the City Administrator, to which the Council agreed was a good idea.

Community Facilities Grant Applications

Movement has been made on the awarding of unused grant money that can be used to improve buildings owned or leased by non-profits or by building owners whose buildings have been designated historic, or are in the Historic District. The monies need to be used for permanent structures that cannot be removed. The first entities who look the most promising are the Beacon Historical Society for an accessible ramp, and the Howland Cultural Center for facade improvements.

The River Pool of Beacon did apply for money to help with this temporary pool that it sets up in the Hudson River each year, but the City Administrator said that the grant rules state that the structure needs to be permanent, but that he was happy to see them apply and had not considered an entity like that. Applications are still open for this financial opportunity.

Executive Session Items

Personnel and Contract Negotiations

Details on what is talked about during the Executive Session portion of the meeting are never revealed. Only the City Council members, Mayor, City Administrator, Attorney, and if anyone else was in the meeting have access to this knowledge.

Beacon's City Council Masks Up For In-Person Public Meeting, And Other Highlights From Monday's Council Meeting

The City of Beacon has moved from digital-only City Council Meetings to in-person meetings weeks ago. The Council stated that they missed each other, and even welcomed their most staunched and harshest citizen critics when citizens stepped up to the podium during regular Public Comment session to deliver their thoughts, which usually results in the Council being a punching bag. Those who show up to deliver verbal thoughts, however, usually move a needle in the direction that they are advocating for.

When the City Council resumed in-person meetings several meetings ago, the national media said that COVID was on the run. Some people were getting vaccinated, Governor Cuomo hadn’t resigned yet, his nightly emails were pretty upbeat, and Beacon’s COVID numbers were on the lower end. Until the Delta variant.

Today, Beacon’s COVID numbers for Active Cases are at 29, Dutchess County at large is at 721, Sullivan County mandated masks for all County buildings, and Orange County is strongly recommending all residents to mask up in pubic indoor settings.

For the first time since their in-person meetings, the City of Beacon masked up for the in-person meeting this Monday night, as did several attendees in the audience. Neither the City of Beacon nor Dutchess County has issued a statement or guidance about masking up in public indoor spaces. ALBB reached out to Dutchess County on Monday morning, but has not heard back yet.

Meanwhile, the Council covered a lot of ground in the double Workshop/Regular Public Meeting combo this evening for the summer schedule, including:

Money transferred in the City of Beacon’s General Fund, including $66,418 transferred for “Employee Discipline.“

• Promotion of Police Officer Kelvin Grey to the Position of Detective and the Appointment of Stephen Donovan to the Position of Police Officer.

• Award of lifesaving action preformed by Beacon’s Fire Fighting crew.

• Continued Affordable Housing Discussion.

• Continued Employment Discussion about how the City Administrator could or should present potential hires to the Council. Councilperson Jodi McCredo has been asking for more information for the council to make more informed decisions about who they are hiring across all departments and positions, but the City Administrator Chris White is hesitant of “wasting the Council’s time” with hiring information, and is leaning toward only presenting the Council with detailed information about Department Heads, and not lower level positions. The Council needs to vote on any hire, regardless of how high or low the position is, and at times, is presented with a minimal amount of information on a new hire, or a promotion of an existing employee.

• Money transferred in the General Fund, including $66,418 transfered for “Employee Discipline.“ There is at least one Employee Disciplinary hearing going on now involving Highway Department Employee (and former Highway Superintendent) Reuben Simmons, who is currently on both paid and unpaid leave with the City of Beacon, during a labor shortage when the City of Beacon cannot fill all of their open positions, including Summer Help. The City of Beacon’s Labor Attorney, Lance Klein with Keane and Beane, has been representing the City for years on the case against Reuben. From when Reuben was stripped of his job title of Highway Superintendent in 2018, to now where he is on paid and unpaid leave as a Maintenance Worker since January 2021. Reuben is one of the few Black (mixed-race) employees for the Highway Department. Hearings to push him out of employment, during a national labor shortage, do cost the city money.

Beacon's City Council Takes A Vacay From Monday Meetings, Posts Summer Schedule With Combo Meetings

While everyone is headed to the pool or for a hike or for a vacation, Beacon’s City Council is also taking some time off. In the middle of July, when the corn was knee high, the City of Beacon posted their reduced meeting summer schedule for regular Monday meetings, with some Mondays merging both a City Council Meeting with a Workshop. A City Council Meeting is when the public can participate with comments at the beginning or end of the meeting, or to comment during an official Public Comment Hearing. The Workshop is when the City Council members discuss amongst themselves different topics on their agenda without public input, but in front of the public.

Since New York State lifted its Emergency Status for the pandemic, council meetings have begun meeting in person again at City Hall. Mayor Kyraicou has stated during recent meetings that they are considering trying to continue both the live meeting via video for those to attend and call in who cannot attend the meeting in person. Currently, public meetings are broadcast live on YouTube and Zoom, and during the last couple of meetings, council members met at City Hall with an open door to the public.

Agendas for the public City Council Meeting/Workshop combos have not yet been posted.

Summer Schedule:

July 19th: No Workshop/Meeting

July 26th: No Workshop/Meeting

August 2nd: Workshop followed by Council Meeting

August 9th: No Workshop/Meeting

August 16th: Workshop followed by Council Meeting

August 23rd: No Workshop/Meeting

August 30th: Workshop

Assistant to the Mayor Collin Milone has confirmed with ALBB that No Workshop/Meeting does mean that there is No Workshop and No Meeting for that date. The night is completely off.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy: 344 Main Street Building + Parking Is Back In The News

Once bitten, twice shy. The new construction building 344 Main that triggered the running and election of several board members and the current mayor is in the news again.

During a City Council meeting, the board members were presented with the parking dilemma that resulted in the revoking of a parking lease years ago, a delayed COI (Certificate of Occupancy, needed for renting to commercial businesses), the big drama between two developers, and now possible new litigation. The process of how this building came to be is why Mayor Lee Kyriacou pushed through so many zoning changes, and with more planned, like the designation of several buildings as a way, in part, to act as pawns in the chess game of what is allowed in the city planning of a city and the new construction and expansion of buildings now.

This is a huge deep dive. Be sure to pick up the Beacon Free Press for Mark Roland’s weekly column, Beaconomics (of the blog Wigwam Economy), and Jeff Simm’s @jeff_simms coverage in the @highlandscurrent. ALBB has several deep-dive articles on other topics ahead of this (including HDLO) and will be transcribing City Administrator Chris White’s summary last night of what happened years ago to bring us to our point today, and his subsequent parking proposal. Currently, residents of 344 Main have no official place to park and park in free municipal lots (do what you need to do!). Chris’s proposal is to monetize the parking by charging the current developer/building owner for spaces in the free municipal parking lot ($50/space). The developer may or may not pass that on to tenants. Parking is a problem in Beacon, and Chris’s plan is to earmark the money for parking development. But the council was burned so badly by these developers years ago, they are hesitant to set a new precedent. Tenants are caught in the middle.

More to come. Pick up your newspapers, and support local media everywhere.

No Fireworks Display In Beacon This July 4th, 2021

Several readers have contacted A Little Beacon Blog to ask if there are fireworks in Beacon, and we got a tip froma citizen reporter who reached out to the Mayor’s Assistant, Collin Milone, that there will be no fireworks this year in Beacon at Memorial Park, as there have been in years past.

Last year during the high cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic when New York was under a State of Emergency, the fireworks were “postponed,” then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiaro said. The hope was to light them later in the summer or for the Spirit of Beacon Day. Both of which did not happen.

New York’s State of Emergency has been lifted, as have several COVID-19 restrictions, but requirements for large scale gatherings remain for event venues. It is unknown at this time if this is the reason for no fireworks in Beacon. As New York State hit the 70% first-shot vaccinated milestone, Governor Cuomo scheduled fireworks at locations around the state.

See Hudson Valley Magazine’s roundup of where to watch fireworks, including Fishkill, Cornwall, and Dutchess Stadium.

A Brief Historical Refresh on Beacon’s Fireworks

The City of Beacon does not fund or organize the city’s fireworks, but they do need to approve the use of Memorial Park. Traditionally, the firework show was undertaken by volunteers with Kiwanis Club of Beacon, who disbanded in 2018, and some organizing from I Am Beacon. When the Kiwanis Club disbanded, there was no formal passing down of the organizing of the fireworks. When this was realized, the people of Beacon began to chatter, and LT Sherpa, owner of Beacon Natural, stepped up to fill the shoes.

LT put the word out seeking funding, and businesses in Beacon stepped up to pitch in. You can read all about it here. This year, according to his wife, Kitty Sherpa, LT had reached out to ask the City of Beacon for permission to hold the event again. LT waited for an answer, and eventually “got a hard no from the City, who said that they were not going to hold the fireworks,” Kitty said. LT was prepared to do the fundraising again for 2021, but is not for this year.

Other Events The City Wants To Greenlight

The first event that the City of Beacon approved was called the Modern Makers Market from Hops on the Hudson down at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park in May 2021. That event encountered some resistance from City Council, as people were still wary of coming out for a public event. While the event promised masks would be worn by vendors and ticketed guests, several were not, as seen in the Highlands Current. Masks were still mandated at the time.

The park was also stated by Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White at the 5/24/2021 to be open to the public, or “not fully closed” and open to people who people who want to walk along to go fishing, but there was a police barricade at the park entrance, and public access was not easy, if it was possible. The markers market was a ticketed event, as mandated by state requirements at the time.

At its 5/24/2021 Workshop Meeting, the City of Beacon’s City Council discussed potential upcoming events that were to be considered, including a Brew Fest, the Beacon Sloop Club Strawberry Festival (but the organizers stated they did not want to have it), Taco Festival, Family Fun Day at Springfield Baptist Church, Beacon Sloop Club Corn Festival, Spirit of Beacon Day, Bike Safety Day on Catherine Street, and other events.

The 4th of July Fireworks at Memorial Park were not on that list.

Annual Reading of Declaration of Independence To Be Read On July 4th

Dennis Pavlov, host and organizer of the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence for the past 11 years in Beacon, announced during a Community Segment at the 6/21/2021 City Council Meeting that the reading would take place at the usual time of 11am at 1 Municipal Plaza.

Said Dennis: “I started it in Steve Gold's administration. Why did I start it? There is more to these patriotic holidays than parades, fireworks, cookouts and BBQs. Our forefathers, I don't believe, should be left out. That's the reason I started doing it. Regardless of what is said and how it is said, the forefathers are some of my heroes. July 4th looked different last year, maybe we will have more people this year because of different circumstances.”

This year, Dennis stated, there is no longer a committee, refreshments or copies of Declaration of Independence handed out. Former Mayor Clara Lou Gould had also served on the committee.

Beacon's City Council Meeting Agenda: Department Appointments; Raises, Traffic; Juneteenth: 7/21/2021

This week, Beacon’s City Council will discuss the following at their weekly meeting.

The full agenda has been published here at ALBB, and the accompanying video of the meeting will be available there as well. The City usually publishes that video one day after a meeting.

You can also view the City’s original agenda at their website for all agendas and minutes.

Reports: City Council and City Administrator

1. Proclamation in Honor of Juneteenth Local Laws and Resolutions

Mayor Lee Kyriacou has been adopting a national holiday at the local level for the City of Beacon. As with mirroring proclamations such as these, he will speak on his feelings about the holiday.

Local Laws and Resolutions

1. Resolution Approving the Appointment of Kyle Sackett to Heavy Motor Equipment Operator
2. Resolution Approving the Appointment of Steven Brescia as a Motor Equipment Operator

Current employees will be given the indicated job title designation.

3. Resolution Adopting Proposed Salary Increases for City of Beacon Management

Employees who work at the management level of the City of Beacon but not covered by collective bargaining agreements with the CSEA union (which represents other City employees in departments like Highway and Water) are proposed to get a 2% raise (Building Inspector II, Adm Assistant to City Admin, Superintendent of Streets, Secretary to City Mayor, Recreation Director, Assistant Recreation Director, City Clerk, Director of Finance, and Fire Chief). New employees hired within the past year would not receive the raise, “also consistent with past practice,” according to the resolution.

4. Resolution Setting a Public Hearing on July 6, 2021 to Receive Public Comments on a Proposed Local Law to Amend Chapter 211, Article II, Section 10, Subsection B of the Code of the City of Beacon Regarding Vehicles and Traffic

This authorizes new Stop signs to be placed in specified intersections of side streets with Main Street, as recommended by the Main Street Access Committee from their strategic work months ago, and approved by the Traffic Committee. The list of Stop signs can be seen here.

Smoking Of Cannabis Can Be Permitted Where Tobacco Is Not; Municipalities Can Adopt Favorable Regulations

From the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) presentation from Beacon’s retained law firm Keane and Beane, which prompted the report that Beacon was considering banning cannabis, tobacco and vapor in public parks, a note about allowing the smoking of cannabis in locations where smoking tobacco is prohibited was noted in print, but lingered upon as an option for the City Council. The City Administrator Chris White brought the reverse to the Council, for them to consider prohibiting tobacco, vapor and cannabis in Beacon’s public parks. Banning tobacco can be done, however, minus the ban on cannabis.

Since the MRTA legislation is written so favorably towards selling it, growing it and using it, to regulate open air public spaces seems counter-intuitive to the intent. Restricting that amount of land could have the effect of corralling people into tighter locations. It also has the possibility of new laws against smoking cannabis in the open, without fear of charges or judgement, which is again part of why the law was written.

Additionally, while smoking tobacco is banned from trails, City Administrator Chris implied his favor with discretionary application of the regulation, stating that he simply wanted to give people more teeth when asking people next to them to stop smoking at soccer games. He implied that if people were smoking “way up in the woods, we are not going to see,” regarding an action that is now legal, where people can smoke marijuana and be seen.

From Keane and Bean'e’s presentation, here are the guidelines on smoking cannabis effective immediately:

• Adults 21 and older can generally smoke cannabis anywhere it is currently legal to use tobacco.

• Smoking cannabis is prohibited in schools, workplaces, and in cars.

• Municipalities can also adopt regulations to allow the smoking of cannabis in locations where smoking tobacco is prohibited.

Beacon City Council Considers Smoking Ban In Public Parks, As Marijuana Is Legalized (Tobacco Would Be Included In Ban)

As Beacon’s City Council considers its new obligation from New York State to respect marijuana smoking in public, the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), a law passed after much delay prior to the racial reckoning of 2020 and into 2021), Beacon, along with all municipalities, is required to decide if it wants to opt out of retail sales tax revenue from Adult-Use Retail Dispensary stores (a store that sells cannabis that a person takes away from the store), or an On-Site Consumption Establishment (like a bar for alcohol that a person consumes on site and cannot take away). When signing the law, New York State declared that it became the “15th state to legalize cannabis with commitment to social equity.” So far, after the 6/14/2021 City Council Workshop meeting discussing the development, Beacon’s City Council is leaning in the direction of remaining opted-in to profiting from revenue from cannabis sales generated from within Beacon’s city limits.

Along with this retail choice, as presented in detail by Beacon’s retained law firm, Keane & Beane from attorney Drew Victoria Gamals, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White brought to the Council the consideration of prohibiting smoking or vaping tobacco and marijuana in public parks to the Council, separate from the state-mandated retail decision. During the meeting, he said doing so was in the name of public health.

However, it should be noted, that in Keane and Beane’s Adult-Use Marijuana presentation, municipalities are able to “adopt regulations to allow the smoking of cannabis in locations where smoking tobacco is prohibited.” This option was not discussed during the Workshop where this topic was first breached.

New York’s lifting of the prohibition of marijuana smoking has brought new aromas to the city, which you may have noticed while walking down the sidewalk where bar patrons gather to smoke outside. Or someone driving in their car in front of you may be openly smoking cannabis while driving (which, according to Drew Victoria Gamils with Keane & Beane is not legal, nor is sitting in your car smoking cannabis while the car is off).

Is It The Aroma That Is Bothersome?

While it is a new aroma for some, it is making others uncomfortable. Yet one thing is known: the Black community is disproportionately penalized for even carrying cannabis, let alone smoking it, as was pointed out by Councilmember Air Nonken Rhodes during the presentation of the ban on smoking in Beacon’s public parks during the meeting.

City Administrator Chris White responded to Air’s concern by stating that “enforcement would need to be closely watched.” Which would require data collection and review of each citation. Something which Beacon’s City Council is new to acquiring in the aftermath of the spotlight on criminal justice. It is also not clear if the City Council or the City Administrator is in the habit of regularly reviewing the data that the City of Beacon Police Department collects.

During this City Council Workshop, City Administrator Chris White equated publicly smoking marijuana to smoking tobacco, as he brought to the council the consideration to ban it from public parks and “soccer games.” Chris stated that on Beacon’s trails, there is a ban on smoking, but he was unclear as to why that was, and not banned in parks. He wondered if it was because people are walking in a “linear” path. In his pursuit of a policy to be able to enforce, he expanded: “If you're way up in the woods, we are not going to see. However if you are at a soccer game, and not being respectful of others, I'm sure you are going to be reminded of that,” he stated, explaining that a person complaining to their fellow parent would have new legislation supporting their complaint to a person sitting next to them.

Not that soccer games need more opportunities for conflict among overly aggressive parents, who continuously need their own refereeing by the professional hired to ref the kids and enforce rules of the game in play.

(The no-smoking rule on trails could be for fire prevention, like that time when Breakneck caught on fire in 2020.)

Soccer Games and Smoking

Having been to many soccer games and practices, as well as those for flag football, I have not encountered folks smoking tobacco or cannabis. While that is a broad statement, people usually step away when smoking, out of respect for others. As for Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, that area is so spacious and windy, most aromas don’t linger - unless it is the regular aroma of charcoal burning for burgers and hot dogs.

Meanwhile, New York State considers cannabis a potential thriving business that it can regulate and profit from, while encouraging agricultural involvement from traditionally oppressed groups. Expanding limitations on where it can be smoked is counter to that intent.

From New York’s new Office of Cannabis Management, the new law “Establishes a robust social and economic equity program to actively encourage members from communities disproportionally impacted by the policies of prohibition to participate in the new industry. … [It] encourages small business and farmers to participate in the cannabis industry with the creation of microbusiness, cooperative and delivery license types.”

Proposed Penalties For Smoking In Beacon’s Public Parks

A majority of Beacon’s City Council leaned toward accepting the sale of cannabis in Beacon, but banning smoking in public parks. The penalties, they agreed on, could be light. The financial penalty by default, City Attorney Drew said, has a maximum fine of $1,000 per day. City Attorney Drew confirmed that the penalty would be settled in Justice Court between the City and the Defendant. City Administrator Chris attempted assurance: “It’s usually much less than the maximum penalty.“

City Attorney Drew added: “If you go to trial, you could get $40,000. Working with the police and the defendant, you might end up settling for $9,000. That's a high example. You might end up settling for $500 in Justice Court.”

Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair requested that the financial penalty be light, so as to not impact anyone’s rent. He and other Councilmembers agreed that jail time would be not ideal, and they would want to specifically exclude that penalty from Beacon’s legislation.

City Attorney Drew recommended that the City Council hear from residents before moving forward with drafting legislation on how to regulate the sale of cannabis in Beacon.

Agenda Posted For The 6/14/2021 City Council Workshop Meeeting

Beacon’s City Council meets tonight to discuss the following issues that are on the agenda. During a Workshop meeting, the public can listen, but not participate. The purpose of these meetings is to workshop a concept before bringing it formally before the public for a vote, if it reaches that point. Topics that have already made it to the public are sometimes brought back to Workshops status to be further discussed, after receiving feedback from the public.

Click here for the agenda at the City’s website.

ALBB publishes the agenda here, plus the video when it is released. All meetings are published here in ALBB’s Easy Access Local Government section.

1. Notice of Change in Meeting Location June 14, 2021

2. Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act Presentation by City Attorney

3. Proposed Local Law to Create Chapter 155, Article III of the Code of the City of Beacon to Prohibit Smoking in City Parks

4. Participatory Budgeting Discussion

5. Recommendations from the Parking and Traffic Safety Committee

6. Police Advisory Committee

7. Proposed Historic Property Nominations Pursuant to the Historic District Landmark Overlay (HDLO) Zone

8. Proposed Abandonment of City Paper Streets: Morse Street, Be Vier Avenue, and Ryans Avenue

Topics Of Discussion For Tonight's City Council Workshop Meeting 5/24/2021

Tonight, Beacon’s City Council will meet for a Workshop meeting to discuss the following Agenda topics. As a “Workshop” meeting, this means that the public cannot call in, and the Council does not make legal decisions. A list to the full agenda with links and future video of the meeting is here in ALBB’s Local Government section.

Discussion of 2021 Public Events with City Administrator Chris White and Recreation Director Mark Price

After Beacon’s first shopping event happened at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park this past weekend, it looks like Beacon is considering the pre-pandemic lineup of events, according to this list posted with the Agenda. Several police officers were on duty this weekend to direct traffic down past the train to where parking was available. The market this past weekend was ticketed, but many events and parades on this list are free.

Food Security Update

There is no detail posted with the Agenda packet on this Food Security Update. Perhaps they are updating the public with whether or not the $25,000 granted from the CARES ACT in December 2020, administered through Dutchess County, was spent yet. The granted was earmarked for free groceries. Recreation Director Mark Price told A Little Beacon Blog on April 13, 2021: “We have completed income survey and submitted to Dutchess County CDBG. We have an open purchase order with a local food distributor and are currently selecting items for a weekly delivery to begin in the next couple of weeks. To be distributed alongside the weekly Hudson Valley Food Bank distribution on Wednesdays.”

Affordable Housing Presentation with Cea Weaver of Housing Justice for All

After a presentation last Workshop with Dutchess County, Councilperson Dan Aymar-Blair wanted more perspectives that sounded less restrictive of solving the problem of rising rental and home purchase prices.

Proposed Abandonment of City Paper Streets: Morse Street, Be Vier Avenue, and Ryans Avenue

This is a funny topic about streets that were put on paper, but never paved. They are gumming up homeowner surveys when they go to sell their homes. The proposal is to dissolve them and was discussed at a meeting prior. Got an eraser?

6. Proposed Appointment of Eleanor Peck to the Conservation Advisory Committee

7. Proposed Appointment of Pastor Daniel Blackburn to the Commission on Human Rights

Some Public Bathrooms To Open In Beacon Parks. Why Now? A Response To The Fall 2020 Protests Of Beacon's 2021 Budget

The public bathroom at Memorial Park. It is normally closed to the public, and is treated as a mural space for community art commissioned by Wee Play, who maintains and fundraises for equipment in the Memorial Tot Park and the Wee Woods behind it.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

An 18-year-old Beaconite who grew up in a relative’s house in Beacon near Green Street Park recently moved with her family to Newburgh, as they could only afford to buy a home in Newburgh. The teen and other family members continue to work in Beacon, so she is on this side of the bridge daily. The 18-year-old Beaconite couldn’t remember when, if ever, the Green Street Park bathroom was open when she lived nearby.

Said a longtime Beacon resident, Danielle Soto-Eckert: “The bathroom at Memorial Park has been closed literally my whole life. I’m 30 years old and can think of less than 5 times that it’s been open while I was there as a child, and now an adult with kids. I take my kids to Bowdoin Park (in Wappingers Falls) because their bathroom is always open.”

The Beacon park bathroom issue is not new. People who use the public parks, including teenagers, caregivers and parents, have lived with them for the most part closed, with some people having access to a key maintained by the Recreation Department for a birthday party or volunteer clean-up day.

The Bathroom At Memorial Park Is So Pretty - But It’s Been Closed? It’s Just A Mural Space?

A celebration of the painting of the mural at Memorial Park in August 2019, commissioned by Wee Play, to cover the public bathroom, which had been closed for years, and continued to be, closed after the community painting project, which included special guest, then Mayor Randy Casale.
Photo Credit: Wee Play

The grassroots organization Wee Play Community Project has been maintaining the public tot parks, mainly Memorial Park, in a volunteer capacity for a number of years. Wee Play is instrumental in fundraising for, purchasing, and designing the play structures at the parks like Memorial Park. In fact, they are working right now on their biggest fundraising event of the year - the Ree Play Sale - an affordable way to buy used kids clothing and gear.

In August 2019 while Raquel Verdesi, Margaux Lange and others were on the Wee Play Board, Wee Play commissioned artist Joe Pimentel to paint the closed bathroom at Memorial Park. Everyone got in on it, as Wee Play sought out volunteers for a community contribution experience.

Then Mayor Randy Casale painted as well, and was a Special Guest at the Celebration unveiling event. But his administration, which included then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, cited vandalism as the reason why the bathrooms couldn’t be re-opened. Beacon’s current Mayor Kyriacou was a City Councilmember then, as were several current Councilpeople George Mansfield, Amber Grant, Terry Nelson and Jodi McCredo.

While the mural project was happening, Wee Play Board Member Raquel Verdesi told A Little Beacon Blog that they got several inquires about using the bathroom: “Wee Play gets a lot of, ‘hope this means they'll open the bathrooms!’ whenever we are working on a new project at the park. Wee Play would like them open, too! We encourage folks to write letters to their representatives on the City Council if they want open bathroom hours.”

The Key To The Bathrooms - The Literal Key

Because Wee Play maintains the Memorial Park tot park, they were given a key to the bathroom by Recreation Director Mark Price. Wee Play could open the bathroom during the commissioned mural project so that the artist could use running water, for example, said Board member and artist Margaux Lange. During regular, volunteer-based cleanups of the park, the bathrooms might be opened then for all to use, while the volunteers are there.

Says Wee Play Board Member Raquel about bathroom key procedure: “The Beacon Recreation Department has opened the bathrooms for tournaments, park events, and parties. The City cites the expense of having them cleaned and repaired due to repeated vandalism as to why they are closed, except by appointment. They would have to hire someone to monitor them. It would make sense for the City to hire more help to be able to maintain the bathrooms.”

The bathroom at Green Street Park, which has been closed for years. Before opening in 2021, it will undergo repairs to fixtures, City Administrator Chris White said during a City Council Meeting.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Over at Green Street Park, some people who have booked birthday parties have spoken of a key they get so that their guests could use the bathroom. Said Pheobe Zinman, who writes a column for A Little Beacon Blog, had experience organizing use for the key for more people to use. Pheobe told A Little Beacon Blog: “In 2017, I did a fundraiser for trees in Green Street. Beacon’s Recreation Director Mark Price helped me plant them. One is still there, the other was damaged by careless mowing and then vandalized.”

She continued: “Then I threw a big party to celebrate with music and potluck and a lot of neighbors came out. At that time, I scrubbed both bathrooms, which were filthy despite not ever being unlocked unless someone got a permit/key for a birthday party or gathering. We made a big list of things everyone would love to see in the park. I passed it on to City Council. There were supposed to be murals painted on the bathrooms, but that never happened. Mark said anyone could get a bathroom key as long as they signed up and made sure it got locked up etc... I tried to publicize it, but I don’t know if anyone signed up. I used to have a key, and then someone in the Recreation Department couldn’t find theirs, so I gave mine back. Everyone is still peeing outside behind the bathrooms, which is pretty unfortunate.”

In 2017, then Highway Superintendent Reuben Simmons proposed a plan to have the Green Street bathroom regularly cleaned by Beacon staff. Nothing happened with that proposal. Reuben was later stripped of his job title and salary due to a Civil Service technicality in Job Titles, and is currently a Maintenance Worker, who is on paid leave since the end of January 2021, as he fights to keep his job with the City of Beacon after receiving repeated complaints made about him by his supervisor, Michael Manzi, who replaced Reuben as Highway Superintendent of Streets.

Who Cleans The Bathroom, Anyway?

Beacon’s current and new City Administrator, Chris White, explained during a City Council Meeting on 4/26/2021 that he approached City staff to clean the bathrooms for overtime, but only 1 person said they were interested. The Highway and Parks Department work the City’s public parks to maintain the grounds and facilities. “We tried to figure out a system to use our own staff to clean them, but our hours were weird. We had staff who did not want the overtime. Only 1 staff [showed interest] and that is not sufficient.”

It is unknown at this time who the 1 interested staff person was, who was denied the overtime opportunity. Reuben Simmons, a longtime employee of the Highway Department who started working for the City of Beacon’s Parks department in 2002 as Summer Help, says he remembers cleaning the bathrooms: “In the past, I cleaned park bathrooms as Summer Help when assigned by then Park Foreman Dave Eraca.”

Reuben later served City of Beacon staff as the CSEA Union President for staff. He had this response to A Little Beacon Blog’s inquiry regarding job assignments: “I didn’t know employees had options to choose what work they would like to do and what they don’t want to do. What does CSEA (Union) say about all this? As a Union Leader, I was never a fan of contracting out work. Contractors tend to not take pride in public service. They seek financial benefit from public dollars. I'd look at the numbers and consider the option to pay our everyday hard working employees overtime before paying an outsider. You might just find it to be cheaper.” Paula Becker is the current CSEA Union President for Beacon, and works in the City of Beacon’s Finance Department.

Since the City Administrator Chris White said that Beacon’s staff wasn’t interested, he has hired Millers Touch Cleaning Service, “a minority-owned business” out of Newburgh, he described them, who he said cleans his own condominium during the 4/26/2021 City Council Meeting. Chris confirmed: “The contract is for $14,500 for 6 months. Maintenance of the facilities will be through Beacon’s own staff.” Chris said that he hopes cleaning can start the first week of May. “Then we’ll implement it as soon as Latreece Miller [of Miller’s Touch] can get his crews here.”

When Councilperson Dan Aymar-Blair asked when the bathrooms would be open, City Administrator Chris responded: “7am or 8am ‘till 5pm or 6pm. They will start at one of the parks and then shift over. Will be clearing some of the garbage from pavilion areas as well.” Additional collection of trash and recycling was an issue raised at City Council meetings in previous years as well.

It is not clear at this time what days of the week the bathrooms will be open on, and what the cleaning schedule is.

The Revised 2021 Budget submitted by Mayor Kyriacou states: “There will be $14,000 for trash and recycling collection from parks on Saturdays and Sundays. Park bathrooms will be open, maintained and cleaned regularly from March to November thanks to $25,000 in new funding.”

City Administrator Chris says there will be a delay at opening Green Street Park’s bathroom because “we are still working on fixtures,” he told the Council.

“Remind Me Where We Are At With A Bathroom At Loopers Park / South Avenue Park?”

After the Memorial Park and Green Street Park bathroom discussion, City Council Member Air Nonken Rhodes followed up with a question about the bathrooms (or lack thereof) in their ward, at the Loopers basketball court, tennis court, and kids park at Loopers/South Avenue Park. “Remind me where we are at with having a bathroom at South Ave. Park?” Councilperson Air asked City Administrator Chris. He responded: “I don’t think we have public restrooms. Just portajohns.”

John Galloway Jr., current Beacon City School District Board of Education Member and frequent basketball player at Loopers, confirmed to A Little Beacon Blog that there have not been accessible bathrooms at Loopers/South Avenue Park: “For as long as I have lived here (all 24 years), there has never been an accessible bathroom for the kids at the Loopers basketball courts at South Avenue Park. We always had to pick a tree or use the one in Sal’s Pizza. He always lets us use it even if we aren’t a customer because he indeed also knows that there isn’t a bathroom provided for the community that uses the basketball court.”

The new porta potty at Loopers Park/South Avenue Park. According to John Galloway Jr., there has not been an accessible bathroom at Loopers in the 24 years he has lived in Beacon.

Councilperson Air persisted: “Was cleaning the portajohns part of that schedule? Just an update on where we are at with that process.” City Administrator Chris confirmed that he would check and get back with an answer. Councilperson Air responded: “I don’t want South to get left out.” City Administrator Chris reminded Councilperson Air that a new retaining wall was getting put in for Loopers. Councilperson Air responded: “Bathrooms too.”

City Administrator Chris responded: “I wish we had more bathrooms in place. Starting from scratch is diffilcult. Portajons I know we can have clearned more frequently. I know they are not the best choice.” Mayor Kyriacou responded by suggesting that City Council looks at the “fancy ones” used by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. “The Shakespeare Festival has some really cool ones,” the Mayor stated. “Maybe we'll take a look.”

The porta potty at Loopers arrived last week, as reported by City Administrator Chris during this week’s 5/3/2021 City Council meeting. “We did put a portajohn at South Avenue Park and it is being cleaned 2x/week. We did get that installed.”

The video of the new porta potty at Loopers Park / South Avenue Park is below.

Why Now? Why Are The Bathrooms Opening Now?

Beacon4Black Lives Summer and Fall Protest Budget Demanded Investment In Community Services

After decades of not being regularly opened and cleaned, with known complaints and longing by constituents, why open the bathrooms now? During a COVID-19 semi-shutdown?

In the summer of 2020, Beacon4Black Lives consistently organized protest marches down Main Street, followed by educational sessions at Memorial Park. On October 19, 2020, when the 2021 budget was being presented to the public to be discussed and transparent, Beacon4Black Lives organized a protest of Beacon’s 2021 budget, as it earmarked an increase for Police Department, and a decrease for the Recreation Department. This protest was demonstrated on Wolcott Avenue, outside of Mayor Kyriacou’s house.

In response to the protest, Mayor Lee Kyriacou, then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, and the city’s Finance Director Susan Tucker defended the budget by saying that there was planned increase to the Police budget. Collective bargaining with the Police Union (PBA) conducted earlier had guaranteed raises for the Police Department.

Reversely, the Recreation Director, Mark Price, had on purpose cut the Recreation budget in order to stay slim during the pandemic. The cuts came from the After School Program, which was not operating due to the shutdown, and he did not feel it necessary to financially plan for an opening in 2021. However, when he hired back his staff for an opening in 2021, he did so with a raise to those After School Program employees, he told A Little Beacon Blog at the time of he budget protest.

Public Comment In Defense Of Funding Community Services

Public Comments about Police funding and cuts to the Recreation Department was not lost on the City Council or Mayor Kyriacou. During the 2020 budget protest, one of the organizers with Beacon4Black Lives, Justice McCray, emphasized the importance of investing in the community. Justice called in on the Public Comment line to the City Council meeting from the protest on the street, and stated:

This increase to the Police Budget has been a slap in the face to all of us, to this entire community. (Justice called back to other attendees: "Can you guys shout for me?” They respond: “BLACK LIVES MATTER!”) We are asking you to invest in the community. The last thing that we need is for you to spend more money in policing. We need you to put the $24,000 that you took out of the Recreation Department and put it back into the Recreation Department. We need you to fund community safety programs that focus on community’s actual safety, rather than having the police department outside of your house right now having police circling around your community as if they are going to attack? We want to feel safe in this community, and we don't feel that right now. (Another person shouted over the phone: "You are being protected against us right now!") This entire summer, all we have been asking is for our Black lives to matter. That means investing in community safety options, that don’t shoot us, that don’t kill Black people. We are asking you to invest in community wi-fi, community housing, community food, community fridges. Invest in your community, not in the police.”

Justice McCray has taken their protest to the ballot box by way of putting their name on the ballot. Justice is currently running for Beacon’s City Council.

Community member Tina Bernstein, who does serve as Secretary on Beacon’s Commission on Human Rights, but was calling in as a citizen, was the next caller during Public Comment to contribute a reaction to Beacon’s 2021 budget presentation. Tina stated:

I want to express very significant concerns about the proposed budget for the City of Beacon. A city's budget should be determined with serious consideration of the needs of the entire community. It should prioritize much-needed services, and should be based on a vision for maintaining equity and quality of life for all of its residents.

It should be responsive to concerns that have been expressed for several months now, by Beacon4Black Lives as was just expressed, Mutual Aid Beacon, as well as a variety of community members. The current budget includes an increase for police funding, while it calls for a net shortfall in recreational programming.

Our mayor has, in defending the budget, cited the rationale that we pay less for police services than other municipalities in the Mid-Hudson region. In addition to the fact that it ignores the express sentiment that no more money should be spent on policing, this is the same rationale that has been stated before in response to concerns for the need for more affordable housing options.

It is irrelevant what other municipalities are doing. Beacon's budget should reflect what matters to the residents in the community, and the services we need… We no longer have a community center…. We haven't invested in an expansion of programs, pavilions, or open spaces that protect youth from the elements... There is no money in this budget to support such efforts.

At this point, Mayor Lee Kyriacou cut Tina off, as callers have a 3-minute maximum. Mayor Kyriacou stated: "Her time’s up, come on."

Future Spending

The protest and the number of residents calling in their reactions in defense of the Recreation budget during subsequent City Council Meetings outlining details of the budget in different departments was enough to push the Council and Mayor to allocate funding to the opening of existing bathroom facilities.

In his Revised Budget published in the City of Beacon’s website, Mayor Kyriacou said, “This year’s budget involved greater scrutiny and community participation than any in past memory. I’d like to thank all those involved – city staff, the council and many residents who came and voiced their views. I believe this budget properly uses city reserves to keep any tax increase to a minimum, while funding needed one-time programs for these difficult times, as well as continued improvements in quality of life community programs.”

Other financial allocations included, as stated on the City’s website:

• “$25,000 for emergency supplemental grants” from the CARES ACT managed by Dutchess County “to strengthen Beacon’s food distribution programs and provide groceries to hundreds of families.“

• “Another $70,000 were earmarked for alternative policing – which can be used for community mental health services.”

• “The Council dedicated $30,000 for a study of municipal broadband.”

• “The Recreation Department will issue income-based fee waivers for programs thanks to a budget dedication of $20,000.” While this is unclear at this time in how it is intended to be used, residents may want to ask for payment plans or financial assistance on childcare programs like Camp @ The Camp or the After School Program.

Meanwhile, the City of Beacon is considering a years long renovation project of the dilapidated Tioronda Bridge for over one million dollars, which may double if the Council agrees to renovations required to keep the bridge on the National Registry. In 2017, the City of Beacon was granted $500,000 towards the project from the New York State Department of Transportation.

The City of Beacon has entertained plans for various bathroom renovations at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park and the Settlement Camp, but those fall by the wayside and have not been put to bid for construction estimates.

One of the Beacon residents who spoke during various Public Comments during budget season was James Case-Leal, a former Board of Education Board Member, who was commenting as a resident. A Little Beacon Blog followed up with him to confirm that he asked specifically for the opening of public bathrooms. His response in part is below:

I was definitely one of the voices calling for opening the bathrooms as part of Beacon's reinvestment in community services and reimagining public safety. That was part of a set of demands put together by a collective of community organizers that I'm involved with working on the city budget. This issue was something I had heard numerous times from parents as something that would make their park time feel more accessible.

There are so few places to safely be in public, so it's really great that the city is finally providing sanitary bathrooms for parents and children. It's a small step, but a little bit of proof of how good we'd have if the city spent even just half of the $5.5million dollar Police budget on services we actually need.

We could expand the summer camp so parents aren't scrambling online the second slots become available. We could have an indoor All Sport style rec center where kids and seniors cool off during the summer. We could give residents priority for reserving University Settlement for parties. We could keep our bathrooms clean all year round. I really hope this trend continues.

---

More Bathrooms

The bathroom issue is big in Beacon, as there are several public bathrooms that are used on different days, at different time. In Memorial Park, there are 2 more bathrooms: one at the baseball field and one at the football field. At Sargent, there is one at the soccer field that is opened during some soccer game weekends and possibly maintained by the soccer league.

The bathroom at the Visitors Center on Wolcott and Main Street is maintained by a volunteer with the Chamber of Commerce.

The bathroom at the Settlement Camp pool is maintained by the pool staff, and as a structure, is more like an out-house. Plans have been designed to improve it, but they were shelved, as they were connected to a larger renovation.

There is a row of porta potties at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront park. That park also has a renovation planned, which includes bid-ready drawings. It is earmarked in the Capital Plan, but has not been sent out to bid, as the Recreation Department is waiting for the right time to get the best price.

Public Comment Caller Speaks Derogatory About Transgender People; Council Member Amber Grant Shut It Down

During Monday night’s City Council Meeting, which was a combo Workshop/Regular Meeting, a person called in during the Public Comment session to speak his mind about how the City of Beacon should handle kids in school with progressing transgender acceptance in bathrooms and school sports. The caller, Stosh Yankowski, wanted the City of Beacon to be a Sanctuary City for females, thereby making transgender people invisible. Stosh stated: “I have nothing against transgender people. I don't think it's fair for a biological male to compete. I don't know if Beacon can make a Sancutary City for females. If it can be done or not, I wanted to propose that.” In 2017, Beacon became a “Welcoming City” for people moving here from other countries. The City was seeking to become a Sanctuary City for but wanted to avoid financial threats from the federal level during the 45th administration.

Normally during this period, the public can speak for up to 3 minutes each, and the Councilmembers don’t respond, they just listen. However, Stosh’s comments were so harmful, hateful and rude, they won’t be repeated in this article. Councilmember Amber Grant stepped out of the silence to interrupt Stosh and stop him from causing further verbal harm. “Where is the boundary on this?…This is wildly innapropriate.” Unlike during a Zoom call, when text appears on the screen that is a racial insult or harmful, moderators shut the intruder down. This is commonly referred to as “Zoom Bombing.” In terms of free speech, it is the equivelent to fake-calling “Fire!” in a crowd. There has not been a precedent set yet for live City Council calls.

During Councilperson Grant’s verbal objection, Mayor Kayriacou interrupted Councilmember Grant in favor of allowing Stosh to continue, which Stosh did, and addressed Councilmember Grant to encourage her to continue debating him. Normally, the procedure during a meeting like this is that the public can speak on anything they want, and the Councilmembers sit silent. Later in the meeting, the Councilmembers have a designated time called “Reports” where they can speak on anything they want. Usually this time is used to report on issues from their Wards (aka areas of the city they represent) or to give a PSA, and they usually do not respond to callers. This year, however, they have started to.

At the beginning of the Reports section, Mayor Kyriacou apologized for “cutting off any members,” stating the situation was “difficult.” He then decided which order of Councilmembers to start with to give their Reports (he often plays alphabet games to decide which order to go in). He selected Councilperson Terry Nelson to go first, who responded: “I would like to defer my time to Amber Grant.” To which Mayor Kyriacou responded: “I should have started at the other end.”

Air Nonken Rhodes was next, who passed on their time, stating: “I am going to pass this call. I have too much to say. Thanks.” The rest of the Councilmembers reported on previously planned items, such as a business update from Councilperson George Mansfield to encourage businesses on Main Street to apply for (free) parklets, and Dan Amar-Blair who alluded to wanting more discussion on Order 203 (the Police Reform order for municipalities) as well as voicing his support for fellow Councilmember Nelson’s call for opting into the Emergency Tenants Protection Act (ETPA), a form of rent regulation available in New York State.

The caller, Stosh Yankowski, is a regular Public Commenter, calling in almost every every other week during the Public Comment portion of the meeting, usually to protest and educate about 5G technology. He delights in delivering comical, sarcastic speeches. At times, he calls to apologize for previous statements he has made. It is unknown on if he has been reprimanded by the City for previous offensive remarks.

When Councilperson Grant responded during her Report, she stressed the danger in rhetoric like that being heard. She stated: “Obviously I reacted very strongly to that public comment. I think it's important that poeple take the time to understand situations, and the speaker doesn't undersrand that gender is a social construct…I don't need to be protected in a sports arena. Trans people are simply poeple just like the rest of us. If there is something you find scary, then you should look at resources... I think that comments like that are very dangerous, where we are seeing people being violently attacked and hurt, and I don't want to see that.”

Mayor Kyriacou made note to comment that this issue resides with the Beacon City School District, stating: “I have a lot of faith in our school districts. It's not a City issue, and I have faith in our school district.” Last June, during Pride Month, the Mayor designated June to be Pride Month, alongside the national designation, and personally bought a pride flag and had it fly from City Hall’s flag pole during the month.

As a female writer, bathroom user, and former basketball player, I will agree with Councilperson Grant, about not needing protection in sports or in bathrooms. I welcome playing with any person on the court, even in a scholastic competition. The best game is when you play with people who are really into it, and make you shine. My best year of high school basketball was when I spent the summer playing in camp with all boys. Inhibition was lost, and the aggression was fabulous. I won Best Defense that year.

People looking to think about men and women, or males and females, or all people playing sports together, could consider two things in their explorations:

• Lusia Harris, the first female drafted by the NBA in 1977. My 9-year old son found this for me as we started discussing it weeks ago, to see how he felt about it.

• That bodies are made differently. If you were born with brothers, and you watch those brothers grow up - one brother may be built very differently than the other. One might be a Hulk, and one might be a Spiderman. Has nothing to do with gender or body parts. I have just described my two sons. Girls I played sports with were all designed differently than me. Some with naturally stronger muscles than mine. We all had spirit, and drive, and smarts, and a love for the game and the team.

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.