Here's A Letter You Can Send NYS Comptroller DiNapoli About Woodbury
While we wait for FOILs to be processed, Woodbury residents can send this letter to request an investigation into the operations of the Town of Woodbury. Especially before any "mergers" take place.
I’m still waiting for some FOILs to be processed to complete the Woodbury story I’m working on. I hope to start it here next week. Below should give you enough of a hint though about what the story is about.
While we wait, I know a lot of you are as upset and frustrated over what’s going on between the Town and Village of Woodbury.
If you’d like to help fix this situation, copy, paste, and send the following letter to the New York State Comptroller’s office.
I’ll be back next week with more on this story and — once I have the South Blooming Grove FOILs concerning the water emergency — that feature-length story as well.
And as a reminder: This is happening next week over in South Blooming Grove You Should be there.
Here is the plain text version of the below letter for you to copy, paste, and send.
To: investigations@osc.ny.gov and muni-newburgh@osc.ny.gov
Subject: Request for Investigation Into The Town of Woodbury
Copy:
This letter is addressed to Thomas P. DiNapoli and Team:
I am a concerned resident of Southern Orange County writing to urge your office to take all necessary and appropriate action to investigate the Town of Woodbury.
Our State Senator, James Skoufis, and his team have floated to the Village of Woodbury Trustees the idea of merging the Town and Village of Woodbury. First, by making them co-terminus, eliminating the piece of Harriman that separates the two, and then formally merging the Town and Village.
Mr. Skoufis and his chief of staff, Emma Fuentes, may have violated Civil Service Law §107 by conducting these conversations. It is now in the hands of the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government to investigate Team Skoufis's actions.
Under Senator Skoufis's plan, which his office has publicly denied exists, the Town of Woodbury would be placed in charge, and the Village Board would be dissolved until new elections could be held. Despite any future claims to the contrary, there would be little to no cost savings for residents with such a merger as the Town and Village do not perform overlapping duties.
There are serious concerns about the Town of Woodbury and the repeated, unethical, and potentially illegal behavior of its Supervisors and select departments that date back to the formation of the Village in the early 2000s. This includes instances during Senator Skoufis's previous service as a Woodbury Town Councilman.
I believe any public conversation about making the Town and Village co-terminus — and then a possible merger — should proceed with the knowledge that the Town is operating appropriately and ethically. It currently is not.
We, the residents of Southern Orange County, require your assistance to correct this.
Below are only two items, but as you'll see, they should be enough to give all Woodbury residents pause about placing the Town Board in charge without your investigation being performed.
1. Woodbury Police Department (Operated by the Town)
A. Chief Kevin Watson allegedly has lucrative private security contracts with vendors in the neighboring village of Kiryas Joel. Instead of discussing with the public whether or not these contracts exist, the current Woodbury Town Board insists on dismissing these concerns as misinformation posted to social media.
Above: Instead of answering concerns presented to them by the public about the Supervisor’s activity, the nature of Chief Watson’s contracts with the Village of Kiryas Joel, the abuse of overtime by the Woodbury Police Department, and irregularities concerning garbage pickup by County Waste Management, the Town of Woodbury Board dismissed all concerns as “comments made on social media”.
When signing his first contract as Chief in 2018, Mr. Watson was given a salary of $137,000, with a built-in raise beginning in 2019 of at least 1.5% per year. In 2022 Chief Watson received just under $190,00 in salary from the Town.
Is it appropriate for a well-compensated police chief to possess such contracts with vendors in a neighboring municipality?
These alleged contracts have led to frequent complaints by Woodbury residents of uneven law enforcement where Haredi residents are concerned, which violates the 14th Amendment Right to Equal Protection under the Law and their 5th Amendment Right to Due Process to all Woodbury citizens, regardless of faith.
In one such instance, a Woodbury Police Dispatcher informed a resident making a noise complaint of a "religious exemption" that does not exist in the Town Code.
In another documented instance involving a Haredi member of the Woodbury community, Mr. Watson provided false information in the police blotter that was directly contradicted by members of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation concerning the poisoning of a bear. Chief Watson has not provided an explanation for this discrepancy.
B. Since the early 2000s, and with only a brief pause under Chief Richard Vasquez's guidance, Woodbury police officers (including now Chief Kevin Watson) have abused the overtime system at taxpayer expense. In one example, former sergeant Cliff Weeks received $341,832 in overtime between 2002 and 2012.
In 2011, the year before Chief Vasquez was hired, Sgt. Weeks made $47,455.78 in overtime, which in 2023 dollars would be $67,701.46. He reported to the Town of Woodbury that he worked 710 hours of overtime that year.
While it’s true Woodbury Police do have the responsibility of patrolling one of New York’s top tourist destinations, doing so would still not raise to the same level of manpower needed on any given day in New York City where overtime is concerned.
By comparison, a Police Sergeant in New York City’s Port Authority Police Department made $59,876 in overtime in 2023, making them one of that division’s highest-paid police officers. The Port Authority Police Department, while based in New York City, is a good analog to use in discussing the Woodbury Police Department, as the PA Police are also responsible for patrolling major tourist destinations such as the Port Authority Bus Terminal and New York City’s airports.
Using 2023 numbers, police officers in the Port Authority Police Department typically average $43,778 in overtime.
Except for three years during his tenure at the Woodbury Police Department, Sgt. Weeks made or exceeded that amount.
What follows is a full breakdown of what Sgt. Weeks grossed in overtime during his time with the Woodbury police department, adjusted to 2023 dollars using a Cost Per Inflation Calculator:
Weeks In 2002: $23,685.44
Weeks 2003: $55,385.20
Weeks 2004: $54,807.37
Weeks 2005: $52,180.18
Weeks 2006: $56,190.76
Weeks 2007: $34,779.84
Weeks 2008: $51,761.64
Weeks 2009: $60,267.25
Weeks 2010: $51,622.80
Weeks 2011: $67,701.46
Weeks 2012: $22,530.41 (First year under Chief Vasquez.)
This total amount of $341,832 grossed by Weeks is well over a hundred thousand dollars more than it cost Woodbury taxpayers for the Town and Village of Woodbury to fight out their previous lawsuit, which was initiated by former Woodbury Town Supervisor Frank Palermo.
The current Town Attorney of Woodbury has recently threatened another such lawsuit against the Village, given the Village’s attempt to take control of the police department.
You can view that legal threat here. It was written in June 2024 by the new Woodbury Town Attorney, Edward J. Thater.
During his tenure as police chief, Mr. Vasquez recorded a conversation with another former Woodbury Town Supervisor, Ralph Caruso, in which he discussed the abuse of overtime by the Woodbury police department. It will be up to your office to determine whether or not this abuse also rises to the level of pension fraud.
Chief Vasquez specifically cited that in 2014 alone, Sgt. Kevin Watson reported 609 hours of overtime. Using the 2011 pay rate for overtime, that means Sgt. Kevin Watson grossed at least $40,803 in overtime in 2014.
This comment from Vasquez came during the same year he reported only eight summonses were issued in a 90-day period by the department and that some of the officers were also sleeping at home during their shifts.
Kevin Watson would go on to replace Chief Vasquez, where he remains today as Woodbury's police chief.
There is no reason for the public to believe that the Woodbury Police Department's abuse of the overtime system has ended, given Watson's own participation in those operations and Mr. Week's present-day verbal attacks against the former Chief Vasquez on Facebook.
Mr. Weeks made a series of false claims that were refuted simply by pointing out that, the former Town Supervisor pressured Chief Vasquez to perform illegal activity, which the Chief refused, resulting in his suspension. Chief Vasquez then won a legal settlement against the Town of Woodbury. Another instance of corrupt behavior committed by a Town of Woodbury Supervisor costing the town residents money.
A full recording of the previous Town Supervisor's illegal request and Chief Vasquez's statements about the behavior of his police officers can be heard here.
Above: The conversation recorded by former police chief Vasquez in 2014 with a former Town of Woodbury Supervisor.
2. Behavior of Current Town Supervisor, Kathryn Luciani
A. We’ve identified two instances of poor behavior by Woodbury Town Supervisors that have cost Woodbury residents money. Let’s look at the current Town Supervisor, Kathryn Luciani.
In June, your office received a request to audit the Town of Woodbury's finances. The reason for the request involved a quid pro quo between current Town Supervisor Luciani, and County Waste Management during contract negotiations for the new year.
After one resident complained about improper pick up procedures to the Town, a Town employee appeared outside their home.
However, on every other road where the garbage truck was recorded doing its pickup by Woodbury residents, it proceeded to pick up refuse (recyclables and trash) into a single bay of the truck.
Following this incident, Woodbury residents asked the town supervisor to explain why some residents are getting extra garbage service without paying for it. They have also asked why County Waste Management keeps picking up trash and recyclables and placing them in the same truck bed.
Residents asked for a response from the Supervisor over a month ago. As of this writing on July 19th, the Supervisor is still "investigating" the issue according to statements made by her to residents. At the July 18th, 2024 Town of Woodbury Board meeting, multiple members of the Woodbury Town Board, and Town employees, dismissed these concerns as simply misinformation posted on social media. At no point have they addressed the concerns raised by residents. Your office has the ability to examine contracts made by municipalities and vendors such as County Waste Management. Since no information is forthcoming from the Town Supervisor, I am asking you to investigate.
B. Since her time as the current Supervisor of Woodbury, Mrs. Luciani has given herself a raise, making her one of the highest paid Woodbury Town Supervisor in the history of the municipality, and hired her son to work at the Animal Shelter despite the hiring being a clear violation of the Town's Code of Ethics — which the Town Supervisor now wants to amend — and has used a Town vehicle as her personal vehicle. This includes placing civilian plates on the vehicle and having its windows tinted in violation of Section 375(12-a) NYS VTL.
Since taking over as Supervisor, there have been several incidents at the Animal Shelter governed by the Town of Woodbury. This includes at least one death by an animal hosted at the facility and multiple resignations by long-time volunteers.
As mentioned, at the July 18th Town of Woodbury Board meeting, the Town Board proposed amending the nepotism law to allow Town employees to hire spouses and family members without consequence. Concerns about the loosening of this law were also dismissed as negative comments made by concerned residents on social media.
At this time, the Town Attorney has not clarified the intention behind this law and whether or not its passage means Supervisor Luciani’s previous hiring her son, to work at the Animal Shelter, was in violation of the Town of Woodbury Ethics Code.
These are only two of many instances in which the Town of Woodbury and some of the departments it oversees, including the police, are not operating ethically or even legally.
I don't believe, and I think you'll agree, that this is not normal functioning behavior for a local municipality. Nor should this municipality be placed in charge of all Woodbury residents without an investigation to end the abovementioned malfeasance. Since the creation of the Village of Woodbury, I’ve demonstrated here the poor decisions and reckless behavior exhibited by previous Town of Woodbury Supervisors.
Without your intervention and investigation, the proposal by Senator Skoufis’s office may further jeporadize the fiscal health of the Town, the Village, and its residents, by placing the Town in charge.
(Your name here)
Here is the plain text version again for you to copy, paste, and send.