The other members of Woodstock’s town board were not the only officials who town supervisor Bill McKenna didn’t tell about the town’s hiring in March being a paroled sex offender. Police chief Clayton Keefe didn’t know maintenance worker Michael Innello was a Level 3 offender until a month and a half ago.
After the disputatious meeting of the town board on the evening of Tuesday, July 22, Keefe said he was not made aware of Innello’s past until the morning of the June 10 meeting of the town board when Innello was promoted from part-time to full-time. He noted Innello’s potential proximity to children should be monitored. Innello is under parole supervision until December 10, 2034. Keefe said anyone with concerns is encouraged to contact police dispatch at 845-679-2422.
Woodstock day camp group leader Dahlia Boiardi called the decision to hire Innello “disgusting.”
“There are many minors employed at the camp. Michael Innello was at the camp working, filling the pool,” she said. “We didn’t know who he was. We didn’t know not to approach him, not to speak with him. There were children there that day. Not just our staff who are minors. There were children who are your children. Your young children who you bring to meet us as counselors, five-year-olds who are going into kindergarten. They were there in the community center.”
A half-dozen townspeople including victims of sex abuse spoke at the Public be Heard portion of the July 22 meeting.
Urana Kinlen criticized McKenna for not including the rest of the town board in decisions.
“You’re not talking to your other board members. You’re not helping the new people that got elected by this town. You’re a civil servant to us, the taxpayers and you are not the same person I knew about two or three years ago,” Kinlen said. “And I don’t know what’s wrong with you or what’s going on, but you’ve got to change.”
“Hiring a Level 3 sex offender is a very serious decision,” said Eliza Kunkel. “There needs to be an infrastructure in place to manage such a hire. An infrastructure that our town demonstrably does not have.”
Abuse survivor Rebecca Turmo fought back tears,triggered by comments from McKenna that drinking was involved in the abuse and that the participants were young.
“You have put us on trial, we who are victims in the past, with those words,” Turmo said. “For a multitude of reasons, starting from the beginning, it’s fairly obvious that a lack of transparency with other board members is honestly actually your self-inflicted wound, Bill.”
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