A state Supreme Court judge has thrown out Woodstock’s case against a part-time police officer Phil Sinagra, ruling the town botched the process by missing a critical 60-day deadline. It’s a failure that could cost taxpayers and expose deep divisions at town hall.
The town served Sinagra a notice of discipline Sept. 20, 2024, well outside of the 60 days required by town law from the time the facts were known to the town board, ruled Ulster County’s state Supreme Court judge David Gandin on Oct. 7. The town is barred from pursuing disciplinary action based on the Sept. 16, 2024, notice of discipline.
In an 18-page complaint in March, Sinagra sued to stop disciplinary proceedings, arguing he was the subject of retaliation for making policy changes in preparation for police department accreditation. He was on paid administrative leave from May 16, 2023, until Nov. 22, 2024, when supervisor Bill McKenna put him back to work cleaning up trash and enforcing the Comeau Preserve leash law. Eventually, he was relegated to reporting to a desk on Fridays with no assigned duties.
Sinagra alleged the facts underlying the five allegations in the notice of discipline were known to the town board in spring 2024.
The town argued three out of the five allegations are not subject to the 60-day limit because the investigation that began in September 2023 revealed additional professional misconduct. The remaining charges were submitted to the board June 11, 2024.
But Gandin ruled it is still outside the 60 days.
“Even adopting respondents’ argument that the town board only received proper notice of the facts when its attorney presented the findings of his investigation on June 11, 2024, respondents did not bring written charges against petitioner until Sept. 16, 2024, well after the expiration of the 60-day statute of limitations,” Gandin ruled.
The town does not dispute the delay, but argued it deferred the notice of discipline based on productive settlement negotiations.
Gandin said there is no evidence Sinagra offered to waive any statute of limitations while the parties negotiated.
“To the contrary, the record establishes that months prior to the negotiations petitioner asserted that he believed that any potential disciplinary action which may be brought would be untimely,” he wrote.
“Because the facts underlying the misconduct alleged in the notice of discipline were known to the town board more than 60 days before respondents initiated disciplinary proceedings against petitioner, respondents exceeded their statutory authority under town law.”
Supervisor Bill McKenna has blamed police chief Clayton Keefe for the delay, but Keefe had also determined the charges were outside the 60-day limit.
“Further continuance of any action in this matter could bring potential action from the police officers union in the form of a grievance or further legal action and possible legal action in the form of officer Sinagra’s constitutional rights being violated from officer Sinagra, therefore no further action is recommended,” Keefe wrote in an Oct. 21, 2024, determination.
Sinagra was the subject of a May 2023 federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that followed an internal investigation that found no wrongdoing.
Three officers, a sergeant and a former dispatcher alleged Sinagra made racially and sexually charged comments toward police personnel, which were subject to retaliation for lodging complaints.
When the EEOC complaint did not result in charges, the five employees filed a lawsuit seeking $500,000 each. One officer dropped out of the suit, and the town eventually settled for $70,000 distributed among the four remaining personnel.
Council member and presumptive supervisor-elect Anula Courtis blamed McKenna for failing to inform the Town Board in a timely manner, but McKenna countered the board was actively engaged in the process from the beginning.
“We followed the advice of our attorney, and the investigation just took too long,” he said.
The town board must decide to either drop the matter, allowing Sinagra to return to active duty, or it can appeal within 30 days, allowing Sinagra to remain on a combination of desk duty at the town offices and administrative leave, McKenna said.
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