In a move that surprised some elected officials at the table, members of New Paltz’s town board voted at a special meeting on July 8 to abolish the town’s citizen police commission. After calling the meeting to order, town supervisor Amanda Gotto moved, “based on the grievance that we have and on the advice of our attorney,” to abolish the commission; Randall Leverette immediately offered a second to the motion. It passed by a three-to-two vote.
The supervisor asserted that the town intended “to re-establish the commission once we get through this situation.”
Notice of the meeting was posted online less than six hours before it took place, councilmembers Edgar Rodriguez and Esi Lewis alleged. They said that they had been made aware of the meeting only that afternoon. Neither had been provided with an agenda in advance, they said.
Lewis confirmed being unaware of the purpose of the special meeting until the initial motion was made, and referred additional questions to Gotto. Follow-up calls and emails to Gotto had not been returned by press time.
Councilmember Kitty Brown offered a timeline leading up to that point. “Thursday night [July 3] we interviewed prospects for the police commission,” Brown said. “Then we went into executive session, where we learned ‘the thing’ that Amanda was asked to get an opinion from the attorney on, but because Friday was a holiday she couldn’t get an opinion until yesterday morning.”
There were in fact 30 hours — six hours more than required — between the posting of the meeting time and the meeting. The posting stated that the police commission was the subject of the special meeting. Was “the thing” the grievance which Gotto had referenced? Gotto offered an amendment to the timeline, saying that the attorney’s opinion had been provided only on the morning of the meeting. Pressed by Lewis, Gotto said that abolition of the commission had been a recommendation of “multiple attorneys,” specifically the town’s labor-relations attorney. At the January 2 meeting this year the firm of Roemer Wallens & Mineaux was added for labor relations, and DiStasi and Moriello & Murphy for general legal services. Joseph Moriello of that firm is the individual who usually attends meetings upon request.
“Unjustified violence”
Lewis noted during this meeting that “it often looks like some members are left out” of discussions, and that others seem more prepared. Lewis pointed out that Brown was ready with a detailed explanation of the timeline and rationale for this motion.
Brown claimed that board members “can’t do group emails.” In fact, it is possible to convey information electronically without violating the state’s open meetings law. In an advisory opinion issued in 2007, a member of the state’s committee on open government wrote that the transmission or receipt of messages or information by email would not constitute a meeting. It seems the claim that all group emails were in violation of law was debunked nearly 20 years ago. What is not allowed is deliberating or voting over email.
Reached Wednesday, Rodriguez said there could be a negative public reaction to the town board majority’s action. “Members of the public really want a [police commission] composed of only five civilian members who are not politicians on the [town council] as the most effective model of civilian oversight,” he wrote on Wednesday. “This is necessary to avoid a certain level of … political interference which the public saw in the unjustified New Paltz police-officer violence against Paul Echols about seven years ago. At that time, the New Paltz Police Citizens Advisory Committee was suddenly abolished when it found in an investigation in favor of victim Echols and against [officer Robert Knoth] for “unjustified violence.” The officer retired immediately with a full pension and other benefits.
The temporary appointment of Lewis and Rodriguez as board members of the commission until the end of December 2025 was for the purpose of revamping the town police-commissioner law. Anthony Winn was also appointed earlier this year as a community member for three years. “He was also bumped yesterday,” Rodriguez said.
“I’ve been on both sides”
Conversation at public meetings has suggested that interpreting the language of the 2021 revised legislation outlining the authority of the police commission has been challenging.
Randall Leverette was chair of the police commission when it was dissolved during the last administration of Susan Zimet, and has now cast a vote to abolish the current commission. While the town code is silent on abolition, state law describes how a police commission may be created or abolished by resolution. As this particular commission was created using a law rather than a resolution, it’s not immediately clear on what basis the town’s attorneys determined that abolition by resolution is legal.
“I’ve been on both sides. It sucked then and it sucks now,” Leverette, reached for comment, said. “I’m a strong proponent of a civilian commission that’s free of political influence, other than the selection of members and guidance from a liaison when asked. But commissioners should work collaboratively with the department when needed, be a devil’s advocate when necessary, and have teeth to slap wrists when needed.”
The commission just abolished has no such “teeth,” although that was a desired reform articulated in the final report of the New Paltz Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.
That report recommended “nothing short of full and independent disciplinary latitude.” This was to include a clause that it couldn’t be disbanded without clear evidence of detrimental behavior and “without harm caused to the community through the actions of the commission.”
The revised law didn’t include provisions for disciplinary authority or independence. “I can’t speak to what was done in 2021, but it was poorly conceived, and the implementation and necessary guidance was lacking,” said Leverette, That’s an assertion which councilmembers have in various ways been making at public meetings this year.
Leverette provided a specific example. The 2021 law putting a civilian commission in place conflicts both with state civil-service law and with the police contract, both of which have precedence, in numerous places.
The former police commissioner also lamented the lack of orientation or specific training for new commissioners regarding expectations and best practices. Such a service, in Leverette’s view, could be provided by a former civilian commissioner.
The meeting of the town board this Thursday, July 17 will be preceded by the first police commission meeting since those duties were relegated back to elected officials.
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