Guerrero now deputy mayor
“It seems like every meeting lately I have to apologize to the community for all of this nonsense that goes on up here. It’s bad. And it goes on every day. Not just seven o’clock on a meeting night. It goes on all the time. It’s terrible. It’s embarrassing. And I say to the community ‘it’s my fault’. I can’t control them. I can’t do it. He asks for a motion to adjourn because it’s getting out of control. It doesn’t happen. Somebody wants to talk, then the other person wants to talk. There are things … I could go on and on. There are things that were said tonight about me. They’re false. And my things are going to come out real soon. And you’re all going to be surprised who was involved. You’re really going to be surprised who was involved. Some are in this room right now. I gave 30 years to this community … blood, sweat and tears … and have nothing for it, except those that love me or like me. I apologize. I apologize to this community. I’ve got an attorney sitting over here who probably thinks we’re nuts. You represent other municipalities, does this go on? No, I know it doesn’t. I know the answer to it. Things that were said tonight about a possible employee were not .. a lot of it wasn’t true. We don’t do anything up here dishonest, or behind someone’s back. Never! I don’t know. Anything I say now is going to be a repeat. This is embarrassing. It’s frigging embarrassing.”
Those were the final three minutes of last Thursday’s Village Board meeting, when Mayor Joe D’Onofrio stood up, adjusted his suit jacket and said he was going to talk to the community. His remarks, exactly as above, came after a meeting full of accusations, some yelling, and people coming and going from the meeting room in the Senior Center, where the meeting was held.
He finished those remarks, and then said he was going to give Trustee Jim DiSalvo — DiSalvo had been the deputy mayor of the village until 7:54 p.m. that evening when D’Onofrio abruptly announced that Trustee Dr. Melanie Guerrero was the new deputy mayor — a few minutes to speak. But when DiSalvo started to speak, D’Onofrio nearly immediately cut him off, stood up again, and called for the meeting to be adjourned. He appeared to take a vote, which he said was 3-2 in favor of adjourning, and demanded the camera recording the meeting be shut off.
It was chaotic.
The first unusual moment came when Highland Falls’ Olga Anderson, wearing cat ears, chastised DiSalvo during public comment for his use of the term ‘cat fight’ at the August 15 meeting. “That was an appalling statement, and quite frankly not surprising,” she said and she asked the board to censure DiSalvo.
Guerrero responded, saying that she served in the Army for 20 years, “where this kind of sexism wasn’t tolerated” and said “it shouldn’t be tolerated here”.
DiSalvo said he apologized for using the ‘cat fight’ phrase, but didn’t apologize for calling out board members, particularly Guerrero, for frequently speaking over others.
The next unusual moment came a bit later in the meeting, when Department of Works members complained that D’Onofrio was “taking vengeful acts against village employees” after his recent legal troubles.
They complained that a recently changed job description — “yesterday,” Pablo Pulido said — for the supervisor of the DPW does not allow any current employee to apply for the job because they don’t have water licenses, something that position has never required. They said, although it was never confirmed, that members of the board had interviewed someone for the position that day.
Those remarks led John Jones, who currently holds the DPW supervisor position on a stipended, interim basis — he’s also the village’s sewer plant operator — to question the change as well, saying he’d applied for the DPW job two years ago.
After being told by Guerrero “I don’t’ think you even know what you’re talking about” and saying “it’s not retaliation” — Jones also questioned why no one was asking D’Onofrio to apologize and said instead he’s getting punished.
“How come the public hasn’t asked that mayor up there to apologize for lying and stealing? I did my job, answering questions that the DA asked me,” Jones said.
At that point, D’Onofrio also said that if Jones kept speaking he would ask for a motion to adjourn and the camera to go off.
That caused Pulido to say “See what I’m saying (indicating D’Onofrio) he’s the king”.
Eventually Village Attorney Alyse Terhune spoke loudly, saying “the village can not conduct business if it is not an orderly meeting,” quieting things down.
However, the meeting went on for another half hour; during that time Guerrero spoke at length about DiSalvo’s former position on the county’s Industrial Development Agency, appearing to prompt D’Onofrio’s naming of Guerrero as deputy mayor.
The entire meeting is available to watch via a link at www.highlandfallsny.org.
