PORT CHESTER: Three days after three village trustees were removed on a technicality, an obscure state law allowed them to return to the dais. Democratic trustees Dan Brakewood, Greg Adams and Luis Marino were stripped of their elected positions on Friday after failing to sign their written oaths of office within 30 days of taking office.
They were back on the Board of Trustees and voted during a special meeting Monday afternoon after the village’s attorney issued an opinion on a section of the state public officers law that says when an office becomes vacant under these circumstances, the previous person is held over.
Since all three trustees were in office before the March village elections, they were held over from their previous terms. “So Dan (Brakewood), for example, had a term that expired on April 5. Because his replacement — himself — does not qualify to take the seat, Dan (Brakewood) remains in his old seat,” Mayor Dennis Pilla said in an email. Pilla has been looking for answers since the trustees were booted out of office on Friday. He said he originally wanted to reappoint the three trustees during a special meeting on Friday, but he couldn’t get a quorum together. Instead, he worked with the village attorney to find this solution.
The downside, Pilla said, is the three of them are at the mercy of the remaining three Republican trustees and the mayor. As holdovers, they have no legal entitlement to the seat and can be replaced at the discretion of the other voting board members. “This is the nuance that has saved them,” Pilla said. “But they’re in a temporary hold over status. The four other members of the board can vote to replace one or all with an appointment or call for a special election in 2017.”
Marino said he won’t change the way he votes to appease the Republican trustees, even though they can remove him from office. “It is what it is. There’s nothing else we can do,” Marino said. “But this isn’t going to impact how I vote.” The bizarre situation is rare, but not unique in New York. In 1992, Rye Town Assessor John Lombino, a Republican appointee, was removed by the Democratic-controlled board then replaced. At the time of his dismissal, he was in the midst of a hearing after being brought up on disciplinary charges.
In 1996, Harrison Town Councilman Pat Vetere lost his office. The sole Democrat on the board at the time, Vetere was replaced by a Republican appointee but the mayor and other council members reappointed Vetere after public outcry over the move.
All six trustees were up for election when Port Chester held its village elections March 15. The three Republican-backed candidates who won — Gene Ceccarelli, Francis Ferrara and Bart Didden — weren’t removed from office. Ceccarelli and Didden said they signed their oaths. Ferrara said in an email he signed his at the request of the village clerk. The ouster had come less than three weeks after the board’s controversial decision to eliminate all eight paid firefighters and shift to an all-volunteer fire department.
Adams was the lone vote against laying off the workers, a move which officials said would save $800,000, but has caused a fierce backlash from residents and from paid firefighters in Port Chester and neighboring communities. Marino, a volunteer firefighter, abstained from the vote. Port Chester officials said the removal of the three trustees doesn’t seem to have any voiding effect on votes taken during their truncated time in office, a stance that seems to be backed by state law. Those votes included the adoption of the village’s 2016-17 budget and the controversial fire department vote.