PLATTSBURGH — City of Plattsburgh councilors overwhelmingly rejected Mayor Chris Rosenquest’s proposal for a formal investigation into his office, the council and the police department.
At their meeting Thursday night, councilors shot down a resolution 4-1 that would have allowed city counsel to identify an independent third-party agency to investigate recent allegations of political candidate targeting by current and former police department members and a September email from Ward 3 Councilor Elizabeth Gibbs to the rest of council that alleged illegal activity and wrongdoing at the Plattsburgh City Police Department and the Mayor’s office.
Councilors Julie Baughn (D-Ward 1), Jacob Avery (D-Ward 2), Dave Monette (D-Ward 5) and Jeff Moore (D-Ward 6) all voted against the investigation proposal, while Jennifer Tallon (D-Ward 4) was the lone councilor to vote in favor of it.
“I do believe in transparency with the public,” Tallon said after the meeting.
“If there’s nothing to hide, then it’ll be fine.”
Gibbs, who was directly implicated in the allegations outlined in the resolution, was forced to recuse herself from the vote, and along with Rosenquest, was advised by city attorney Dean Schneller to not say anything during the discussion.
ALLEGATIONS
As previously reported by the Press-Republican, Rosenquest initially proposed an investigation last month after publicizing “unfounded, fabricated, and defamatory” claims made by Gibbs in an email to the rest of the council in September “against current and former members of the police department as well as allegations that former members of the Council hid information pertaining to departmental matters.”
Rosenquest said Gibbs additionally made accusations against him, claiming he is leveraging his office for “personal gain” and he “disciplines and squelches voices that are oppositional” to his office.
In his memo to media last month, Rosenquest also repeatedly named Councilor Gibbs as one of the city officials who he says has been working with and getting advice from outside sources such as former Plattsburgh City Police Chief Desmond “Desi” Racicot throughout her two, soon to be three, terms on the council.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, Rosenquest renewed his call for an investigation into these claims last week and additionally revealed the recent Republican candidate for mayor, Don Kasprzak — who lost the election to Democrat Wendell Hughes Tuesday night — and other police department members might have been the victim of targeting by a recently retired city police officer.
Documents obtained by the Press-Republican through a Freedom of Information Law request Friday showed a text message exchange between recently suspended patrolman Kristopher Minogue and former Lt. Jarrod Trombley where Trombley informs Minogue that “Don K. is drinking at Mickey’s right now.”
Minogue’s response to Trombley’s message was “10-4,” which typically means understood or OK among emergency personnel.
Another exchange provided in the documents show Trombley informing Minogue that several members of the department were seen at the 4th Ward, a local bar on Montcalm Avenue in Plattsburgh.
Documents show Minogue texted back “drove by but didn’t recognize any cars.”
PUBLIC SUPPORT
The investigation, which would have looked into all of the mayor’s claims as well, had support from several city residents prior to the vote.
“Many councilors use the word transparency as their battle cry,” former Ward 2 Councilor Mike Kelly told the council.
“Here’s a chance to live that transparency.”
Kelly, who left office at the end of 2023 after being term-limited out, said he was on the city’s public safety committee in 2022 when they were tasked with investigating reports of corruption in the police department.
Many of the allegations being made today were brought to light then, just not publicly, Kelly said. He said he believed the issues had been fixed up until recently.
“There are two camps in the police department: one camp supports a former police chief in his efforts to hone in on current police business; the second camp just wants the city police department to do its job in a non-corrupt fashion that best serves the public every day,” he said.
“ … Again, the council routinely speaks of transparency. Now is the time for you to bring that notion to life by voting yes for the police department investigation.”
City resident Cindy Snow said the council and mayor had a duty to report the corruption to the attorney general’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office.
“I’m just going to compel you to please do the right thing and investigate this so all the citizens of Plattsburgh are safe.”
COUNCILORS’ RESPONSE
As evidenced by the final 4-1 vote, the call for an investigation did not sit well with the councilors.
Baughn, who was also recently accused by Rosenquest of violating a city charter provision in an executive session last month, said during Thursday’s meeting that she felt “dirty” sitting there.
“I respect everyone that stood up at that mic and said what they needed to say,” Baughn said, referring to the public support, before adding that she also received phone calls prior to the meeting calling the mayor’s investigation proposal petty and personal.
“Nothing has been done that is illegal … I’m so livid right now. I literally feel dirty sitting here,” Baughn reiterated, before looking over at Rosenquest and saying “you’re good, you’re good.”
Councilor Moore chimed in to say he sees “nothing that rises to the level of an investigation.”
“The mayor is the manager of that department, if he has lost control of that department, it’s not on the council to get involved,” Moore said, as someone in the audience quietly disagreed.
“If there was something illegal happening, if there was misdoing happening, then you should report it to the proper authorities of the state, because this is not something that we should be getting into. I think it’s way premature.”
Councilors Avery and Monette felt the wording of the investigation resolution made it seem they were just investigating Gibbs’ email to council in September.
“Is she not allowed to write an email based on her opinion of the facts as she sees them and then send that to us?” Monette asked.
MAYOR RESPONSE
Following Thursday’s tense meeting, a visibly frustrated Rosenquest met with the media and questioned why the council would not want an investigation conducted.
“Why not investigate these concerns? If a councilor says, ‘hey, something illegal is going on,’ why not investigate it? If it’s been made clear that there’s potential illegalities happening with targeted enforcement, why not investigate it? What is there to hide?” Rosenquest said.
“The resolution clearly says that that investigation is an investigation into my actions. So why wouldn’t the council support it based on those claims by Councilor Gibbs?”
Asked what kind of impression he thinks the refusal to approve an investigation will leave on the public, the mayor said “We have people like Councilor Gibbs talking about transparency and the importance of transparency.”
“This certainly would provide a significant amount of transparency into what is actually happening, what actually happened with the potential targeted enforcement,” he said.
“Whether it be an ethics violation or actual illegal use of my office, you want transparency, investigate it, if you’re going to make those claims, investigate them.
“I’ve got nothing to hide. I’m the one asking for the investigation on myself. What am I hiding? If I’m the one out here saying if you’re going to make these claims against me, step up and investigate them. Put some truth behind it. You’re not willing to do that. Well, it’s pretty clear then. At that point, it’s pretty clear,” he continued.
“This is not about my ‘manifesto,’ this is not about my concern about this, all these ongoing attacks against the police department. This is about the truth. You want to make these claims, get the truth.”
As for next steps, Rosenquest, who has just under two months left in office, said he will continue to take every opportunity to find out and sort out what actually happened.
“We’ll do whatever we can, but fundamentally, it is council’s responsibility to launch this investigation,” Rosenquest said.
“Why wouldn’t they?”