PLATTSBURGH — City of Plattsburgh Mayor Chris Rosenquest released a scathing memo Friday afternoon, calling for a formal investigation into his accusations that current and former city officials, most notably Councilor Elizabeth Gibbs, have been working together to influence decisions made in City Hall and the police department.
“For too many years the City of Plattsburgh’s Police Department has been plagued with an undercurrent of manipulation and deceit, which has bled into the current political landscape,” Rosenquest wrote in a memo to local media outlets.
“In my tenure as Mayor, l’ve taken numerous steps to expose and remove this malignancy but despite this effort more work is required and I refuse to sit silent and pass this problem to the next administration. Our residents deserve transparency and the truth.”
Rosenquest, who has a little over two months left in his tenure, repeatedly named Councilor Gibbs (D-Ward 3) 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.
Rosenquest said obtained emails showed that Gibbs, on numerous occasions, reached out to Racicot, and even former Mayor James Calnon, for advice on city matters such as the controversial Harborside Hotel project last year.
Rosenquest called Racicot a “shadow contingent” for City Hall for several years.
The mayor said early in his tenure, after “having exposure and a better understanding of underlying intentions,” he personally instructed Racicot to disassociate himself from City Hall.
“Shortly thereafter, I was publicly accused by Councilor Gibbs of ‘pointing my finger’ towards her in a demeaning manner and have since faced numerous defamatory character attacks and unfounded accusations,” he said.
“Despite being subject to these unprovoked attacks I’ve, on numerous occasions, invited Ms. Gibbs to professional mediation, counseling, and to explore any other communication strategy to re-establish our working relationship for the benefit of our City. Councilor Gibbs never accepted these offers and frankly refused to communicate with me in any meaningful way, unless it was a short interaction on the Council floor, or by lobbing additional insults via the media or via covert communications.”
Other matters Gibbs discussed with Racicot, Rosenquest said, date back even farther to when former Police Chief Levi Ritter made his departure from the city in 2021. Rosenquest said emails showed Racicot provided Gibbs with questions and mechanisms to question Chief Ritter’s integrity and performance. He said emails of that nature have been ongoing.
“Turning back to Ritter: With information and strategies likely provided by the same “shadow” contingent, Councilor Gibbs aggressively pushed former Mayor (Colin) Read in her capacity as Councilor to pursue disciplinary charges in pursuit of ousting Ritter. On one of his last days in office, Mr. Read apparently relented and placed Ritter on administrative leave. When faced with the option of disciplinary charges versus retirement, Ritter chose retirement,” Rosenquest said.
“With this information, a clear pattern emerges in which Councilor Gibbs will attack members of this department with information only provided to her which is more often than not exaggerated if not completely fabricated yet presented as the truth.”
All of this evidence was revealed following an investigation, launched by former Provisional Police Chief Bud York in 2022.
TROMBLEY SUSPENSION
Tensions came to a head once again last month after Rosenquest placed now retired police Lt. Jarrod Trombley, who was up for the police chief position in 2021, on administrative suspension without pay for two charges relating to misconduct, incompetence, insubordination and falsifying the numbers of hours worked, city documents show.
Rosenquest said Gibbs sent an email Sept. 8, to the other five councilors titled “some information regarding the pd that you need to know” making several claims about the mayor’s intentions for disciplining Trombley.
“…Fantastical claims of wrongdoing, suggestions of coercion, assertions of burying discipline for personal gain, and retaliation against ‘oppositional’ members of the police department,” Rosenquest said.
However, over 17 pages of city phone records showed “flagrant disregard for his official duties while using this city owned property,” the mayor said.
“This includes spending hours on the day on the phone to his wife, Mayoral Candidate Wendell Hughes, and among other personal communications, exchanging thousands of text messages with these same individuals and subordinate employees with no proper public purpose.”
According to city documents, Trombley, who several councilors recently revealed to the Press-Republican that they thought he would be a qualified chief candidate, signed a settlement agreement to retire Sept. 20.
Rosenquest said a council-approved formal investigation into himself, all council members and the police department will reveal all of his statements in the memo to be true. He said he has nothing to hide from an investigation.
Hughes, a Democrat, who Rosenquest implicated in his memo and is hoping to win the bid for city mayor Nov. 5, said he was not happy to have his name thrown out there.
“I’m on the public safety committee for the county and I’m also on a mental health and addiction one. Jarrod is — was — on all of our committees. I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to talk to Jarrod Trombley,” Hughes said.
“I’m more than happy to discuss anything with anybody about Jarrod Trombley and our relationship. I’m totally open.”
GIBBS RESPONSE
In response to Rosenquest’s memo, which was six pages in its entirety and can be found on the Press-Republican’s website, Gibbs said the mayor’s “manifesto” was all about timing as early voting begins today.
“By making claims and accusations of wrong-doing against Councilors who support the candidate who won the Democratic Primary in June–and even suggesting a nefarious connection between retired Lieutenant Jarrod Trombley and that same candidate–Mr. Rosenquest seeks only to further his vendettas and abuse the power of his office to do so. He wants to harm Wendell Hughes’ candidacy for his own benefit,” she wrote Friday.
“I have been the most vocal, fierce, and unrelenting critic of Mr. Rosenquest during his entire administration. He has proven over and over that he will bear a grudge and hurt anyone who gets in the way.”
Gibbs then defended her Sept. 8th email to councilors.
“There is no expectation of privacy on City email. Therefore, communicating on that platform is open government. If I had wanted to hide my communication, I would have done so on private email or text messages.”
She said Rosenquest’s claims a nefarious relationship with Racicot was formed were ridiculous. She said former Mayor Read brought Racicot in as a consulate in 2019 to advise on police, fire, and code enforcement matters.
“His involvement helped provide real solutions for the problems and even helped shape the rental registry law that was passed later,” Gibbs said.
“When the Butchino incident became public in 2020,” she said, referring to the city police incident where Zachary Butchino sued the city for excessive use of force after being arrested, ”Chief Racicot was asked to advise by Mayor Read. But let’s be clear: the incident happened, Chief Racicot was not in charge of the police department at the time, and the officers involved were disciplined.
“Chief Ritter’s removal was not a witch hunt: what I brought to the Council in 2020 as concerns were NOT fabricated. They were met with a unanimous vote from every Councilor present to conduct the investigation. The investigation happened and action was taken.”
Gibbs, who defeated Rosenquest in the Ward 3 Democratic Primary in June, now says that loss has “clearly eaten at him.”
“He takes aim at me as another way to silence me and–by association–derail Wendell Hughes’s campaign. I am confident the public will see this for what it is: a carefully timed attack to derail Wendell Hughes’s campaign to favor Don Kasprzak.”
Reached for a statement Friday, Kasprzak, the Republican candidate for mayor, said “In regards to Mayor Rosenquest’s press release, the information revealed today should concern the entire community.”
“I have always believed in transparency and now as a candidate it appears my opponent has questionable collaboration,” he said.
“I feel we have run a positive campaign and this type of politics is unacceptable. I fully support a thorough investigation.”