Friday, February 26, 2021 - 9:27 am
To the Editor:
We would like to address the mayor and council with regards to those who have been calling in and writing letters during the council meetings.
The name calling, negative comments, and loud distractions are rude and cruel. Some of these will stay with our city manager, mayor and council members forever.
Is it really necessary to behave with such cruelty? Can you not get your point across without this kind of behavior? When all of these decisions are made and final to make Ogdensburg better, will there still be hard feelings and disruption among everyone?
OGDENSBURG â Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly has formally been charged with harassment in connection with an incident where he allegedly pushed a former city fire captain to the ground outside City Hall last year.
Mayor Skelly, 61, was charged by state police Wednesday with second-degree harassment, state police Troop B Public Information Officer Jennifer Fleishman confirmed Thursday. He was issued a summons returnable to Fowler Town Court on March 16.
Mayor Skelly said Thursday that he plans to fight the charge.
âItâs not true and Iâm going to fight it,â Mayor Skelly said.
According to a complaint filed Dec. 29 of last year in City Court, Mayor Skelly is alleged to have physically harassed a person outside City Hall on Dec. 9, 2020. It was later confirmed the person allegedly pushed by the mayor was now-retired Fire Capt. Gerald H. Mack. The incident was also reportedly caught on camera.
OGDENSBURG â Gathered on the steps of City Hall before Monday nightâs council meeting, a sea of colorful signs rose into the air while about 50 citizens chanted for the resignation of the mayor and three councilors.
âOut the door with the âFab 4,ââ âAll 4 are guilty, all 4 must go!!â and âStep down nowâ were just a few signs on display for about 45 minutes leading up to Mondayâs 6 p.m. City Council meeting.
âWe have great concerns with the way City Hall is running business,â city resident Angie D. McRoberts said during Mondayâs rally. âThe city of Ogdensburg has an established charter and we feel as though the charter has been obsolete since this new administration has taken office.
OGDENSBURG — A resolution last year calling for the layoffs of four police officers — now found by an arbitrator to have violated the city charter — could put the
OGDENSBURG â One City Council member has submitted a resolution calling for the mayor and three councilors to resign following an arbitratorâs decision this week that the city charter was violated when the body agreed to eliminate four police officers.
But the resolution has been omitted from Monday nightâs council agenda.
Councilor Daniel E. Skamperle confirmed Friday that following the arbitratorâs decision, the minority members of council â himself, Michael B. Powers and Nichole L. Kennedy â submitted a resolution Thursday calling for the majority of council to resign because of their âyesâ votes to eliminate the four officers.
The councilors in question are John A. Rishe, William B. Dillabough and Steven M. Fisher, as well as Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly.