“I’m glad that he’s closing all these loopholes in city government and that things will be more transparent going forward,” said Senor, who served on the council during the mayoralty of Gallo’s brother, the late T.R. Gallo. “But this stuff has been going on for 30 or 40 years, it wasn’t just Sottile’s administration, it was his own brother’s administration. He should just correct what’s wrong and move on already.”
Among Shayne Gallo’s duties as assistant corporation counsel was to provide legal advice to the Common Council’s Finance Committee. But, Gallo said, he was unaware of the scope of the problems with internal controls until he moved into the mayor’s office in 2012. According to Gallo, while he often fielded questions about contract provisions in regards to vacation payouts and other matters, no one ever questioned the veracity of the records.
“I was not aware that there was so much opportunity for abuse,” said Gallo. “There was never a question of how do we know [that time and vacation records were accurate]?”
Shayne tightens the ship
After taking office in January 2012, Gallo continued a process of stepped-up financial oversight that began the previous year following revelations that former KPD Detective Lt. Tim Matthews (who, like Salzmann, recorded his own working hours with little verification) had stolen thousands of dollars and submitted falsified payroll records. It’s a process that Gallo said would continue this year as he negotiates new contracts with city unions that he hopes will include provisions for time-clocks and other items that will make it easier to record and verify time and attendance. Gallo called on the city unions to avoid an “adversarial approach” to the new measures and called on the Common Council to support the initiatives as a critical step towards restoring Kingston residents’ battered faith in city government.
“This is not a political issue,” said Gallo. “I did not create this mess, I did not create this culture of entitlement. This is not a vendetta.”
There were others who treated their jobs at City Hall as no show jobs under the previous administration. I urge the Mayor to audit some of the other departments, and I believe he knows which ones should be audited.
Jesse Smith:A Misdemeanor IS a crime–it is just a lesser crime than a Felony.
The lawyers in this city seem to know the score on this one, yet I see the journalists only rely on the elected folks.
Sottile loses more credibility every time he picks up a mixed drink. His lies are as massive as the hole that is exposed when he opens his mouth.
There remains a culture of entitlement throughout the city of Kingston–only it has now spread to traffic court too and “the revenuers” there. It seems as if it will take five centuries to disentangle the mess of the city of Kingston–if anyone dares to try very seriously.