No Records Found That ICE Has Requested Aiding and Abetting From Beacon's Administrator or Mayor

According to a FOIL request made by A Little Beacon Blog to the City of Beacon asking for any requests made by ICE to the City Administrator Chris White or Mayor Lee Kyriacou about immigration status' or actions taken with regard to immigrants in the City of Beacon, there have been “no records found responsive to this request,” the City of Beacon responded on 6/12/2025.

This request was made after Mayor Lee Kyriacou delivered his statement about the City of Beacon’s response to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) list that targeted cities and counties in New York State, including Dutchess County and Beacon.

In his statement delivered during a City Council Meeting, he said: “While the city has yet to receive any formal communication by the federal government, we remain confident that the City is abiding any all applicable state and federal laws and judicial orders. Our City and our Police Department remain committed to protecting public safety and any statements to the contrary are presumably misleading and inaccurate.”

City Council Agenda For 6/16/2025 Meeting

Tonight’s 6/16/2025 City Council Meeting is a Double Header. The Summer Schedule begins, which means that both the Workshop and the Public Meeting are on the same night. The Workshop starts at 7pm, and the Public Meeting is estimated to start at 7:45pm, but will begin whenever the Workshop is over.

The Workshop Agenda is here.

The Public Meeting Agenda is here.

The City Council Meeting after 7:45pm is open to the public, in that the public can come to speak on any topic for up to 3 minutes at the beginning and end of the meeting.

Public Hearings:

Tonight’s meeting consists of 3 Public Hearings concerning the following. A Public Hearing means that the City Council needs to hear from the public on this specific subject before voting on proposed legislation.

• Public Hearing for a Proposed Local Law to Amend the Zoning Code Concerning Accessory Apartment Requirements in the City of Beacon

• Public Hearing for the Proposed 2026-2030 Capital Program

• Public Hearing for a Proposed Local Law Concerning Vehicles and Traffic

Local Laws and Resolutions:

• 1. Resolution No. 57 - Appointing Dar Sims to the Position of Fire Lieutenant

• 2. Resolution No. 58 - Awarding a Contract to Sun Up Construction Corp. for the Fishkill Avenue Water and Sewer Replacement Project

• 3. Resolution No. 59 - Adopting Local Law No. 6 of 2025 Concerning the Drought Emergency Plan

• 4. Resolution No. 60 - Adopting Local Law No. 7 of 2025 Concerning Loitering

Links To Supporting Documents Are Here:

The Workshop Agenda is here.

The Public Meeting Agenda is here.

Beacon's Mayor Kyriacou and National Sheriff's Association Respond To DHS Immigration Letter Targeting Cities and Counties

During last week’s City Council Meeting (6/2/2025), Mayor Kyriacou acknowledged the list issued by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which targeted cities and counties including Beacon as a “sanctuary” that DHS felt were obstructing federal immigration laws during the 47th administration’s commitment to removing as many Brown people with varying immigration status’ as possible.

“While the city has yet to receive any formal communication by the federal government, we remain confident that the City is abiding any all applicable state and federal laws and judicial orders. Our City and our Police Department remain committed to protecting public safety and any statements to the contrary are presumably misleading and inaccurate.”

— Beacon's Mayor Lee Kyriacou

The list, posted by DHS on May 29th and removed 2 days later, according to reporting in the Highlands Current, included 15 counties and 12 cities in New York (out of 500 jurisdictions nation-wide on the list). MidHudson News reported that “according to the DHS, counties identifying as state sanctuary jurisdictions include Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester, but many of the counties strongly disagree. Municipalities with self-identification, according to DHS, include the cities of Beacon, Hudson, Kingston, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie, and the Village of New Paltz.”

According to the Highlands Current, DHS said that the areas mentioned are “deliberately and shamefully obstructing” federal immigration enforcement and protecting “dangerous criminal aliens.” DHS instructed that the areas “immediately review and revise their policies to align with federal immigration laws,” but told municipalities to “conduct their own evaluation.”

Also according to the article, the Trump administration is attempting to strong-arm support hyper-locally through its 287(g) agreements with local law enforcement agencies. “Those agreements allow agencies to assume some enforcement duties and greatly expand the capabilities of ICE,” reporter Leonard Sparks said.

Active 287(g) agreements in place between ICE and at least one jurisdiction in the states that are green. As of May 13, 2025.

Beacon’s Mayor Kyriacou’s Response To The DHS List

Mayor Kyriacou proclaimed during the meeting: “The Department of Homeland Security issued a list which has apparently been withdrawn, of cities, counties and states that are ‘deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws and endangering American citizens.’ Which list includes the City of Beacon. It is absolutely not the case that the City is deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws. While the City has yet to receive any formal communication by the federal government, we remain confident that the City is abiding any all applicable state and federal laws and judicial orders. Our City and our Police Department remain committed to protecting public safety and any statements to the contrary are presumably misleading and inaccurate.”

National Sheriffs’ Association Pressures Federal Government To Withdraw Letter

According to MidHudson News, the list was removed due to pressure from local officials including sheriffs. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed a list of ‘sanctuary’ states, cities and counties from its website following sharp criticism from sheriffs’ and elected officials throughout the U.S., including here in the in the Hudson Valley.”

The article continued: “The National Sheriffs’ Association had maintained that a list of “non-compliant” sheriffs could damage the relationship between the Trump administration and law enforcement.” The CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association, Jonathan Thompson, was credited with impacting the withdraw in a memo written to sheriffs’ offices nation-wide:

According to MidHudson News, “The Department of Homeland Security removed its misguided and error-prone sanctuary State, Counties, and Cities list. This happened only after Tom Homan and senior-most White House staff weighed-in directing it be withdrawn until further notice. Suffice to say this is a good first step but more remains to be considered.”

Revisiting Beacon’s “Welcoming City” Resolution

In 2017, Beacon signed legislation declaring it a “Welcoming” city, and elected not to be identified as a “sanctuary” city due to the threat of federal funding being withdrawn should a municipality identify as such. The full resolution can be read here. At the time, this was a highly contested piece of local legislation, with many in the Beacon community divided and packing the City Council meetings to speak for or against.

The resolution that Beacon passed reinforced the laws that already existed, and added more guidelines. A few of those are listed below:

City employees and officials shall not:

(a) Stop, question, interrogate, investigate or arrest an individual based solely on (i) actual or suspected immigration or citizenship status, or (ii) a “civil immigration warrant,” administrative warrant, or an immigration detainer in the individual’s name, including those identified in the National Crime Information Center database;

(b) Inquire about the immigration status of an individual, including a crime victim, a witness, or a person who calls or approaches the police seeking assistance, unless necessary to investigate criminal activity by that individual; or

(c) Perform the functions of a federal immigration officer or otherwise engage in the enforcement of federal immigration law, whether pursuant to 8 U.S.C §1357(g) or any other law, regulation or policy.

2. Detainer Requests. City employees and officials shall decline to respond affirmatively to a “civil immigration detainer” or similar request, unless (a) the request is accompanied by a judicial warrant, or (b) the police chief has determined there is probable cause to believe that the individual either (i) has illegally re-entered the country after a previous removal and has been convicted of a New York Penal Law Class A felony or Class B violent felony (or of an equivalent federal crime or crime under the law of another state); or (ii) has or is engaged in terrorist activity.

3. Information Requests. Subject to the ability of supervisory police officials to exercise their sound judgment as necessary to protect public safety, all City employees and officials shall:

(a) Decline to respond affirmatively to requests from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) or Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) for non-public information about an individual unless the request is accompanied by a judicial warrant or has a legitimate law enforcement purpose exclusive of the enforcement of immigration laws; EXCEPT that nothing in this resolution shall restrict any City employee or official from complying with the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1373 insofar as (i) sending to, or requesting or receiving from ICE information regarding an individual’s citizenship or immigration status, whether lawful or unlawful, (ii) maintaining such information, (iii) exchanging such information with any other federal, state or local government entity; or (iv) otherwise disclosing information about an individual’s criminal arrests or convictions, or juvenile arrests, delinquency or youthful offender adjudications, where disclosure is otherwise permitted by state law or required pursuant to subpoena or court order;

(b) Limit the information collected from individuals concerning immigration or citizenship status to that necessary to perform agency duties and shall prohibit the use or disclosure of such information in any manner that violates federal, state, or local law; and

(c) Inform the City Administrator of all requests received from ICE or CBP, who shall report on requests to the Mayor and City Council.

6. Local Resources. City employees and officials shall not use city funds, facilities, property, equipment, or personnel to investigate, enforce or otherwise assist any federal program requiring registration of individuals on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or national origin, including but not limited to ICE’s 287(g) program.

City Council Agenda For 6/2/2025 Meeting

Tonight’s 6/2/2025 City Council Meeting is open to the public, in that the public can come to speak on any topic for up to 3 minutes at the beginning and end of the meeting. Meeting begins at 7pm and is at Town Hall. The agenda has been republished to ALBB here.

Tonight’s meeting consists of 3 Public Hearings concerning the following. A Public Hearing means that the City Council needs to hear from the public on this specific subject before voting on proposed legislation.

• Accessory Apartment Requirements, to make those easier to apply for and build.

• Drought Emergency Plan.

• Loitering Law with Marijuana removed from it in order to match New York State’s law (ALBB wrote on that here).

Five laws are up for vote:

• 2026-2030 Capital Program Proposal (a vote to pass this budget on major purchases and infrastructure upgrades).

• Traffic and Parking (ALBB wrote on that here)

• Appointing Justine Bienkowski to the Tree Advisory Committee

• Appointing Brian Donnelly to the Tree Advisory Committee

• Self-Storage Facilities and Warehouse Storage Changes to law to address how they would not front on the street (must be set back). This is a reversal to an earlier proposed full out ban.

Marijuana and Cannabis Use On Sidewalks Proposed To Be Acceptable in Beacon - Not Loitering - Public Hearing Next

In a detailed set of Track Changes, the Beacon’s City Council at its 5/19/2025 Meeting agreed to set a Public Hearing to possibly Accept the proposed change in Beacon’s Loitering law in order to match New York State’s legality of marijuana and cannabis use in public spaces of streets and sidewalks, but not city parks, which Beacon has made such usage location illegal (listen to ALBB’s podcast episode about that law). Streets and sidewalks, however, the City of Beacon is proposing to deem legal in order to match New York State’s law.

The City’s Attorney Nick Ward-Willis explained: “The City's current loitering law says that if one is using marijuana, then they are deemed to be loitering. This would remove that from your from your law. Marijuana or cannabis use is permitted except where prohibited. So it can't be used in the city's parks, but it can be used in other public ways such as the road or the sidewalks. And that's permitted by New York State, so this makes the City's loitering law consistent with New York State law.”

The Public Hearing is set for the June 2nd City Council Meeting.

Traffic Proposals Up For Vote: No Parking Spots On Verplanck, Willow, North Chestnut; Adding Stop Signs to Washington Avenue

Beacon’s Parking and Traffic Safety Committee made the following recommendations during this week’s City Council Workshop meeting, which was presented by Ben Swanson, who serves as the Secretary for the Committee and is the Assistant to the Mayor’s Office. There will be a Public Hearing scheduled to hear from the public before these modifications are voted upon.

Verplanck and North Chestnut

A resident requested that the single parking spot on the East side of North Chestnut be eliminated. Councilperson Paloma Wake asked who brought this parking issue to the attention of the Traffic and Parking Safety Committee. Ben answered: "Someone who said that they use that intersection often in their travels." Ben added that there is a "related issue about the the mechanics [Verplanck Auto], whether or not they're allowed to be parking full up; filling up their little lot there on the corner. That's kind of a separate tangential issue," Ben said.

Both sides of the street are no-parking zones 50 feet from the intersection of Verplanck. The new no-parking spot would extend the East side to be 80 feet from Verplanck, and no cars would be between the house's driveway and Verplanck. The rest of Chestnut would remain having on-street parking.

A Little Beacon Blog asked Verplanck Auto if they were aware of any on-street parking issues, and they said that they were not. They agreed that the reduction of that single parking space would be a good idea, as turning into North Chestnut is difficult.

Verplanck and Willow Street

Beacon’s Fire Chief Thomas Lucchesi requested that the on-street parking on the tiny triangle at Willow Street and Verplanck be eliminated, as firetrucks need to get through. Ben explained that Willow Street is being used as the Fire Department’s “primary access route, rather than going further along Main Street than they have to.” The fire trucks come up from the new station, turn down Willow Street and go back into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Currently, there is a driveway there, and the on-street parking. During Sunday church-time, this area gets particularly crowded. When cars are parked there normally, they can become easy targets to be hit by people cutting right instead of taking the 90 degree right turn onto Verplanck from Willow Street.

Ben stated: “Verplanck and Willow Street at that intersection itself would be a very tight turn for a fire apparatus to make that turn. That access-road is really pretty crucial to their their access.”

Loading Zones of Willow Street by Main Street

Fire Chief Thomas also requested that no parking be along both sides of Willow Street for specified distances. For the West side of the street, the distance would be 65 feet, and from the East side of the street, the distance would be 90 feet.

Councilperson Paloma Wake stressed her concern for loading zones for businesses along Main Street. Turning onto Willow Street when trucks are parked on both sides of the street can be difficult, and during high traffic time between 3-5pm, a car can get stuck between them, therefore needing to alternate the oncoming cars. Trucks also do park further down into the middle of Willow Street to walk their loads down.

Stop Sign at Washington Avenue and Tillot Street

The proposal is to put Stop signs in both directions of travel on Washington Avenue at the intersection of Tillot Street, making the intersection a 4-way stop. Currently, there are Stop signs in both directions on Tillot Street.

Ben explained that there have been several requests for Stop signs along Washington Avenue. A Stop sign was discussed at Grove Street, but ultimately Tillot Street was decided upon. “Tillot Street was eventually the preferred option by the Committee because it is a primary school crossing area there's nearby bus stops. It's kind of where the character of the neighborhoods are changing along Washington Avenue becoming more dense residential, so it's kind of seen as a safety improvement to add the Stop signs to make this a four-way stop,” Ben said.

A Public Hearing will be scheduled so that the public can come in or call in with their opinions before the City Council votes on these changes.

The $250 Fine Has Been Issued To Residents Who Didn't Upgrade Their Water Meter Transistors

Water bills for the past 3 months (January, February, March) have been sent out. Tacked onto some of them is the $250 fine for not upgrading the water meter transistors, as became required since last year to begin tracking water usage in real time, the City of Beacon's Administrator Chris White announced during last night's City Council Meeting.

"People who didn't sign up to have their water meter transistors replaced are getting an automatic fine of $250," he said.

He reported that 85% of residents did have their water meter transistors upgraded, leaving 15%, or "several hundred people" who have not responded and are subject to this fine. He did leave room for "amnesty," as he called it, where residents who did not upgrade have 3 weeks in which to do so. After April 21, that charge will stay, he said.

To reverse the fine, people need to make an appointment by calling Vepo, the company making the switch, at 877-860-8376

"Make an appointment, for late in May or in June, and then the $250 charge fined will be reversed...Set up an appointment, no questions asked," he stressed.

Mayor Kyriacou touted benefits of the new water meter transistors, stating that they track water usage in real time, which people can see by logging in. Additionally, the system will send an alert to people if there is a water leak and usage spikes.

The Mayor explained that water bills are sent every 3 months, so advance warnings of leaks is useful to catch within this new mechanism.

City of Beacon's Workshop Agenda for 3/10/2025 Posted: Legalizing ADUs (aka sheds as houses), 248 Tioronda Update, etc.

The City of Beacon’s Workshop Agenda for the March 10, 2025 Meeting has been posted. At the meeting, the Council listened to a presentation from Dutchess County Department of Health on how people can access social benefits like SNAP, that the office is right in Beacon in the DMV building, and how emergency shelter housing works. As the Council continues to try to prioritized affordable housing as an issue, they had requested a presentation from the county. There continues to not be an overnight warming center in Beacon for the cold temperatures, and no one on City Council brought this up during the meeting. A Little Beacon Blog wrote about it earlier this season here.

The Council received an update from the owners of 248 Tioronda Avenue. At the owner’s continued request to open their residential units before building their required commercial office space that the City of Beacon mandated that they do years prior, the Council had reluctantly granted special permission for 248 Tioronda to open their residential units to be rented by the public before their proposed office space is built.

While the City of Beacon demanded that 248 Tioronda build and open the commercial space before their residential space, the owners of the development insisted that they tried and could not fill the commercial space. But that they had strong demand for their residential units. In a compromise, the City Council required that 248 Tioronda add a couple more Below Market Rate (BMR) apartment units to rent, and then report back.

This appearance by the owners was that required report. To which they said they rented all of the Below Market Rate apartments to people mainly from Beacon, and still had no deal or other interested parties except one that fell through on the commercial space.

The City of Beacon is reversing is decades long position on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU). For a long time, the older generation of Beacon snubbed the idea of ADUs, not wanting to let people rent their back houses and sheds to other people. Now that the older generation needs places to live if they want to stay in Beacon, and now that New York Governor Hochul is encouraging the legality of ADUs and incentivizing them with grants, this City Council is spearheading the about face on ADUs to legalize them.

Monday's City Council Meeting Topics: 3/3/2025

This week’s Agenda for the City Council meeting was posted, and includes a Community Segment for the Proposed Beacon-Hopewell Rail Trail Project from the Dutchess County Transportation Council Presentation.

Resolutions to be put to vote include:

Appointing a new Building Inspector II Bryan Murphy.

Approving 2024 Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) Contributions

Referring a Proposed Local Law Amending the Zoning Map Concerning East Main Street to the City of Beacon and the Dutchess County Planning Board. The proposed sale of the commercial condo at 1 East Main that houses Trax triggered a zoning flag, in that Trax was operating a coffeehouse in a zone, LI (Light Industrial) that did not permit that use. It permitted roasting of coffee, but not all of the offered seating. The subject of 7 East Main (Hudson Valley Brewery) was also raised as to the type of distillery they were in order to operate within the current LI zoning.

Therefore, the Council is considering rezoning all of East Main to be CMS (Central Main Street) where a coffee house with the number of seating needed is permitted.

City Of Beacon's Building Inspector Bruce Flower Resigns; A Look At 2 Questionable Situations He Was Involved In

City of Beacon’s Building Inspector to leave position for Town of Poughkeepsie.

The City of Beacon’s Building Inspector, Bruce Flower, is leaving Beacon for his former area of employment in the Town of Poughkeepsie, as was announced during the City Council Workshop Meeting on 1/27/2025.

There are at least two questionable incidents in Beacon that Bruce is connected to:

• Community Re-Development: Bruce was responsible for recommending that an intentionally burned down boarding house be rebuilt to accomodate one family instead of 9 apartments, as it was slated to do before the arson during an affordable housing crisis. Neighbors of the boarding house at 925 Wolcott Avenue demanded that the boarding house be rezoned to a single-family home because they didn’t like the renters or the owner, as evidenced in their letters to Beacon’s Zoning Board. ALBB has not looked into how many of the opposing neighbors also run AirBnBs or are in favor of short-term rentals in single-family homes. Bruce’s interpretation of the law did strip the zoning from the boarding house. This interpretation potentially incentives arson or destruction of a property by 50% or more in order to nullify its current zoning status, should an owner or third party want to do that.

• Personal Persecution: Bruce encouraged Sun River Health management to file a Misdemeanor Complaint against the chalk artist Ryan Manzi who chalked “Free Palestine” onto the back of their building on Main Street (which faces Main Street), as per the Misdemeanor Complaint that ALBB has seen.

Both of these topics are explored in this article. To gain context, this article includes a look at the history of Building Inspectors in Beacon since 2018, when Tim Dexter abruptly retired as Building Inspector in 2018.

Bruce Flower joined the City of Beacon as Building Inspector II in October 2022, leaving his job of 18 years as Deputy Building Inspector for the Town of Poughkeepsie, according to Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White at the 1/27/2025 Workshop Meeting. While the numeral II is in the title, it does not mean that there are 2 Building Inspectors, as City Administrator Chris explained when a Councilmember asked him at the 2/3/2025 City Council Meeting.

Dave Buckley was Beacon’s Building Inspector when Bruce came in. Dave started as Acting Building Inspector in January 2019 when Tim Dexter retired at the end of 2018. While Dave was to be “Acting,” his temporary position as Building Inspector lasted for 2 years. After Tim Dexter retired in November 2018, Mayor Randy Casale’s appointee, George Kolb Jr., ended up declining the job in January 2019 after accepting it in November 2018. That contributed to Dave Buckley being in his position 2 years longer as Acting Building Inspector.

One of the issues Tim Dexter was most known for in Beacon was his handling of proposed legalization of AirBnB apartments. He stuck to his interpretation of zoning requirements to require an egress window or sprinkler system be in residential units that were to be officially recognized as permitted AirBnB units in Beacon. These fire-safety installations can be an expensive fire-safety investment for homeowners who are trying to offer short term rentals for additional income. This was widely pushed back on by Beacon homeowners seeking legal recognition of their AirBnB short-term rentals.

The egress window or sprinkler system requirement was later reversed by the next Acting Building Inspector, Dave Buckley, who had been the Deputy Building Inspector at the time. As Acting Building Inspector, Dave interpreted the law differently, saying that short-term rentals could be designated as “accessory use,” which would not require homeowners to have egress windows or sprinkler systems in order to acquire their short-term rental permit.

In 2022, Mayor Lee and City Administrator Chris White tried to bring Tim Dexter back onto the City of Beacon’s payroll as a consultant for the construction of the multi-million dollar new firehouse. This was briefly discussed publicly, but never brought to an official appointment after information about Tim Dexter was submitted to the then new City Council, according to Jason Hughes, a Beacon business owner of The Yard. Therefore, Dave Buckley remained on as Acting Building Inspector until Cory Wirthmann was appointed in July 2023.

Enter Cory Wirthmann

Beacon hired Cory Wirthmann as Deputy Building Inspector, in July 2023. Cory also co-owns the olive oil shop on Main Street, Scarborough Fare, producers of delicious infused olive oils and other culinary items. Cory is also the fire chief in New Palz. Now that Bruce is leaving, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris is recommending that Cory Wirthmann be appointed to Acting Building Inspector when Bruce leaves while they search the civil service list for an applicant match.

What Does The Building Inspector Do?

The Building Inspector interprets zoning laws along with the City Attorney and at times, with the City Council. The Building Inspector interacts with the Beacon community when he or she speaks with business owners or homeowners about any zoning or safety issues that may arise.

While Cory has been in Beacon since July 2023, it seems as though Beacon’s City Council has never met Cory before. During the 1/27/2025 City Council Workshop Meeting, Councilmember Molly Rhodes asked City Administrator Chris if the Council could meet Cory. “If he does become Acting Head or Head, if we're able to meet him either as a public session or Executive Session just to kind of get to know him as we did with Bruce. Kind of like, have the ability for the Council to kind of get to know him.”

City Administrator Chris didn’t think that necessary or possible: “I think I would need to check his availability. He’s also a fire chief and has a lot of commitments,” City Administrator Chris said. As a fire chief with a lot of commitments, it is unclear how Cory will perform his duties as Acting Building Inspector for the City of Beacon, if he can’t go down to Town Hall on a Monday night at 7pm to meet City Council. However, Cory did not speak for himself. City Administrator Chris made assumptions for him to block his schedule when Councilmember Molly requested to meet Corry.

Councilmember Molly pressed on: “To be clear, I'm just thinking for, because we did get a chance to meet other Heads of departments.”

City Administrator Chris responded: “I would just say probably the permanent person we would bring into to me of course.” Councilmember Molly pointed out that the Acting status may last a long time: “I'll defer to you once you learn more about how long he might be Acting for and that might also dictate what seems appropriate both from a practical and from a legal perspective.” In the case of the Acting appointment with Dave Buckley, that appointment lasted 2 years before Bruce Flower was hired.

Some business people in Beacon have told ALBB that interacting with Cory for permits and related matters has been a positive experience.

After Bruce Flower Leaves

Councilperson Paloma Wake was interested in information provided from Bruce’s Exit Interview. “This is a request I guess for any person who's leaving us. I assume that if anything relevant comes up in Bruce's exit interview, if it's relevant to hiring the next person, that that would be incorporated by Sara.” Sara Morris is Beacon’s HR Director. The City of Beacon never had an HR Director until around the time they put up their first Diversity Statement in 2020. Gina Bisale was the first HR Director, but she left shortly thereafter and Sara replaced her.

City Administrator Chris responded "I will leave that up to Sara,"

Councilperson Paloma presented an assumption: "It sounds like Bruce is leaving just because there's a bigger opportunity in a bigger city. Still, if there is anything relevant."

City Administrator Chris pressed that Bruce was moving into more of a Building role in the Town of Poughkeepsie, not that of a Zoning influence, stating: “He was in that position for 18 years and then the person above him retired. So we basically borrowed him for 2.5 years from the Town of Poughkeepsie. He also will focus more on the Building aspect and less on Zoning and Planning. They break that down between multiple staff. So they have a person who oversees Planning and Zoning. He will do Building then they have a Code Enforcement person. He's kind of all three of those here. “

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How Bruce Flower Was Involved In Nixing 9 Renovated Apartments For People With Low Income During An Affordable Housing Crisis

The old boarding house that had 16 small SRO apartments in it at 925 Wolcott Avenue, with the gorgeous wrap-around porch, that had been a home to people with low income for decades in Beacon, burned down in January 2023. It was arson. A male tenant who was living in it was scheduled for eviction that day. He decided instead to douse it in gasoline, torch it, turn himself in, and plead guilty. No one was hurt. No one was inside. Neighboring houses were endangered by the flames and heat of the blaze.

The boarding house was undergoing renovations by new owner Yeshia Berger of 925 Wolcott Ave LLC, who bought it in July 2022, to scale down the number of apartments from 16 to 9 units, and keep them as SRO rentals (Single Room Occupancy in apartments or residential hotels in which low-income or welfare tenants live in single rooms). Yeshia began to fix the front porch before a permit was issued to him, neighbors told ALBB. Porch work in Beacon is often flagged by Building Inspectors for not being properly permitted first.

However, the neighbors weren’t mad that the old boarding house was gone. They were mad that the owner hadn’t cleaned the burned site quick enough, as reported in the Highlands Current. According to the newspaper, insurance payments were delayed, as happens when fires burn down properties. The neighbors then pursued a media campaign and Change.org petition in June 2023 titled “NO Zoning Variance to allow 'market rate' 9 unit building for 925 Wolcott, Beacon NY” to make sure an apartment building of any kind was rebuilt. The odd thing about including “market rate” in their Change.org petition title is that the apartments were slated to continue to be SRO units, which are reserved for people with low income.

The media campaign included letters from neighbors submitted to Beacon’s Zoning Board of Appeals in the neighbors’ pursuit to get the boarding house re-zoned to be a single-family home after more than 50% of it was destroyed by the fire. They wanted Beacon’s Zoning Board stop the already-in-progress renovation of the property so that low income people could not live there anymore.

The Highlands Current presented it this way: “The owner of a Beacon boardinghouse that was destroyed by fire in January wants to rebuild, although the surrounding neighborhood is zoned for single-family homes.” The boarding house had been there long before some of the people opposing its use lived in that neighborhood.

In fact, ALBB’s own co-host of our podcast, “Wait, What Is That?” Brandon Lillard, had looked at it with his mother 30 years ago when they were moving to Beacon from Brooklyn, before he attended high school at the Old Beacon High School when it was actually a school, not commercial studio spaces like it is now.

The new property owner, Yeshia Berger, wanted to rebuild his building and continue with the 9 SRO apartments as planned and previously approved in December 2022, just one month before the arson.

According to reporting, Yeshia bought the boarding house for $650,000 and was estimated to be making $20,000/month from the SRO rentals.

Neighbors pushed fervently to prevent the boarding house from rising again, which had been housing people of varying backgrounds for decades. In their letters submitted to Beacon’s Zoning Board, they used the income to present a case of unjustified profits as part of their justification to nix the apartments.

Some neighbors alluded to fights or gunshots that would happen at or near the boarding house. Others said in their letters to the Zoning Board: “What we need is affordable housing, not this extreme demonstration of wealth.” Ironic, that the apartments provided in this boarding house, and the apartments that the developer Yeshia Berger was going to rebuild, were zoned as affordable housing.

925 Wolcott Avenue after arson destroyed the decades old, multi-apartment boarding house located there. This is the new Single Family home that was constructed by Faust, with encouragement from the neighborhood who petitioned for the former property owner Yeshia Berger to be stripped of his right to re-build the SRO apartments during an Affordable Housing Crisis, with the Encouragement of then Building Inspector Bruce Flower.

The anti-apartment rhetoric from the neighbors questions if they really want affordable housing after all. Especially when the boarding house property later sold for half the price for which Yeshia had purchased it.

After the re-zoning and the sale, the luxury designers and builders Faust Interiors began building a single-family home on the property, as they confirmed to ALBB.

The rezoning resulted in profits going to a different group of people perhaps more approved of by the neighbors, resulting in a comfortable home for one family instead of nine.

Building Inspector Bruce Flower denied Yeshia the right to rebuild the apartments, citing 3 reasons, as reported here by the Highlands Current.

Bruce supplied his 3 recommendations, but the Beacon Zoning board reversed 2 of them, according to the Highlands Current. “Had they reversed all of them, the 9 apartments would be able to be re-built,” the newspaper reported. Neighbors, however, through the petition, were intent on stopping the income from the apartments, with possibly no regard for new renters who needed to occupy the apartments.

James Case-Leal, the creator of the petition, stated reasons in an Update to the petition to encourage people to turn out to reject the building of the apartments when Yeshia continued his legal appeals to be able to rebuild, which included encouragement to come out to the Zoning Board Meeting to:

• prevent “another attempt to persuade the Zoning Board to bend the law for them to make a huge profit off of our community,” and

• “express your support of Beacon zoning and opposition to the developer’s appeal to build another SRO.” The building was already an SRO, being renovated to serve 9 units instead of 16 units for different people to move into in order to stay in Beacon.

Through his attorney, Taylor Palmer of Cuddy and Feder, Yeshia said he would appeal the decision. But he ended up withdrawing his application in January 2024 according to a Zoning Board agenda and listed his charred property for $279.000, and sold it for $315,000 according to Zillow.

In its reporting of the zoning change, the Highlands Current quoted the Zoning Board’s conclusive direction as: “In its resolution denying Berger’s request, the ZBA said it was not ‘deciding the merits of the applicant’s proposed use and/or any opposition’ but was only making decisions on the building inspector’s determinations.” The one Zoning Board dissenter on the vote wanted to hire a consultant to test the boarding house owner’s presentation of findings. Circles were going to continue until Yeshia was out.

The newspaper reported: “Berger would only have been allowed to proceed with his December plans if the ZBA had reversed all three of Flower’s determinations.”

Also inconsistent with the City of Beacon’s pattern of going to great lengths to preserve historic buildings and architectural details is the loss of the boarding house that was going to be rebuilt after the fire. Beacon lost not only 9 apartments available to people with low incomes, but it lost an architectural gem, something for which it says it prides itself on.

Pictured below is the boarding house at 925 Wolcott before it was burned down in arson in January 2023:

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Articles used in 925 Wolcott research to aid in timeline:

4/7/2023
”Beacon Wants Burned Home Cleared Out"

7/21/2023
"Beacon Boardinghouse Denied But Appeal Expected"
This article included a brief history of why the boarding house may have been created in the first lace, to help the community, from Denise Doring VanBuren, president of the Beacon Historical Society, and Diane Lapis, a society trustee.

8/18/2023
"Boardinghouse Owner Asks for Variance"

The attorneys for Yeshia, stated in a letter of appeal to Beacon’s Zoning Board: “A plain reading of Zoning Code section 223.20.D does not terminate a legal existing non-oncoming use that was destroyed more than 50% and any ambiguity regarding this damaged building regulation must be read in favor of the property owner.”

The Zoning Code section 223.20.D reads:

If any nonconforming building shall be destroyed by any means to an extent of more than 50%, no repairs or reconstruction shall be made unless every portion of such building is made to conform to all the regulations of this chapter for the district in which it is located.

Where the destruction of such nonconforming building is less than 50%, it may be restored and the nonconforming use continued, provided that the total cost of such restoration does not exceed the replacement value of the destroyed portion of the building at the time if its destruction and future provided that such restoration is started within a period of 6 months of such destruction and is diligently prosecuted to completion. Nothing in this chapter shall prevent the strengthening or restoring to a safe condition of any wall declared unsafe by the Building Inspector.

The Attorney's Conclusion:

“Any interpretation that Section 223-10.(D) of the Zoning Code allows a non-conforming use to be extinguished when more than 50% of a structure is destroyed would create a dangerous precedent incentivizing the future destruction of similar structures. A plain reading of the applicable section of the regulations regarding a building that is destroyed more than 50% clearly does not regulate the use.”

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How Bruce Flower Was Involved In Adding An Additional Misdemeanor Complaint That Contributed To The Imprisoning Of The “Free Palestine” Chalk Artist Ryan Manzi

Back in March 2024, a series of events rolled together, landing one well known Beacon resident and artist, Ryan Manzi, in jail for 4 months after he chalked “Free Palestine” onto the long brick wall that is the back of the Sun River Health Facility on Henry Street. The back of their building faces Main Street at 341 Main Street.

White paint dripping down the wall after someone applied it over the chalk of the Free Palestine message.

White paint spread over the chalk of the Palestinian flag.

At 3:40pm on March 25, 2024, Ryan visited the wall where he had previously chalked “Free Palestine” and various other designs around March 17, 2024, including Scooby-Doo, the word BEACON in large print, and a lucky shamrock for the annual St. Paddy’s Parade in Beacon. Known for his chalk art around town in front of the Towne Cryer, the Post Office, Smoker’s Mecca and other spots, seeing him here was part of a normal day in Beacon.

Not normal, however, was when someone poured white paint over the words “Free Palestine” and the Palestinian flag Ryan chalked onto the building. That person has never been identified. No other markings had paint on them. This act of paint throwing could be viewed as a hate crime or antisemetic crime, since it desecrated a semetic Palestinian symbol, and permanently damaged a building.

Ryan inspected the paint to see what could be learned from the application, and then re-chalked the “Free Palestine” message and flag. A Little Beacon Blog videoed it, and published an article about it. Many people walked by as Ryan chalked, saying hello to Ryan, and cheering him on, as can be heard in the video republished at the bottom of this article.

The Misdemeanor Complaint From Sun River Health

According to a deposition from Sun River Health Management that ALBB has seen as published in this article, Bruce Flower contacted Sun River Health about the chalk art and graffiti. The deposition complaint which led to a Misdemeanor Complaint was filed by the Regional Director of Facilities for Sun River, Marco P. Faustino.

In the complaint, Marco acknowledged that the paint and the chalk were done by different people, but told Bruce that graffiti had been an “ongoing issue” at the building, without identifying who did that graffiti.

Editorial Note: As a local who walks past the front and back of Sun River Health on a daily basis, I have never seen graffiti on it. When other buildings in town get media coverage for when their buildings are tagged by anonymous graffiti makers, Sun River Health’s building has not been among them. Please write in to ALBB if you know of and have visible proof of something different. A picture of Sun River Health’s facade on Henry Street is published below, and shows no markings of covered graffiti.

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According to a deposition given by Marco to the Beacon Police on March 28, 2024 that ALBB has seen as has been published here, Bruce recommended that Marco file a report with the Beacon Police, which he did. Notable, however, is that it is unknown at this time if Bruce had called Sun River about this other graffiti that Marco mentioned, or if it was over the “Free Palestine” marking, with separate paint splattered on top of it by a different person.

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Chris White, City Administrator for the City of Beacon.

Soon after Bruce contacted Sun River, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White had an interaction with Ryan while Ryan was crossing Wolcott Avenue on April 4, 2024, walking to the train station. The interaction led to the arrest of Ryan.

City Administrator Chris alleged in his Police Report, that ALBB has seen and has been published in this article, that as Ryan was crossing the street, “Ryan stopped in the roadway and began to give me the finger. I gave him the finger in return and drove past him as he proceeded to move off toward the sidewalk and descend the staircase toward Beacon Police Station.

“As I reached the red light at the intersection, I decided to look back in my rear-view mirror and saw Ryan charging at my car. I heard a loud thump on the back car and thought Ryan had just damaged my vehicle with a bottle. I then saw a plastic bottle full of liquid in his hand. I began to cross the intersection where I turned right on South Ave and parked my vehicle near Polhill Park. I then contacted the Beacon Police Department to file a report. As I talked to the dispatcher, Ryan again approached my vehicle and began recording me from the driver’s side window. At this time, Beacon Police arrived at my location, where Ryan began to argue and resist with Police. Ryan’s actions made me feel fearful at the time of our engagement.”

Ryan told ALBB that he did not “give the finger,” and told ALBB that he thought he heard Chris shout “terrorist” to him from his car window. When ALBB asked City Administrator Chris if that was true, he responded “No.”

Ryan told ALBB that as he was descending the stairs to continue walking to the train station, Sgt. James Serrine came out of the police station to approach Ryan, telling Ryan that he was under arrest, after City Administrator Chris had made his call to the police. Ryan told ALBB: “Thirty seconds after an incident, there is no way you can justify arresting someone. You can detain someone, but stating arrest requires an investigation. That’s when I backed away up the stairs and ran towards Polhill Park. Rule #1 when it comes to Beacon Police: make sure there’s witnesses.”

Ryan continued: “I never filmed White. I was on the phone calling the police to report harassment. He revved his engine at me and that’s when he called me a terrorist. So that’s when I came up to the car.”

The Misdemeanor Complaint for the Free Palestine chalk art was filed before this incident, but was added to Ryan’s charges after he was incarcerated for the Chris White incident, keeping Ryan in jail for 4 months, Ryan told ALBB. “Apparently the chalk was filed the week before the incident with Mr. White. He didn’t leave his car, called the cops by Polhill Park (showing he wasn’t fearful for his safety if he remained in the area as I continued walking down to the train station passing the Police Station). I was then in jail on $10,000 bail that violated penal law. I didn’t get the chalk charges until I was already incarcerated.”

Ryan was released 4 months later on a plea agreement to probation, he told ALBB.

In a separate incident, City Administrator Chris did have an altercation with pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a City Council Swearing-In Ceremony that the NYCLU said violated the Open Meetings Law, as City Administrator Chris blocked signage and called for the arrest of peaceful citizens.

In City Administrator Chris’ deposition of the April 4th incident, he stated: “I have never had any personal interactions with Ryan before today. I’ve learned of Ryan’s identity from a recent Beacon Blog where he was observed to be chalking a brick wall on Main Street.” The report goes on to detail more of their interaction.

Ryan Manzi is the nephew of Michael Manzi, the Superintendent of Streets for the City of Beacon. Ryan and his mother, who is Michael’s sister, told ALBB that Michael and Ryan do not speak currently, but used to be close years ago.

This story is ongoing and will be explored in other articles.

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There is more to this story, which will be printed in a future article series.

Items To Be Discussed and Voted On, Plus 3 Public Hearings For The 2/3/2025 City Council Meeting

Beacon’s 2/3/2025 City Council Agenda has been published to ALBB’s Easy Access Local Government section. Tonight includes 3 Public Hearings. These are official hearings to get feedback on the public before City Council votes or denies them into law.

Public Hearings:

The City of Beacon’s Tax Assessor Kathy Martin is recommending to widen the access based on income bracket of the city property tax exemption for Senior Citizens age 65 and older, as well as disabled people with limited income. The income cap for both groups has not been updated for a number of years.

Public Hearing for a Proposed Local Law Concerning Property Tax Exemptions for Senior Citizens

Public Hearing for a Proposed Local Law Concerning Property Tax Exemptions for Disabled Persons with Limited Income

The Community Development Block Grant Program is what gives the City of Beacon funding for certain upgrades like sidewalk replacements in income-based property areas.

Public Hearing for the 2025 Community Development Block Grant Program

Beacon Remains In A Stage 1 Drought; Reservoirs Need To Recharge

Photo Credit: Posted at Wikipedia; Photographer Unknown at this time.

During the 1/6/2025 City Council Meeting, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White announced that the City of Beacon continues to be in a Stage 1 Drought. He said: “We still are in a Stage 1 Drought, even though we've had quite a bit of precipitation. We're still recharging the reservoirs, and that's why we haven't declared an end to that.” When the reservoirs dip below 60% full, Beacon’s Stage 1 Drought declaration is triggered.

Beacon’s drinking water comes from different sources:
3 reservoirs: Cargill, Mount Beacon, and Melzingah
3 wells: City of Beacon Wells 1 & 2 and Village of Fishkill Well 8

According to a Water Inspection Report from 2020, the reservoirs hold the following amounts:

Mount Beacon: 124 million gallons
Melzingah: 38 million gallons
Cargill: 152 million gallons

The water is then pumped into 3 water tanks: Howland/Grandview, Mount Beacon and Fairview.

According to Beacon’s 2023 Water Report, Beacon's water system serviced about 14,370 people, not including Downstate Correctional and Fishkill Correctional Facilities. There were about 6,280 services connections in the City of Beacon. The price for 1 unit of water (748 gallons) was $4.61, and the price for water out of town was $9.22.

The water is treated at Beacon’s Water Filtration Plant at 470 Liberty Street, where the current capacity of the plant water production is 4 million gallons. According to Beacon’s 2023 Water Report, the average flow was 2.134 million gallons per day. The maximum withdrawal that year was 2.713

From the 2023 Water Report, usage numbers broke down as follows:

• Residential and Commercial: 298,228,348 gallons

• Town of Fishkill: 125,041,664 gallons

• Department of Corrections: 210,807,000 gallons

• Unaccounted water: 144,661,998 gallons

According to the Beacon's Water Report: "Unaccounted for water is water lost due to system leaks, water used during plant operations, water main breaks, use in municipal buildings and operations, system flushing, fire department uses, meter error, and theft of service."

Highway Department Employee Steve Bechtold Gently "Pushed" Into Retirement - Alleged Gun Incident May Have Influenced Firearms Policy

Retiring Head Mechanic, Steve Bechtold (Left) with Superintendent Michael Manzi (Right).

When Steve Bechtold was at the podium at City Council for his retirement announcement, it did not seem like a moment that had a lot of former planning around it. During the speech honoring him, Highway Superintendent of Streets, Superintendent Michael Manzi expressed that they were just discussing before the meeting who was going to do all of the ordering of shirts, since Steve was the one who had handled that during his 29 years of service in the Highway Department for the City of Beacon. Said City Administrator Chris White: “We're going to be lost." Superintendent Manzi agreed: "We will be lost. We're going to be shirtless I guess.”

The Unsanctioned Union Petition

In September 2020, at the time of his promotion to Head Mechanic, Steve was named in a harassment complaint as lead organizer of an unsanctioned union petition circulated during work hours against Reuben Simmons filed in March 2019. Reuben is a fellow employee and former Highway Superintendent, before Superintendent Manzi was appointed to the position. The complaint focused on the process in which the petition was handled, that the “signature collection was conducted on city time and caused an uncomfortable work environment,” according to the filed complaint that ALBB has seen.

Additionally, the harassment complaint was allegedly not shown to Black employees (Reuben is Black) until after the then union president, Paula Becker (who was also an employee of the City of Beacon at the time), was informed about it. It was circulated with the alleged intent to try to prevent Reuben from being on a negotiating committee of the CSEA union for the department’s new contract at the time. However, Reuben was not on the negotiating committee. Only later, Reuben told ALBB, after the union president Paula was informed about the petition by Reuben, did Steve show it to two other Black employees in the department: Ed McNair and Troy Swain, who declined to sign it.

Ed later resigned from his position in the Highway Department in March 2021, citing unresolved racial tensions and retaliations, making working in the Highway Department “pretty rough to say the least,” according to his resignation letter that ALBB has seen. At the time, there was one other Black employee in the Water and Sewer Department, Lew Swain, and an employee who is Dominican, Christian Cuello.

After Reuben learned about the alleged petition, he went to the department’s union president, Paula about it, who said she did not know about the petition. Reuben told ALBB: “My issue was that if you're going to petition, show it to everybody so that it's fair.”

The Alleged Gun In The Locker Room

Months later, Reuben said he saw Steve with a gun in the employee locker room. After a morning safety meeting at work, Reuben emailed his boss, Superintendent Manzi, about the gun. According to the email ALBB has seen, Reuben said: “I feel obliged to tell inform you about a situation I encountered. The week of September 23, 2019 I witnessed a firearms in the possession of Steve Bechtold in our locker room. From that moment I have taken precautionary measure to ensure my own safety at work in the event something were to take place at the workplace involving such threat. I refrained myself from reporting it to you sooner as you have been vocal in protecting this employee whenever issues are raised and the level of retaliation that I feel could transpire makes me uncomfortable and a threat to my safety.”

Superintendent Manzi emailed back: “I was and have not been previously aware of this situation but the matter has been addressed with the individual without issue and he was understanding of the matter. Please do not refrain from reporting if any other issues persist.”

Reuben requested to have Superintendent Manzi’s email about the gun included in Reuben’s personnel file, but then City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero declined his request, Reuben told ALBB.

During The Head Mechanic Promotion

Promoted to Head Mechanic of the Highway Department on what was supposed to be September 21, 2020 but was postponed due to push-back from members of the community who highlighted that the majority of the Water Department was white at the time, Steve’s promotion then was delayed for the night so that Councilmembers could feel that they had all of the information on all of the employees positioned for promotions. Peter Delfico was up for appointment to Highway Department Auto Mechanic II and Nicholas Durso for Auto Mechanic I.

Reuben never filed a formal complaint about the gun, because, he told ALBB: “After I saw how the complaint went about harassment with the petition, I didn’t even try regarding the gun, even though it made some of us uncomfortable.”

At one point, Reuben was both Steve and Superintendent Manzi’s bosses, but through another process initiated by department employees, which included Superintendent Manzi who wrote his own anonymous letter discrediting and dismissing Reuben to Beacon Councilmembers that ALBB has seen. The result of that anonymous letter campaign was that Reuben was stripped of his Superintendent position, and Michael Manzi replaced him.

That Michael Manzi was one of the anonymous letter writers pushing for Reuben’s Superintendent position to end was discovered during the City of Beacon vs Reuben Simmons employment termination hearings initiated by City Administrator Chris White, who spent over $110,000 in legal fees at one point trying to fire Reuben, but lost the case.

ALBB reached out to Ed McNair to ask how the alleged gun and response made him feel. Ed responded: “If it had been Reuben with a gun in the locker room, the discipline would have been harsh and made public.”

Months after Steve’s 2020 promotion to Highway Department Head Mechanic, the City of Beacon’s then new HR Director, Gina Basile (she has since left), introduced a new firearms policy regulating personal guns in the workplace in December 2020, as reported by ALBB at the time.

The Honoring of Steve Bechtold

The honoring of Steve Bechtold was kicked off by Mayor Lee Kyriacou: “The first thing we're going to do is we're going to honor Steve Bechtold. And you know, we begged him to come and he let us do that. Mickey, will you bring him up and talk a little bit about him. Then I got a little thing for him."

City Administrator Chris White added: "And Mickey wrote a limerick for the occasion."

Superintendent Mickey responded: "Am I supposed to speak only good?"

Councilperson Amber Grant responded through laughter: "Be honest."

City Administrator Chris encouraged: "Roast. Roast."

Superintendent Manzi continued: "I'm standing here tonight with Steve Bechtold to announce a retirement effective 1-4-2025. Steve started his career with the City of Beacon in May 22nd of 1995 and after almost 30 years of service to the City as a Mechanic, most recently our Head Mechanic, Steve has decided to retire."

Superintendent Manzi turned to Steve and said: "About time."

Steve replied: "With little pushing from you."

Superintendent Manzi replied: "A little pushing. I want you to enjoy yourself. I've had the pleasure of working with Steve for the last 20 years. Became friends on a personal level as well, as we both enjoy the sport of snowmobiling. During Steve's career, he was instrumental in keeping the City's fleet up and going, including but not limited to our Highway, Water and Police vehicles. As well as all Park, small equipment, and anything else we needed. And, he even - we just talked about it - we're trying to figure out who's going to take the ordering of City shirts and stuff like that. He's done that since I've been here."

"We're going to be lost," City Administrator Chris White said.

Superintendent Manzi agreed: "We will be lost. We're going to be shirtless I guess. Throughout his long career here, Steve has been reliable, dependable, and most importantly, committed to the City. He'll be missed by all, and I'd like to say congratulations and wish him health and happiness in his retirement.”

Mayor Lee presented Steve with a gold lettered City of Beacon Certificate of Recognition in recognition and appreciation for 29 years of dedicated public service to the City of Beacon.

As per the New York State and New York City Employees' Retirement System (ERS and NYCRS) retirement plan for state and city employees who joined between 1983 and 2009, Tier 4 members are eligible for a pension factor of 2% per year with 20-30 years of service. For each year beyond 30, the members receive 1.5%. Steve’s retirement is just shy of 30 years.

Steve accepted his certificate, and said: "Thank you so much. Thank you very much," and began to take pictures. City Administrator White encouraged: "Look like you like each other."

Steve gave his acceptance speech: "I just need to say thank you for the years I've been here. It's got its ups and downs, but mostly, you know, mostly everything was good. You know, you can't agree with everybody all the time, but for the most part, all went well. So thank you very much."

City Administrator Chris said: "Job well done."

Councilmember Amber Grant said: "Thank you. Enjoy your retirement. I hope you have wonderful years ahead of you with lots of fun."

Steve replied: "Hopefully it lasts as long as I was working."

City Administrator Chris warned: "Watch out for Mickey on the snowmobiles."

Mickey agreed: "We'll run into each other trails."

Steve cautioned: "Hopefully not. Hopefully not."

City Administrator Chris said: "Try not to run into each other."

After Steve was done, Mayor Lee started walking away but City Administrator Chris pulled him back, making sure one more item was complete. Mayor Lee then awarded Superintendent Manzi a certificate for 20 years, even though his hire date was in 2006, as stated in CSEA documents and in one of the anonymous notes that was sent to Councilmember Jodi McCredo and read in public in 2018. Superintendent Manzi is in his 19th year.

Mayor Lee said: "Mickey did a disclosure in his discussion of 20 years, he said. And that is correct. So in recognition of 20 years of outstanding and dedicated public service to the City of Beacon, I also have a City of Beacon Certificate of Recognition for Michael Manzi."

As for recognition, other employees have also worked for 20+ years, but not all have had the recognition that Steve received, according to Reuben, who has worked for the city since 2002 (23 years), starting as a summer intern. Dave Way recently reached 20 years, and Lew Swain retired with close to 30 years and was handed a certificate on the job, not during a public presentation like this, or with a City funded party. A retirement party was thrown for Steve during company time, and a Christmas Party also this year.

While these are nice gestures that can boost moral, the retirement party on company time was the first of its kind, according to Reuben, when asked by ALBB.

Last Call For Ward 4 Councilmember Replacement - ALBB Will Publish Your Applications

During last week’s City Council Meeting (12/16/2024), Mayor Lee Kyriacou declared “Last Call” to receive applications for Councilmember representing Ward 4 to replace Dan Aymar-Blair, who resigned to begin his newly elected position of Dutchess County Comptroller. The next step would be for the Mayor to appoint a replacement. The Council would then need to vote to approve the replacement. If they do not qualify that vote, the Council can appoint their own candidate and vote. And if they cannot do that, the Council can hold a special election, according to Beacon’s Charter.

This is the 3rd appointment situation for Beacon’s City Council in the past year, for a 6-person Council. The first two appointments happened when Wren Longo, representing Ward 3, unexpectedly resigned. In January 2024, Mayor Lee declared his appointment of Amber Grant to come out of Council retirement to fill the At Large seat, and moved Pam Weatherbee over to Ward 3, even though she had been elected to the At Large seat. There was no public review of these moves.

Back in November, during the 11/18/2024 City Council Meeting, Councilmember Paloma Wake requested public review of all applicants the Mayor was considering for appointment. Mayor Lee dismissed her at first by saying “Dan’s body isn’t even cold yet. Come on. We will get there when we get there.” He later said he would love 150 applicants, and said he had received some.

Mayor Lee did not indicate if he would make public the applicants. He insisted that his preference was for people who have been in “contested elections” before.

Who lives in Ward 4 who is interested in filling the final year of Dan’s seat? If the Mayor will not make this public, A Little Beacon Blog will publish your applications, if anyone has indeed applied. The Republican committee in Beacon might be defunct or dysfunctional, and the Beacon Democrats can be cliquey. Independents may just go their own way, but fight odd battles. Fresh talent trying to break through the primary process might experience a difficult time.

During this time of breaking pavements and systems, this could be your time. Contact ALBB if you have submitted your letter of intent that explains how and why you want to serve, and ALBB will republish your letter.

Police Referral and Signing Bonus Passes - $10,000 Per Hire Who Stays Longer Than 6 Months

The slightly revolving door of the Beacon Police Department just got a golden appliqué. At the December 16, 2024 City Council meeting, the Council unanimously passed a resolution presented by City Administrator Chris White for the payment of $5,000 to a member of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) who refers a Police Officer of New York State to the City of Beacon’s Police Department, and $5,000 to that Officer if they stay in the job longer than six months.

Salaries of Beacon Police Officers have also increased 5% since September 2024, when the Council voted unanimously to move the salaries to more closely match municipalities around the region.

Staffing Challenges

For over a decade, the Beacon Police Department has been understaffed. With 36 positions available, the department currently has 8 openings, with 2 out on injury, and 1 in the academy who is not yet able to serve on their shift. The constant demand for more officers to regularly patrol Main Street for traffic violations - either on foot or on bike or from sitting in the car - is difficult.

On August 19, 2024, Police Chief Thomas Figlia presented to the Council that the department was in what he called a “crisis,” with officers leaving Beacon for other municipalities with higher salaries. As reported by the Highlands Current, “Of the 31 police officers hired in Beacon since 2014, 12 have left for better-paying jobs elsewhere, Figlia said.”

Salary Differences

At the August 19, 2024 City Council Meeting, the Council unanimously agreed to pass a 5% raise for police salaries. The Starting Salary in 2025 would have been just over $61,000, according to the 2022-2025 PBA’s contract. According reporting by the Highland Current, salaries of the Town of Poughkeepsie were presented to Council, which showed that “a patrol officer in Poughkeepsie reaches his or her top pay of $106,414 after four years of service. In the Town of Poughkeepsie, it’s $113,300 after five years. In Beacon, a patrol officer hits the ceiling of $98,553 after six years. The 5 percent raise, which the council approved unanimously, brings the number to $103,481. The ceiling rises to $106,068 next year.” City Administrator Chris declared at the August 19th meeting before the vote that Beacon is no longer competitive with other nearby municipalities.

On August 19th, the 5% raises were passed, bringing the Starting Salary from $61,683 to $64,767 starting September 1, 2024. Then starting January 1, 2025, that would increase to $66,062, according to the Memorandum of Agreement between the PBA and the City of Beacon.

NYPD Recruitment

The hiring pool grew larger with recent changes in Civil Service law in New York State that allows Beacon to hire officers from the New York State Police Department (NYPD), City Administrator Cris stated during the meeting. “We've been interviewing a few.” He went on to voice his preference for recruiting NYPD officers: “The officers are kind of a close-knit community, and if we get one person from NYPD, that person has all of the contacts they worked with in the city and then can say they have a personal incentive to try to recruit them for us.”

Does The Referral/Hiring Bonus Combo Impact Retention?

This referral/hiring bonus combo is the latest attempt to fill the force with officers. However, it is not clear why this referral bonus would help retain an officer once hired. The bonus is paid out to the two parties after the officer has reached 6 months of employment. It would be helpful to know Beacon’s retention rate.

The public is informed of when new officers are hired or promoted, as they require a vote from Council. Retirements are also announced, as they are congratulatory and require new pension payments. But when officers are fired, demoted, or leave for another position, this development is not announced, and is reserved for Executive Session, which is closed to the public.

Workplace culture may also need some nurturing, as vacation days are encouraged to be “bought back” by the City and not used by the officers, as explained by City Administrator Chris on December 16th. He promoted vacation-days-for-cash, which encourages officers to not use their time but to sell their unused days. Workplace culture currently encourages time off for life balance and mental health. City Administrator Chris focused on getting “bodies in the door” during the meeting, a phrase which is not indicative of showing value.

Improvement to the facilities may also help. One or two budget cycles ago, then Police Chief Sands Frost mentioned the locker room at the Police Station being in need of an upgrade. With the new Fire Station across the street with the new geothermal floor, perhaps it is time for a little more comfort down at the Police Station.

With overtime being paid to members of the Highway Department to renovate the men’s 3rd floor bathroom at City Hall, perhaps renovations can be made to the Police locker room if there is another $50,000 paid by Central Hudson to Beacon to do more paving after Central Hudson completes work under the street in the Spring.

Or, if the $10,000 per new hire is not used for recruits, or sunsets on December 31, 2025, perhaps the lump sum can go toward renovations at the Police Station.