Black Highway Department Employee & Community Organizer Put On 30-Day Unpaid Leave Since January 2021
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This is the notice to the public that Beacon’s City Council will be going into a private meeting called Executive Session, after the public meeting, to discuss “Personnel.” They don’t divulge which city employee it is they are talking about. So we don’t know for sure if they will be talking about Reuben on Monday. It is notable that Reuben’s employment “hearing” after his 30-day unpaid leave was Friday, March 5, 2020. He has not returned to work, as the unpaid leave letter stated that he would not until after the hearing.
Related Links:
During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement
Why Black Lives Matter (BLM) Signs In Storefront Windows Still Matter In 2021
During the winter of the pandemic.
During Black History Month.
During the traditional and budgeted-for overtime season for the Highway Department where all of the employees are in trucks day and night, plowing Beacon out, and the employees earn extra money.
During a time when Beacon’s first official Diversity and Inclusion Mission Statement got signed into law.
During the presentation given by Beacon’s first ever HR director stating that she is hearing about “discrimination, inequality, and growing tensions” in Beacon’s Highway Department.
Beacon’s new City Administrator, Chris White, in his first days on the job after he finished training with former City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero, put a Black employee on unpaid leave for 30 days in January into February, after that employee declined to resign, and declined to sign a document saying that Beacon could fire him at any time for any reason, but wouldn’t give a reason, according to that employee, Reuben Simmons.
“Civil Service” Jobs - An Employment Chess Game
Designation of an Unpaid Leave of 30 Days comes with a letter. And a packet of complaints, which fulfill an obligation of finding satisfactory grievances for a “Civil Service” job to get rid of someone. These jobs exist within a city or town. Civil Service guidelines are the rules that govern how it’s all going to work. Like a game of chess. We learned a little (OK, a lot) about this when Reuben spoke about it on a podcast the summer of 2020.
Reuben at the time was speaking about how his job title of Highway Superintendent dissolved in 2018. Disappeared. Into dust. He went back down to Maintenence Worker because Dutchess County told the City of Beacon that the job title didn’t exist for Beacon - after Reuben had been promoted by others into the job. But how or why or when did Dutchess County know that? After then-City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero recommended Reuben? And after Mayor (at the time) Randy Casale, who referred to himself as “Highway Superintendent for 16 years” every chance he got, also recommended Reuben?
Beacon’s “Highway Superintendent,” which - according to why he got the job that replaced someone else and made their job title dissolve - should be titled “Superintendent of Streets.” This word choice is what dissolved former Highway Superintendent Reuben Simmons’ job in 2018.
A technicality was triggered. Which is what made Reuben’s co-worker, Michael Manzi, get promoted to the job title that Dutchess County said was accurate for Beacon: Superintendent of Streets. This simple word change (with at least one more job qualification that came with it), dissolved Reuben’s position of Highway Superintendent. To be replaced by Michael Manzi as Superintendent of Streets. There was a lot of hooting and hollering by the Highway Department the night of the vote on Michael’s promotion back in 2019. Reuben wasn’t even demoted. His position just dissolved into Maintenance Worker. All legal. See minute 50:17 of the Beacon City Council video.
But even today, March 6, 2021, Michael Manzi is still identified as Highway Superintendent, not the job title with which he allegedly checkmated Reuben. This isn’t the only job title inconsistency on the City of Beacon’s website: See “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement.” But the City of Beacon currently won’t comment on it.
Former Mayor Randy Casale spoke about this job situation also on a podcast. Off-mic, Randy called Reuben’s then-demotion the “biggest regret” of his mayoral career, because he couldn’t stop it. But he tried. Issues of Civil Service, run by Dutchess County, can be triggered by anyone who wants to switch up how a job hire or promotion is going to go, and can make a job disappear. Legally.
But that demotion was in 2018. The 30-day unpaid leave comes in 2021.
The Only Reason ALBB Knows About The 30-Day Unpaid Leave -
The City of Beacon Won’t Comment
When people are hired or promoted, there is a public vote on it by City Council. When they are put on unpaid leave, or perhaps fired or asked to resign, there is nothing public. In fact, police officers who were recently hired, fired or resigned are only traceable because of a public inquiry via a FOIL (freedom of information law) request. That link is offered here on the City Clerk page, but has not been updated since the mayor promised it would, in August of 2020.
How did I find out about Reuben’s $0 income? And how he’s looking at a career loss at the end of it?
He called me. After the first mega blizzard dumped 2.5 feet of snow on Beacon, I answered the phone and right away thanked my friend Reuben Simmons for keeping Beacon plowed. In every City Council meeting, councilmembers had been thanking the Highway Department for plowing.
Reuben had been part of the team driving the trucks clearing the streets for years. This January was another year where he would have been out in the early morning into night, earning overtime that is part of Beacon’s annual budget each year. The overtime is not a surprise. The employees count on it. And they plan for surplus salt, trying to estimate how the winter is going to go.
“I’m sorry, Katie,” Reuben responded to my appreciation. “I haven’t been in the trucks. I have been put on unpaid leave since mid-January 2021. I am embarrassed and I don’t know what is going to happen.”
This isn’t the start of Reuben’s story. His story started years ago. This is the current step.
30-Day Unpaid Leave - How That Works
In the letter sentencing Reuben’s 30-Day Unpaid Leave, City Administrator Chris White instructed Reuben to not speak to any staff of the City of Beacon, or touch any property of the City of Beacon, during work time.
Reuben, who served as the department’s CSEA Union President from 2009 to 2017, had been organizing employees - those who would listen to him, anyway, since not all of them liked him. Especially those who he gave low marks to when he was CSEA Union President, like the employee who allegedly casually brought in a gun to the workplace 6 months after Reuben filed a harassment complaint against him for circulating an unsanctioned petition against Reuben to keep him off a negotiation committee for a contract, or those who didn’t like him being their boss. And then they became his boss when his job title conveniently dissolved.
Reuben’s organizing efforts included supporting the 2 other Black employees. Contract negotiations were happening for their salaries. He wanted all employees to know about their rights, and think about their best interests. Employees of the Highway Department have been without a new contract for some time. The City of Beacon links to one from 2015. According to Reuben, the employee health insurance payments have increased, and with the rising cost of rents and property taxes, people are not earning enough to keep up.
Verifying Reuben’s 30-Day Unpaid Leave - Stonewalled
To begin researching the story, I sought verification from the City of Beacon. I emailed City Administrator Chris White. Chris replied: “We do not comment on personnel matters.”
I then pursued the CSEA Union President, Paula Becker. Not being able to find her anywhere on the internet, and not realizing that she was a City of Beacon employee, I called her number and left a voicemail. And again the next day. The day after that, I received the following email from Chris: “I received notice from other staff that you had called regarding a personnel issue. As I mentioned previously, the City does not comment on personnel issues. I would appreciate you contacting me if you have questions in the future.”
Respecting his original request, I hadn’t contacted any staff. His response got me thinking that someone was impersonating me. I didn’t realize that Paula’s phone number extension was one digit different from Chris’, and that the CSEA Union President was a staff member of the City of Beacon. Did that yield fair representation or advocacy?
Union President As City Of Beacon Employee - Helpful or Fair?
Reuben was used to the dual role of staff and union president. He used to be the CSEA Union President as a Highway Department employee, before he was Highway Superintendent. “I was comfortable with it because I was a strong individual. Some people are not fine with it because the employer can give them certain benefits. Makes it an uncomfortable and tough situation. I was comfortable with having those battles,” Reuben reflected. '“It depends on your character and your personality. Paula, I believe, has a great heart, and wants to see the good in everybody. That's not necessarily the characteristics that sometimes you need, to be tough and fight back face-to-face.”
Verification Gained - ALBB Sees The Unpaid Leave Letter & Complaint Log
To publish this story, I felt better seeing the letter outlining the unpaid leave. I believed Reuben, but I wanted to see the letter and see how it was worded. I wanted to see the complaints behind the disciplinary action. The first response from anyone I verbally tell this story to is: “Well, what did he do? He must have deserved it.” Reuben maintained his answer: “I don’t know.”
“But did they show you a list of complaints?” I pressed.
“Yes, but they don’t say exactly what I did,” Reuben explained. “For example: I ‘drove out of City limits in a company vehicle.’ But I went to Glenham. But Glenham is outside of City limits if I have to service it. If I drive over the I-84 bridge to turn around in the Hudson View apartments to turn back to Beacon, I’m outside of City limits.”
Eventually, Reuben trusted me and showed me the letter. It said exactly what he said it said. Behind the letter was a thick stack of papers. “What are these?” I asked.
“The complaints,” he answered. He was reluctant to let me see them. We chatted some more, and I asked again if I could see them. “What could be so bad that I cannot see them? Is there something unimaginable?” I rattled off some unimaginable things. Surprised, he smiled and said “No,” and his hesitation disappeared. I turned the page to start looking through the stack of complaints. The stack of paper was thick, about half an inch.
These complaints started in the summer of 2020. They weren’t the first against Reuben in his life. He’s already been through another set in 2019, which you can read about here. The summer of 2020 was the same time that Reuben began speaking out at Black Lives Matter speaking events at Pete & Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park about his long history of working in the Highway Department, and racially charged and unfair treatment he has seen, experienced, and been told about while working there.
The complaints read as rows and rows of almost the same words on different line items of dates that said something vague like:
“On July 23*, 2020, Reuben Simmons was at the intersection of South Avenue and Main Street fixing a sign, and did not complete his work.”
“On July 23*, 2020, Reuben Simmons returned late from lunch.”
Copy/Paste those two complaints, change the dates and the intersections, and multiply by 50. Many, many rows of the same repeated. And then finally, a different complaint:
“On September 12*, 2020, Reuben Simmons…” and it was something about how he used a certain number of his Personal hours within a 4-hour period in a way that did not fit compliance.
*The number of this exact date has been estimated. I didn’t take a screenshot. But these were the months.
The worst complaint was a vehicle accident at the transfer station where he hit a civilian car with a company truck. OK. People have accidents. I’ve turned around several times in the transfer station, and it is tight. Question is: Have other employees who have also had accidents in company vehicles been disciplined with a 30-day unpaid leave? We wouldn’t know, because the City of Beacon won’t comment on personnel matters. And they may not answer all FOIL requests. None of mine, at least. And none of them, if answered, have been published since August 2020, as Mayor Kyriacou promised.
So what happened? The accident itself was reported as a complaint. Reuben was supposed to call his supervisor to report an accident, which he did. But the next complaint was that Reuben used curse words to his supervisor during that conversation.
“Curse words?” I asked? Reuben answered: “Yes. I used curse words about the situation in response to what my supervisor was saying. Not calling my supervisor any curse word directly. But speaking about the situation.”
Having a potty-mouth myself, I asked Reuben: “Does no one use curse words in the Highway Department?”
“They use them all the time. Worse. They use racial slurs,” he said matter-of-factly.
Next Step: A “Hearing.” With Witnesses Called By The City Of Beacon
After Reuben refused to resign or sign the letter saying that Beacon could fire him at any time for any reason, he had the option of having a “hearing.” At that hearing, the City of Beacon told him that they were bringing witnesses.
According to Reuben, the list of witness names were not given to his attorney, William T. Burke.
Ironically, back in the day when Reuben filed a harassment complaint about the unsanctioned petition, that the City of Beacon via City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero did not pursue because of lack of physical evidence of the paper petition, the City of Beacon did not care about witnesses. Reuben said he had 2 witnesses: the 2 Black employees who were eventually shown the unsanctioned petition. And Paula, the current union president who allegedly had the unsanctioned petition show up on her desk (perhaps how like Councilperson Jodi McCredo had a mystery letter show up on her front porch, putting her in a very awkward position), which then allegedly disappeared. None of these witnesses mattered for that hearing.
But on March 5, 2021, in a hearing to further detail complaints made against Reuben, the witnesses mattered. What’s that people say about All Lives Matter?
How Long Has Reuben Worked For The City Of Beacon?
Reuben has worked for the City of Beacon Highway Department since 2002, starting as “Summer Help.” His resume goes like this: City of Beacon Summer Help in parks, 2002-2008; Laborer, 2008-2012; Union President for City of Beacon CSEA Local 814 unit 6662, 2009-2017; Maintenance Worker, 2012-2017; Highway Superintendent, 2017-2018; Maintenance Worker, May 2018-August 2019; Working Supervisor, August 2018-March 2020; Maintenance Worker, March 2020-present.
After the summer of 2020 rush of complaints, the City presented Reuben with the opportunity to resign. When he declined, they offered him a letter that he could sign saying that they could fire him for any reason. He asked what that reason could be, and they would not specify. So it easily could have been: “Reuben was at the intersection of Liberty and East Main fixing a sign and did not complete his work.”
He declined to sign these. As he said he did years ago when the City presented him with a letter stating that there were no “racial tensions” in the Highway Department.
“Why Would This Be Happening To You?”
The obvious question is: “Why is this happening to you?” Due in part to Reuben’s role as union president for those years, he may have made people upset. Recently, however, the public has started speaking out, beginning with Stefon Seward, a founding member of Beacon4Black Lives who spoke out on a City Council call during the public comment period, resulting in this deep dive by ALBB to learn new information.
Reuben concluded: "I try to exhaust all internal avenues and best efforts to avoid the situation I am in today, and the City ignored all of that (see past article for reference). Maybe I'm the best person to be in this. I'm embarrassed to be in this. I'm ashamed of the City. In my 19-year career here. It's disturbing and disgusting. Beacon is better than this."
What is at stake if Reuben is fired or resigns? “My career will be cut short and I will lose the opportunity to receive my full retirement potential.”
How ALBB Knows Reuben
Unfortunately, in hearing stories of Black lives, or maybe any life, it comes down to who you know, and why you know it. I first got to know Reuben in 2019 when he got the idea to organize Beacon’s live music event, Rock Out 4 Mental Health, the first music event to bring mental health services throughout the Hudson Valley together in one place set to music, so that the community could easily meet them and get to know these services better. Reuben wanted to de-stigmatize mental health.
I didn’t know at the time that his good friend had died of substance abuse. I heard that friend’s story from his mother, who spoke at the event that June. In attendance at the event were Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro, who is a huge advocate for mental health, and state senator Sue Serino, whose brother died by suicide.
Reuben’s nonprofit organization, I Am Beacon, asked me to be on the planning committee for Rock Out 4 Mental Health. I don’t say yes to many things because of time, but I said yes to this immediately. Reuben ran every planning meeting that we had in my old office on Main Street every other Tuesday. I brought my toddler. Reuben ran in one morning in his bright yellow Beacon Highway Department sweatshirt, to give us notes and direction for the meeting. Reuben says he got personal time approved through Payroll, then attended the meeting. He said he saw his boss, Michael Manzi, that morning. They waved to each other, but then 2 months later Reuben was written up about the attendance of that meeting as a form of discipline, which Reuben says he later disputed.
That morning, he got written up by his supervisor, Highway Department Superintendent of Streets Michael Manzi, for being late. The complaint went into Reuben’s personnel file. If you have heard the podcast about it, you’ll know that it was during this event planning experience that I learned that Reuben was no longer the Highway Department Superintendent. You’ll remember that when I went to write the article about the event, I visited his LinkedIn to get his proper job title. LinkedIn said he was Maintenance Worker.
I asked Reuben about it, thinking nothing of the question. “Hey Reuben - what’s your job title? I see something different in LinkedIn.” He answered that he couldn’t talk to me about it. Couldn’t answer the question. Was going through some things at work legally, but maybe he could tell me later.
Later came one year later during the Black Lives Matter movement. We were going to have the Rock Out 4 Mental Health event again, and were going to ask the City, which had a new Mayor in place, if we could use Riverfront Park again. The former Mayor Randy Casale and Reuben had been close. They argued in public - both having loud voices coming from passionate places - but they were tight.
Randy Casale was part of why Reuben was promoted to Highway Superintendent. Not long after, however, Reuben’s job title of Highway Superintendent dissolved. Turned to dust. Never existed. He was demoted but there was nothing to demote him from. He just was Maintenance Worker again. Why? That doesn’t make sense, right? Right. Two words of how it happened: “Civil Service.”
The pandemic hit, and all events paused. Except Black Lives Matter marches. Or protests in the name of Black Lives Mattering more than the status quo. Whichever you want to call it. Whichever brand you feel comfortable saying, as people tried to chip away at the original meaning of BLM. Which was that Black people were dying, being fired, being ignored, and having to work extra hard to sustain success they made for themselves. Because of white people keeping them down. You. Me. All of us. Systems in general. “All lives” were keeping them down in the name of comfort. That feeling you get when you feel discomfort, so you turn your eyes away and feel comfortable again in your own little world.
Reuben attended a protest march and took to the microphone at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, and for the first time, in a shaky but strong voice, told his story. Even prior to his taking the microphone, there had been tensions between Reuben and the Highway Department. Complaints had already been written about him.
City Cuts Off ALBB From Responding To Questions
Since ALBB published the article, “During Hot Mess Of Water Department Hires, Beacon Passes Diversity and Inclusion Statement,” Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White has refused to answer any questions from this publication. Our door remains open. We will continue to send questions on this and other totally different matters. Even if we send them into the abyss and only hear crickets back.
City Administrator Chris White asked for a FaceTime-type call to get to know each other, since I keep emailing him questions. I email questions to lots of people. To the office of Dutchess County, or to business owners. No one else has requested a video chat to get to know each other better. I get it. I’m a people person too. I like to meet people. But in the media sense, it’s not necessary.
Chris’ final words, for now, to this publication are below. These are very similar to when Mayor Kyriacou responded to one of my questions asking him if he really said something that I had heard. Mayor’s Kyriacou’s response was to give me the definition of hearsay. Hearsay is when you don’t seek confirmation after you hear about what someone may have said. I’m not sure what it’s called when someone doesn’t answer the question but gives you a run-around, condescending, derogatory response.
For the record: Chris seems to do very great work. I am looking forward to his work in project management that he will do in the name of the natural environment. In the name of personnel matters, the experience thus far has been surprising. Perhaps that will change some day.
Until that time, while the City stonewalls any questions about treatment of employees by its employees and its employers, A Little Beacon Blog will continue to receive stories from residents of the community, and will continue to listen to them with compassion. If these stories line up with other stories, and begin matching and forming a pattern, those stories will continue to get published.
some physical proof cannot be seen in words. Slinging racial slurs will never have proof. Unless they are recorded, as with much, much worse happenings like with Rodney King or George Floyd. No one is free from racist behavior. Every day, every single one of us must keep ourselves in check. We must educate ourselves; reach out to make new friends and deeper friendships, to keep ourselves in check.
This treatment of a friend is nothing I would have expected from the City of Beacon. But this story is not new. It’s just not told in a public way.
Below is the current City Administrator Chris White’s last response to me. My response to him follows. Again. I think Chris is very talented. Anthony Ruggiero is very talented too, and I’m so bummed that he resigned. As the City of Beacon has stated: “We have work to do.” Anyone, in any position they are in now, can do better, and shift moves made in their past.
3/4/2021
In response to an invitation to speak on Zoom to get to know each other, which I declined.
Katie,
Thank you for your response. I am unable to respond to further questions until you and I have some discussion about journalistic standards for your articles. Since I replaced Anthony, I have tried to treat you as I would a news outlet, but I’m realizing that your blog does not operate in the same manner. I have to say that I also liked your blog’s focus on small businesses in Beacon so I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt in responding to you as time allowed.
The article that you just published on City hiring, which is referred to as a “hot mess,” certainly does not meet basic journalistic standards for unbiased reporting. If you would like the City to respond to you as we do with news media, we will need to establish some comparable reporting standards. With a simple conversation, we could have cleared up some of the inaccuracies and misleading assertions in this article, which is what the local papers would have done before publishing.
If you would like to have a conversation at some point to discuss this further, please let me know, and I will try to be available to you. However, until we can establish some sort of standards, I am not able to respond to further questions.
Best regards,
Chris
3/4/2021 Response:
Hi Chris,
I understand where you are coming from.
I do not know about other news outlets having conversations with administrations about how those administrations are covered, but having that discussion is not something I would need to have in order to get accurate information for a story, or try to at least. Informing about known or unknown information is what I would do.
Oftentimes, when a positive adjective is used, people are happy. When an unflattering one is used, the word “unbiased” gets returned.
As for coverage of businesses in Beacon, thank you. However, there may be times when local government decisions are unfavorable to business, or a certain businesses, and you may then not like that coverage, or that article.
Any reporter is biased, as a human. Only so many words and topics can get covered because of time and space (paper and digital), so by the very nature of publishing, every piece of content produced is biased.
With a simple email response, you can always shed light on inaccuracies if there are items that need corrected.
As a local paper would have done before publishing, I did try to get answers from you, in order to get as much accuracy as possible. Which you would not give. And now are stating will continue to not give any unless we have a conversation.
Thank you for your consideration in time in responding prior. We are all busy.
Thank you for the rest of the work that you do. There is a lot on your plate.
Best,
Katie
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This article is not just for Reuben. As torturous as this is to watch. This is for all of the other Black employees who have been ignored by the City of Beacon, or squashed down into dissolved positions.
The people involved in that - are probably some of the best people. Some of the best friends. Families who your family may have had play dates with. This is your check. My check. Everyone’s check. The check of all people’s lives.
Stories resulting from past articles on this are already coming from people who have been ignored on repeat. Most likely, this will extend into the Hispanic, Arab, Jamaican, Everyone community. Get comfortable with people who sound different than you. Are louder than you. Move differently than you.
Maybe you could shake it up and move differently too! Let your own passion out! Without shaming someone when they do it.
