Members of the Town Board say McKenna didn't tell them that 31-year-old Michael Innello was a Level 3 sex offender when they voted to hire him for a maintenance worker position back in March. Councilmember Anula Courtis says they’ve received little to no information from McKenna, a fellow Democrat, ever since.
So as McKenna started Tuesday night’s agenda, Courtis stood up to introduce a resolution that would terminate Innello’s employment.
“Bill, before we proceed, I have a resolution that I’d like to introduce — and the timing matters so that the meeting doesn’t get shut down,” said Courtis, before launching into the text of the resolution.
Innello was convicted in 2020 of sexually abusing an unconscious woman. He was also convicted of possessing child pornography involving an 11-year-old girl. He was released on parole in December 2024 but will remain on the state’s sex offender registry for life, as New York considers Level 3 offenders to be at high risk for re-offending.
McKenna did not return a request for interview from WAMC, but he has previously stressed the importance of “second chances" in Woodstock, and that Innello's criminal record was known during the interview process. The job is a union position that pays $21.35 an hour.
McKenna has also reportedly said the job would not put Innello near children, but at least one town employee disputed that Tuesday. Dahlia Boiardi, a counselor at the town’s youth summer camp, says she was not immediately informed about Innello, and later found out he was seen filling a pool near a work orientation on June 27, where both minor employees and campers were present.
“I emailed Bill, and I said, ‘You walk around talking about, ‘Well he’s not in contact with people.' But I’ve had multiple coworkers tell me that he was there at our orientation," says Boiardi. "And Bill said, ‘Well it was only for an hour, and he had two maintenance workers with him.’"
Courtis’ resolution to fire Innello was not received well by McKenna. In fact, he called it “illegal” and tried to ignore it, talking over the rest of the Board in an attempt to ram through the evening’s agenda.
"We're not moving forward. We're not done," warned Councilmember Maria-Elena Conte.
For the next several minutes, Councilmembers Courtis, Conte, and Bennet Ratcliff refused to discuss or vote on any of the night’s other matters.
The Board eventually held some discussion on the issue. Courtis, Ratcliff, and Conte all voted in favor of terminating Innello. McKenna and Ricci abstained.
“If you go look on the New York state page that talks about this individual, the very first thing it says is that information is not to be used to harm the individual," warned Ricci. "So I think we should give a lot of thought, because each person, when they are redeeming themselves — sometimes people can redeem themselves, and sometimes they can’t...In any event, I think we could be giving this more thought. I don’t think we should be knee-jerk about it.”
Courtis, Ratcliff, and Conte say they repeatedly tried to discuss the matter with McKenna, both in executive sessions and privately, and got few answers. Ratcliff says the timing of the resolution is important, as Innello is still in the six-month probation period of his employment, during which Ratcliff says Innello can be terminated without a specific work-related grievance. That period ends in August.
All of this played out in front of a very upset audience. Multiple women who spoke before the Board testified that they were survivors of sexual assault, and that they were triggered by Innello’s hiring. Resident Rebecca Turmo says she was especially upset to hear McKenna’s statements about “second chances.”
“I don’t think you did it purposefully, but that’s where we are and this is what’s happened," Turmo concluded. "Words matter, Bill.”
After the meeting, it wasn’t immediately clear whether the resolution was successful. Courtis and Ratcliff say it is, but it’s unclear whether McKenna, whose job it is to send it to the state, sees it that way. Courtis says she and Ratcliff will begin sending letters to officials informing them of the firing anyway.
"I find it horrifying that we actually had to do this tonight, yet we had to do this," she adds.
Courtis is running for town supervisor in November with the Democratic Party’s nomination. McKenna is not seeking a fifth two-year term.
