The Mechanicville city council will hire outside legal counsel to look into allegations of misconduct made against Mayor Dennis Baker by members of the city police department.
A complaint filed January 19th by Police Benevolent Association officials and city Commissioner of Accounts Kimberly Dunn accuses the mayor of harassment of PBA members and city employees as well as interfering with investigations. Baker's wife Francine, the city's court clerk, is also named in the complaint.
Thursday night the city council voted to retain attorney Robert Hite to conduct an independent investigation of the matter. Baker's attorney is James Walsh. "I'm astounded that the city's council went that way instead of having this matter resolved with their labor attorney, which is the way it should have been done with the union."
Baker denies the allegations are false, and says he will be vindicated.
Walsh says Baker has not engaged in any wrongdoing, and says if the police department has a complaint... "...the proper avenue is to either grieve that or file an improper practice charge with PERB, the Public Employment Relations Board. Instead, what the police officers union has decided to do is they filed a complaint with Commissioner Dunn, who happens to be the mother of two of those police officers in the union.”
Thursday night's special meeting was brief and did not allow for public comment, which angered some residents, like Nick Rinaldi, who told Spectrum News the whole situation is a waste of taxpayer dollars. "This is a disgrace. My friends are laughing. They say 'what's going on in Mechanicville?' We're a laughingstock. They should try to work out among themselves, and if they can't, then go to a lawyer. They went to a lawyer without trying to work it out."
Walsh says the mayor supports the independent investigation. He says he's looking forward to discussing the matter with attorney Hite, who did not return a call for comment. "I have not spoken to the attorney that was hired by the city yesterday. I don't know what he's going to do in his investigation, how long it's gonna last. We'll file the complaint, we'll put our evidence in. We'll participate with the investigation, and hopefully it's fair and impartial."
Baker, a second-term Republican, is a former police officer.
Mechanicville PBA Complaint on Scribd
