Gallo declares Kingston is on the right path to being a model city Kingston’s mayor Shayne Gallo spoke for nearly two hours during his 2015 State of the City address, delivered Thursday night at City Hall, to a room full of supporters and constituents. The speech broke down the city into various sections, financially, geographically, and by department, adding to the mix a general rundown of his administration’s policies, challenges, and accomplishments. This was Gallo’s 4th State of the City address, having been elected in Nov. 2011. Among his top achievements are bringing transparency & accountability to departments, meeting the 2% tax cap, improving the bond rating, and revitalizing the business sector. “When we look in the mirror, and we see its reflection, are you better off than four years ago? Yep, I would think so, because of our partnership, which is inclusive, not exclusive,” Gallo explained. “Why has it been successful? We’re listening to each other, including each other, working together, cooperating. That translates into positive change for our entire community,” Gallo said. Gallo acknowledged his critics. “The naysayers and cynics will still contend nothing good is going on here, there’s been no meaningful productive change. To those folks I say, please become a stakeholder, please work with us, you can see all the good things we’re doing,” he said. “Everything I’ve talked about tonight has been embraced by the City Council by 7-2 votes, there is no divided government in Kingston,” Gallo maintained. “They ain’t doing it for me, they’re doing it for the entire city.” “I can’t do it without all of you, and without all of you, we don’t have a model city, and ‘I’ means ‘we,’ that’s what it boils down to,” Gallo said. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCaSj10fBuc

Brad Will, Kingston’s Third Ward alderman, might meet the Board of Ethics once again. He was found guilty of repeated violations in a report filed on Oct. 9th, and fined $1,000 with censure, for conflict of interest involving the Pike Plan scandal. Now city officials are steaming mad, and openly preparing to accuse him of further conflict, for allegedly representing a client before the Planning Board on Oct. 13, discussing site plan changes for the new Irish Cultural Center at 32 Abeel Street. Alderman Will also serves as the Planning Board’s liaison to the City Council. The official source of the new allegation is an abstract of the Oct. 13th minutes, prepared this week by the Planning Board clerk. Kingston mayor Shayne Gallo pulled no punches in an interview conducted on Sunday afternoon during the Burning of Kingston, where he roasted the embattled alderman. “Mr. Will doesn’t get it,” remarked Gallo. “Unfortunately he’s consistently lacking transparency and veracity, and disregarding the law, rising above the law,” Gallo said. “Alderman Will should know that the plain meaning of the [ethics] law provides that, in fact, as a liaison member from the City Council to any existing city board, you can’t represent anyone before that board. To me, it’s a no-brainer,” Gallo explained. “To have to have someone like Mr. Will, who after one instance, engages in the same pattern of behavior, blatantly and knowingly disregarding the ethics law, is just a sad commentary on the kind of government we have in this city. It’s really unacceptable,” observed Gallo. Andrew Champ-Doran, Brad Will’s Independence Party opponent in November’s election, agrees. It was Champ-Doran who originally filed the first set of ethics charges against Brad Will last January. Those charges were later levied verbatim by the Pike Plan Commission. “My alderman, my representative in CIty Hall was breaking the law. We want to make him stop breaking the law,” Champ-Doran indicated, claiming his motives weren’t political. During the secretive Ethics Board proceedings throughout September, Will refused to testify under oath, but stated through his defense attorney ignorance regarding his conflict restrictions. Champ-Duran exploded that assertion by disclosing a January 2014 letter by Brad Will, attempting unsuccessfully to levy similar ethics charges against mayor Gallo. “It’s clear from his letter to Jim Noble that Brad Will knows the law. He’s very specific in his letter, he takes a lot of time, sort of deconstructing the law and looking at it. He has a three-page addendum to his letter, describing more in depth about conflict of interest,” Champ-Doran noted. “I believe they gave him a great deal of leeway. Brad Will cost the city so ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbw8W3eeKdo

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