TOWN OF FISHKILL = The Fishkill Town Board has approved a settlement agreement with former Fishkill Police Officer Scott Bierce, who resigned amidst controversy in December 2019.  Bierce had been a police officer with the town for 38 years at the time of his resignation.  His federal lawsuit claimed that the town and former Fishkill Police Chief James Schepperley violated his free speech and political association rights.

The town agreed to give Bierce a one-time payment of $145,000 to bring the lengthy litigation to a close.  As part of the settlement of the suit, filed in 2020, Bierce agreed to withdraw his claims against Schepperley and cease his action against the town.  The town’s insurance policy has a $10,000 deductible which must be paid to the insurance company which will then pay Bierce the total $145,000.

Prior to his resignation, Bierce had been decertified as a police officer by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice.  He claimed that former Fishkill Town Supervisor Bob LaColla and Schepperly arranged for the decertification because Bierce supported current Supervisor Ozzy Albra over LaColla who had been seeking reelection.

“The era of police officers having their civil rights violated are over,” Albra said.

“Over the past three years I fought to protect this officer’s civil rights and worked diligently to have him recertified as a police officer, but I was thwarted every step by politics,” he said. “The town’s inability to rectify this situation resulted in another six-figure settlement. Throughout this effort as your town supervisor, I backed the blue during these hard times.”

When Albra became town supervisor, he named a new police commissioner and the two unsuccessfully tried to get Bierce re-certified as a police officer with the state.

KINGSTON – The Board of Trustees of Rondout Savings Bank announced the appointment of Dennis M. Larios as its new chairman beginning in 2023. This year marks Larios’s 25th year as a bank trustee. He was chair of the Finance Committee for many years and chaired several other committees throughout his tenure.

A 1976 graduate of Cornell University, Larios is a licensed professional engineer and President of Brinnier and Larios, P.C., an engineering and land surveying firm in Kingston. He has supervised many municipal engineering projects throughout the Hudson Valley, primarily in the areas of water supply, municipal infrastructure, and water pollution control facilities.

Larios joined the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County in 1979 and continues to serve today as president of the Board of Trustees. He also contributes his time as treasurer of the Board of Montrepose Cemetery Association and board member of the St. George Greek Orthodox Church.

Larios chaired many nonprofit committees and served on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Ulster Regional Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Ulster County, Cross River Healthcare, Kingston Hospital Foundation, and the Kingston Hospital, where he was past president (2000-2001) and honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Rondout Savings Bank is a mutual community bank headquartered in Kingston, New York, with five community offices in Kingston, West Hurley, and Hyde Park, New York.

ALBANY – In announcing her FY 2024 Executive Budget on Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul (D) kept her promises to not raise income taxes while pushing for changes to the state’s controversial bail reform laws. “I’m committed to doing everything in my power to make the Empire State, a more affordable, more livable, safer place for all New Yorkers,” said Hochul, a Democrat.

Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R, Deerpark), who represents western Orange County, was not buying that Hochul’s budget will have a positive impact. “State spending has been egregious since my first year in office nearly eight years ago, but with a difficult inflationary period now impacting the bottom lines of New Yorkers, I’m even less inclined to ask them to pay more in taxes toward the multiple programs pushed by the state,” said the Republican Brabenec. “It’s just more evidence that Albany is continually disconnected from the needs of everyday New Yorkers.”

Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D, Newburgh), who represents the cities of Newburgh, Beacon and Poughkeepsie, supports Hochul’s additional funding to fight gun violence, education, expand workforce development, and fund clean water. But he does not support everything the governor proposes.

“I am opposed, however, to the payroll tax increase that’s being proposed for the MTA district of which Orange and Dutchess counties are part,” he said, noting this is the first step in the budget process as the legislature gets to review it.

Freshman Republican Senator Rob Rolison (R, Poughkeepsie), who represents parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Orange counties, called the governor’s spending plan “an ambitious conversation-starter,” but he said the governor must “take negotiations out of Albany’s backrooms, and expose them to the sunlight of public opinion for all to see.”

Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus, a Republican, criticized the plan to withhold $9.8 million in federal funding to Orange County for Medicaid and increasing the MTA payroll mobility tax.

The objection to the MTA tax increase came from Dutchess County Legislature Chairman Gregg Pulver, a Republican, who said the state continues to use the Mid-Hudson Valley as “an ATM” machine to fund the state budget.

The budget contains all funds spending of $227 billion, which represents a 2.4 percent year-to-year increase. The roughly $5 billion in increased spending will go to address a number of the governor’s priorities, including a plan to construct 800,000 new homes throughout the state, invest in reducing gun violence, and additional funds to increase the accessibility of affordable childcare, among other priorities.

On the issue of bail reform, Hochul is proposing to expand ‘judicial discretion’ by eliminating a requirement that judges give criminal defendants the “least restrictive conditions” in advance of a trial.

A final spending plan in due by April 1st. Public hearings on the governor’s budget by the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee will be held in the coming weeks.

NEWBURGH – In honor of Black History Month, the Pan African flag was raised on Wednesday, February 1 at the foot of Broadway in the City of Newburgh.

City Councilman Omari Shakur first brought the idea to the council noting it represents the rebirth of the city.

“We’re coming together and lifting ourselves up and we’re lifting the city up and that’s what this symbolizes, us coming together and rising together as a community, as a people and as a city,” he told a gathering at the flag raising.

Mayor Torrance Harvey said the city is being revitalized and “we are celebrating our multi-culturalism and diversity.”

(Mid-Hudson News video)

GREENBURGH – Three men who police say are associated with the January 29, 2023 murder of 35-year-old Ricky Brickhouse were arrested a few hours after Brickhouse died after being shot on the 100 block of Spring Street in Peekskill.  One suspect who knew Brickhouse is facing murder charges and two others are facing felony weapons charges.

Peekskill resident Arnold Fernandez, 19, was charged with the felonies of murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.  Also arrested were 26-year-old Errick Lowe of Cortlandt Manor and 20-year-old Omar Williams of Peekskill.  The accomplices are both charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon.

Investigating officers at the shooting scene were able to determine the identity of a suspect and the vehicle used to flee the scene.  The description was transmitted to the Westchester County Department of Public Safety Real Time Crime Center on Sunday afternoon.  Within minutes, the vehicle was spotted traveling south on the Sprain Brook Parkway.

After a brief pursuit, the vehicle was stopped in the Town of Greenburgh and the three subjects were taken into custody without further incident.

Peekskill detectives learned that Fernandez and Brickhouse were known to each other and determined that the shooting was not a random act.  All three suspects were arraigned on January 31, 2023 and remanded to the Westchester County Jail.