Mayor Richard Thomas announces investments in public safety May 23, 2017 in Mount Vernon. Tania Savayan/lohud
Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas sought to heighten his city’s profile last week at the State of the State address.
He did so by leading an entourage of council members and staffers to Albany for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s speech and to meet with state officials.
He also used four vehicles to shuttle the nine people north, and each vehicle was driven by a city police officer.
Thomas and city council members Andre Wallace and Janice Duarte traveled together in the mayor’s SUV, with one of his regular police drivers, Detective Alex Bates, at the wheel.
Two other SUVs, driven by officers Jose Centeno and Jessie Smiley, carried the mayor’s top aide, Maria Donovan, his assistant Lou Migliore, Public Works Commissioner Joseph Nigro, Nigro’s assistant, Damani Bush, and two mayoral staffers.
Leading their three vehicles was a police car driven by Lt. Michael Marcucilli.
On Tuesday evening, after The Journal News emailed questions about who made the trip and why so many police officers were used, Thomas tweeted that he was expecting “another hit piece on MV for traveling to Albany together as per Gov invite.”
Thomas left out any mention of the police drivers. And a reporter never questioned the decision to have elected officials and employees attend, only the means of getting there using four city officers.
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For two years, Thomas has complained about the police department being understaffed. On Jan. 5, two days after the Albany trip, police Commissioner Shawn Harris reiterated that on a video posted on Facebook, saying "for a long time now...our manpower's been depleted."
Harris did not respond to an email about the police escort to Albany.
In an emailed response, Donovan offered that, “with so many state officials in attendance the event provides a particularly effective way to advocate on behalf of the city in a short amount of time.”
She did not specifically answer why four cars had to be taken, all driven by police officers. She claimed that was done “following protocols established by the state Police.”
She would not provide the referenced protocols. When asked why the state police would have protocols for how municipal officials and employees travel to Albany she said “because it was an official event.”
State police respond
A spokesman for the state police, Beau Duffy, said there was no requirement that local officials travel with their own security.
If they do bring along armed police or security, he said, they must notify state police of that. Otherwise, he knew of no requirements regarding how they get to Albany.
Donovan insisted that the officers worked regular shifts that day and were not on overtime for the trip. But she did not answer whether any other officers had to be paid overtime to cover for those who were out of the city for the entire shift.
Nigro said he traveled in his city-issue car that was driven by a police officer. Asked why he didn’t drive it himself, Nigro said he thought it had something to do with safety or security. Asked if he meant it was potentially a liability issue for the city, he said that was more likely the reason.
Thomas also offered a ride to Council President Lisa Copeland, but she told him that she had friends in Albany she would be visiting so was driving herself.
In an email this week, Copeland said she was unaware that four police officers had been used. She said she was concerned that an administration that complains about understaffing would use so many officers for a trip to Albany.
She said the council has no control over how the mayor’s police detail or any police officers are assigned.
“Our first priority is the safety of the residents of Mount Vernon. In the future I would make some recommendations to the Mayor making sure that all protocols are followed,” Copeland wrote.
Councilman Marcus Griffith did not attend the state of the state. He said the mayor should not have relied on police to drive the cars.
“He always has a lot of officers around him. I don’t know why he feels the need to do that,” Griffith said. “And if we have four police officers who are driving people to Albany, that means there were less officers on the street.”
Security detail duties
Like other mayors before him, Thomas has a security detail of city police officers who drive him and work out of his office.
But he also gets special attention from police in another way. A memo in the roll-call book at police headquarters requires that an officer conduct a "directed patrol" of the mayor's Douglas Place home once an hour. The officer is required to park in front of the house and "conduct a perimeter check". During the 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. hours, the officer doing the check is "to attempt to contact whoever is home at the time, introduce themselves and inquire if all is in order."
The Journal News observed several of the directed patrols over the past week, including one when a police car headed from downtown, drove past the mayor's home and then returned to police headquarters. At 11 a.m. Friday, an officer parked across the street and remained there for more than five minutes before leaving.
The directive started when the mayor rented a home down the block. The address was changed on the same memo when the mayor purchased his current home four months ago.
Goals in Albany
On the mayor's Facebook page, he wrote that the city's contingent sought to meet with state officials about the city's initiatives for 2018, particularly "covering the cut", a plan to increase recreational greenspace by covering the railroad tracks that run through the city.
The DPW employees made the trip "because of the critical need – at both the state and city level – to secure investment in new infrastructure projects," Donovan said.
Thomas posted 30 pictures on Facebook of himself posing at the event with various officials, sometimes with the council members, other times by himself. They included state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli; New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio; Congressman Jerrold Nadler; former Gov. David Paterson; and new Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
How others travelled
Other elected officials and municipal employees from Westchester also traveled to Albany for the speech.
Christina Gilmartin, the Yonkers director of communications, said Mayor Mike Spano and his chief of staff were driven by a police officer. Gilmartin and the deputy mayor drove themselves in a separate car, she said.
New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson drove himself in his city-owned car – and paid for his own gas, a city spokeswoman said.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach drove his personal car, said Karen Pasquale, special assistant to the mayor.
Bates is on the mayor's detail and Centeno was promoted this week to detective. Smiley is part of the motorcycle unit, which is headed by Marcucilli.
Before Thomas’ election, Marcucilli was a sergeant who had been named in several excessive-force lawsuits that cost the city nearly $1 million in jury verdicts, settlements and legal fees. But his career was resurrected in the Thomas administration with his promotion last year to lieutenant and an elevated stature in the department.
He declined to comment when asked about the trip to Albany.
Twitter: @jonbandler