Residents Speak Out Against Suspension, Investigation

On Monday, Tarrytown residents struck out at a , to suspend DPW General Foreman Scott Weaver.

Many painted Weaver as a scapegoat and implied that other village employees or volunteers should be suspended as a result of last year's Labor Day manhole accident.

"I'm here to support Scott. You need to bring Scott back," said Joe McCarthy, a volunteer firefighter who is friends with Weaver."To suspend him... That is not fair."

Residents also called for a reassessment of facts and findings that led to Scott Weaver's suspension, calling the process flawed and filled with conflicts of interest.

Last Friday's suspension of Weaver was the first action taken after the from the New York State Department of Labor's Public Employee Safety and Health (PESH) division, which served the village with two serious, and two willful serious, violations in December for lapses in protocol and safety that contributed to the accidental  of  and  on .

Weaver was feet away from Anthony Ruggiero as he entered the manhole behind . He is also alleged to have been watching Firefighter John Kelly as he entered the manhole in an attempt to save Ruggiero. Though he didn't tell them to go in the manhole, the PESH report stated he didn't try to stop the men either.

The suspension of Weaver was brought about by an independent review of the PESH report by labor attorney Ernie Stolzer from Bond, Schoeneck and King PLLC. Stolzer was tasked with reviewing all the PESH findings, conducting interviews, and making a recommendation to the board of any and all personnel actions that could be followed up based on the PESH report.

Stolzer's review is not public, and has not been seen by trustees (because it could taint their decision making process). All trustees know is that Stolzer recommended a disciplinary hearing be conducted into Mr. Weaver's actions. It was Stolzer's only recommendation. The decision to hold a disciplinary hearing in no way implies guilt, that will be determined after the hearing takes place.

However, residents speaking out on Monday noted that Stolzer has been a labor attorney who has worked for the village, on and off, since 1999. They said those previous dealings with the village could have tainted Mr. Stolzer's review of the PESH report and could have influenced his recommendations as to those who should have to face a disciplinary hearing. 

"The law firm concluded its investigation and recommended charges be filed against one individual? It's just not one person. That's impossible." said Diane Tuohy.

Tuohy noted that Village Engineer Michael McGarvey, Village Administrator Michael Blau or Fire Chief Pete Saracelli – all individuals who were – were not recommended for disciplinary hearings.

"Are you comfortable that this is all solely on one person's shoulders?" said Mary Westerfield. "How can that be?"

"The only one getting the blame is Scott Weaver," Joe McCarthy said. "You put Scott as the scapegoat. Everyone here agrees with that in this room."

While most speakers were impassioned, some commenters went too far, suggesting that board members would pay for their actions in the afterlife or weren't capable of praying for forgiveness.

"I take offense to that," said trust Doug Zollo in response to a particularly scathing comment made by Tarrytown Resident Clarice Pollack.

After more than two hours of heated public comments, it became clear that those in the audience wanted two things to occur:

• The reinstatement of Scott Weaver as General Foreman of the Department of Public Works until a new review is conducted
• And a fresh third party review of the PESH report by someone who has never worked for the village.

"Maybe we should have someone from totally outside our realm look at this," said Robert Goldstein of Sheldon Avenue. "I don't think we should suspend [Weaver] at this point."

While the board said in many ways their hands were tied by labor laws and procedures they must follow, they agreed to look at the issue again and determine what, if anything, they could do to address residents' concerns over the process that led to Weaver's suspension.

"The board will take this back and look at it," said Tarrytown Trustee Tom Butler.