BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly says he and his fellow councilors accused of violating the city charter will not step down in the wake of an arbitration ruling.

A dispute settled in arbitration between the city council and the Ogdensburg police union included an opinion that the council had violated the labor contract and city charter when the council instructed the former city manager to lay off four police officers.

According to the charter such a violation leads to immediate forfeiture of their council positions. The ruling prompted a group of citizens to protest the recent council meeting and begin raising money to file a lawsuit to force resignations of Skelly, Deputy Mayor John Rishe and councilors Steve Fisher and Bill Dillabough.

However, Skelly says the decision made by arbitrator James Gross is wrong and that the council acted with the best interest of the city in mind. He said no one will be stepping down and the city will fight any legal action brought against the council.

Skelly said the Ogdensburg City Council majority and minority, since taking their oaths in January 2020 has not knowingly, willingly or intentionally acted to violate the Charter of the City of Ogdensburg.

“The accusations, insinuations and maliciously false statements to the contrary are not facts, they are just plain fiction and untruths being used in an attempt to overturn the 2019 election and disrupt the definitive progress being made for the city,” Skelly said in a prepared statement.

“These efforts are being led by a group of people that obviously do not have the best interest of the city in mind, in fact, a couple of them were ousted in the 2019 Election and they will not stop their disruptive behavior until they irreparably harm the city,” he said.

Skelly says the opposition to the new council members began their “campaign of revenge” within days following the 2019 election. He said they signed irresponsible, unaffordable and financially crippling contracts with each of our employee unions, promising pay raises and benefits the city can’t afford.

Since being elected in 2019 through an unprecedented write-in campaign the new administration has been laser focused on cutting expenses and seeking additional revenue options. While they did cut taxes by 10 percent in their first year in office they have faced opposition for their methods which included cuts to the fire department and police departments. They also eliminated the recreation department and the comptroller position. They have also been engaged in a public dispute with the county regarding the amount of sales tax the city receives.

Among the biggest hindrances the administration are several labor contracts that were approved by the previous council just prior to the new council majority taking office.

“It is truly shameful those individuals used our valued city staff to manipulate public opinion, and even worse some union leaders were convinced these efforts were sincere acts of good faith,” he said. “When I was elected Mayor, we knew the city was in a financial crisis and serious distress, however, we did not know that financial crisis was about to get worse as the global pandemic consumed our nation.”

Skelly says the current majority acted to protect the city from further financial ruin and potential bankruptcy when it provided budgetary guidance and policy instruction to then-City Manager Sarah Purdy.

“We did not rely on Ms. Purdy to lead us through this challenging time, based on her resistance to every action we proposed, we knew she would not provide the solutions needed. We made a plan, requested legal review from our attorneys and acted; that is what we are elected to do,” he said.

Skelly alleged that Purdy was working actively against the city council’s wishes.

Although the council majority voted on a resolution instructing her to lay off four police officers despite legal concerns raised by the minority council, Skelly said it was a legal action.

“The recent opinion of an arbitrator presiding over a matter concerning the police department is wrong. His opinion is not rooted in the law, the city charter or common sense,” he said.

“At no time did the city council provide specific instruction to the city manager about any specific employee and the city council did not provide instruction directly to any employee. The city council acted appropriately in providing direction to the city manager with regard to where the budget was being cut and the policy decision of where positions would be eliminated,” he said.

Skelly said that at the time the decision was made there was a hope that if the impacts from the pandemic were not as severe as projected, they could bring the impacted police officers back to work.

He said they directed the city manager to use the layoff process, instead of abolishing the positions permanently

“We now have a second legal opinion that confirms our actions were correct, legal and within the authority of city council and the intent of the city charter,” he said.

That opinion has not been shared publicly at this time.

“We stand by those decisions and we are prepared to defend the City of Ogdensburg and the Ogdensburg City Council should either be challenged in a court of law. We won't let the self-serving actions of a few distract us and we will not resign from office. We took an oath, we promised the community we would save the city, and we will ultimately revive the city,” he said.