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Yates County District Attorney Jason Cook has told Penn Yan Village officials that after reviewing a New York State Comptroller’s audit and conducting his own investigation, there is no evidence to support further criminal investigation into the use of Penn Yan Fire Department funds.
At the end of the village board’s Jan. 17 regular meeting, Trustee Bart Winslow, a member of the fire department and a former chief, read the letter that Cook sent to village officials in late December.
Cook had been approached by former Trustee Wayne Davidson in late 2011
“I just want it understood that I find it absolutely terrifying that a village board member would go to the DA to prosecute a member of the fire department. I don’t condone someone working behind the board’s back, going to the DA to try to get someone in our fire department prosecuted,” said Winslow.
In his letter, dated Dec. 29, 2011, Cook explained that in addition to reviewing documents, he interviewed Edward Grant, the chief examiner from the Rochester branch of the State Comptroller’s office.
Davidson has filed an article 78 lawsuit against the village board in response to a resolution the board passed on Dec. 14 in an effort to fix some incorrect management of the Penn Yan Fire Department’s length of service program. Davidson, who resigned from the board on Dec. 14, had served on an ad hoc committee of the village board charged with making recommendations for changes in village and fire department practices in response to the comptroller’s audit.
In his article 78 lawsuit, he argued, among other things, that because fire chiefs were paid a set amount quarterly to cover chief expenses, they should not be considered volunteers, and therefore should not be eligible for the LOSAP program.
Trustee Michael Christensen, also a member of the fire department, said Davidson had supported the ad hoc committee’s recommendations, but then worked behind the scenes to undermine the effort. Christensen, as chair of the Public Safety committee, was chair of the ad hoc committee.
Davidson is asking Yates County court to nullify the board’s Dec. 14 resolution, which was a retroactive ratification and approval of a point system for the fire department length of service award program (LOSAP). It was a step to bring the management of the system into compliance with state guidelines.
The article 78 lawsuit was scheduled for a hearing before Judge Dennis Bender in Yates County Court Feb. 16.
Yates County District Attorney Jason Cook has told Penn Yan Village officials that after reviewing a New York State Comptroller’s audit and conducting his own investigation, there is no evidence to support further criminal investigation into the use of Penn Yan Fire Department funds.
At the end of the village board’s Jan. 17 regular meeting, Trustee Bart Winslow, a member of the fire department and a former chief, read the letter that Cook sent to village officials in late December.
Cook had been approached by former Trustee Wayne Davidson in late 2011
“I just want it understood that I find it absolutely terrifying that a village board member would go to the DA to prosecute a member of the fire department. I don’t condone someone working behind the board’s back, going to the DA to try to get someone in our fire department prosecuted,” said Winslow.
In his letter, dated Dec. 29, 2011, Cook explained that in addition to reviewing documents, he interviewed Edward Grant, the chief examiner from the Rochester branch of the State Comptroller’s office.
Davidson has filed an article 78 lawsuit against the village board in response to a resolution the board passed on Dec. 14 in an effort to fix some incorrect management of the Penn Yan Fire Department’s length of service program. Davidson, who resigned from the board on Dec. 14, had served on an ad hoc committee of the village board charged with making recommendations for changes in village and fire department practices in response to the comptroller’s audit.
In his article 78 lawsuit, he argued, among other things, that because fire chiefs were paid a set amount quarterly to cover chief expenses, they should not be considered volunteers, and therefore should not be eligible for the LOSAP program.
Trustee Michael Christensen, also a member of the fire department, said Davidson had supported the ad hoc committee’s recommendations, but then worked behind the scenes to undermine the effort. Christensen, as chair of the Public Safety committee, was chair of the ad hoc committee.
Davidson is asking Yates County court to nullify the board’s Dec. 14 resolution, which was a retroactive ratification and approval of a point system for the fire department length of service award program (LOSAP). It was a step to bring the management of the system into compliance with state guidelines.
The article 78 lawsuit was scheduled for a hearing before Judge Dennis Bender in Yates County Court Feb. 16.
