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RYE, N.Y. - The Rye Board of Ethics released the minutes of its Feb. 2 meeting this week unveiling its much anticipated ruling to the public. According to the minutes, the board declared that Rye Mayor Doug French did not seek nor receive preferential treatment in the city's investigation of building violations, nor with respect to the reception of the STAR tax exemption.
At last Thursday's meeting the board failed to notify half a dozen members of the media and the public that they had adjourned from executive session, leaving the board's decision in doubt until the minutes were released.
Robert Freeman, New York State's executive director of the Committee on Open Government called the board's conduct both "disrespectful" and "discourteous" to the public.
"Finally, finally, someone took the time to look at the facts to fully understand the issue," French commented. "This is not about the mayor and ethics, but about the process of selling a home and issue residents face everyday that handled by the city staff the same way."
Council member Joe Sack also released comment on the ruling, but saw the results in a different light than the mayor.
"Unfortunately yet predictably, the flawed process used to arrive at this outcome will only cast even more doubt on the issue, rather than help us to move on from this unwanted distraction," Sack said. "On top of it all, we still don't know the facts, which is why we still need an independent investigation so we can find out what happened from an unimpeachable source, make our own judgments, and put this matter behind us."
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