The Southbridge Evening News, Southbridge, Massachusetts
The story behind Malloy and 'Musical Chairs'
By MIKE SAUCIER
In the spirit of closure, and disclosure, it's time to hear the Sturbridge Town Administrator Jim Malloy's take on what happened in Monticello, New York, where he was fired before coming here.
You would think, based on the talk in some circles in Sturbridge, Malloy committed unspeakable atrocities in Monticello, where he was the village manager from 1992 until 1994. In these same circles in Sturbridge, Malloy's Monticello past is akin to Nixon's Watergate. They call it the "Musical Chairs" scandal. Malloy adds it was also called "The Catskill Shuffle."
For the record, Malloy said, "Musical Chairs" did make it to Broadway, in answer to a question posed in a recent column in the Southbridge Evening News. The village hall in Monticello is on the corner of Broadway and Pleasant streets, the town administrator noted with humor.
Here is a quick synopsis of "Musical Chairs in Monticello, from Malloy's perspective:
In 1993, Malloy had some issues that concerned him. One was that the part-time village attorney would not do labor law or planning/zoning law which created a need to employ three law firms at a total of $90,000 a year.
Secondly, the village was only a small client for the part-time village attorney, which often resulted in a lag time of waiting for return calls for up to three weeks.
Lastly, the part-time village attorney, Stephen Oppenheim, was also the collector of delinquent taxes. However, he had not paid his property taxes in over 10 years, making him the third most delinquent taxpayer in the community, according to Malloy.
As the CEO of the community, Malloy felt that this level of service was not equal to the cost that was involved.
Due to his concerns with the then current part-time village attorney's cost and the low level of services received from the three firms that represented the Village of Monticello, Malloy requested the village board create a full-time legal position instead, to be paid approximately $65,000 per year. The board agreed and began discussion on making the shift to a full-time village attorney.
From there, it got interesting.
Information from court testimony and court decisions disclosed the following:
The mayor, John Diuguid, and two other board members, Robert Friedland and David Rosenberg, three members of a five-member board, allegedly met illegally in 1993 at a place called Gager's Diner, on Broadway and through teleconference meetings. Their conspiricy was to approve the full-time village attorney's position and offer it to Mark Schulman, the village justice, (village governments in New York maintain a village court) which would create a vacancy for a judge. The mayor, an attorney who always wanted to be a judge, would then be appointed to fill the vacant judgeship. The deputy mayor, Friedland, who always wanted to be mayor and Rosenberg would be appointed deputy mayor.
At the same time, Malloy said he was in the middle of negotiating a state "bailout" of the community through the New York State Legislature because of the hefty deficit he inherited.
As part of the negotiations, he was to cut as much out of the budget as possible during the current fiscal year. Part of his recommendations to the mayor and board was to terminate the Village assessing unit and use the Town of Thompson's, of which Monticello is part. In New York, village governments can forego having their own property assessor and use the township's. The mayor and board agreed and temrinated the assessing unit, but then appointed the assessor to fill the vacant seat on the board.
Here's aquick breakdown of the plan:
Judge became the full-time attorney
Mayor became the judge
Deputy mayor became mayor
Board member became deputy mayor
Assessor became a member of the board
It was these five changes in elected or appointed seats that led to the term "Musical Chairs." Malloy said eight people from the village government were required to submit affidavits as testimony in the court trial: Diuguid, Schulman, Friedland, Rosenberg, Board Members Evelyn van Dermark and Gloria Cahalan, Gladys Walker, assessor and Malloy, the village manager.
Not one of the affidavits states Malloy was either involved in or had knowledge of any of the illegal meetings. Van Dermark and Cahalan were also not involved.
Malloy said he knew of their "Musical Chairs" plan around 3 p.m. of the day they took action at a 7 p.m. meeting when Schulman asked Malloy if he would work with him as the village attorney. Then around 5 p.m., Malloy said, Friedland and Rosenberg came to his office to tell him of their plans.
Malloy said his recommendation was that they not do what they were planning.
As a result, two village residents sued in New York Supreme Court to invalidate their actions. The courts not only invalidated the actions, they removed all of the offending parties from office for violating the New York Open Meetings Law. This meant Malloy was left with a two member board, not enough for a quorum, no attorney and no judge.
The lawsuit did not mention any actions Malloy took that were improper or illegal. The court took no actional against Malloy, van Dermark or Cahalan.
Malloy was fired by the mayor and the board of trustees of Monticello in July, 1994.
The current village treasurer, Robin Seward, who worked with Malloy for a year, starting in 1993, said they miss him in Monticello. "Sturbridge is very lucky," she said. "He's a very good guy."
Malloy was fired because of politics, not inability, she said. The board changed a number of its members, who didn't jive with Malloy, so they fired him, she said.
As for the "Musical Chairs" number, Seward said Malloy had no part in it. "There was no question. He stayed away from it," she said.
For the record, Malloy adds, Monticello has just lost its seventh village manager in four and a half years since he was terminated -- an average tenure of eight months.
Now that Jim has come clean, maybe it's time for another Broadway show -- "Conspiracy Theory" -- to close the curtain.
Mike Saucier is editor of the Southbridge Evening News.
The following clarification ran in the News on Tuesday, May 25, 1999
CLARIFICATION: In an April 14 column "The story behind Malloy and 'Musical Chairs,'" comments made by Robin Seward need to be clarified. She simply said that Jim Malloy was fired in July, 1994 from his post in Monticello, New York and she didn't become treasurer until August, 1993 - but she knew that the court did not take any action against Malloy.