Yorktown Demands Former Comptroller Return $76,960
The majority of the Yorktown Town Board passed a resolution last week calling on former Town Comptroller Joan Goldberg to return $76,959.63 they claim she was not entitled to for accumulated unused vacation time.
Referring to a May 18, 1993 resolution that stated town department heads were granted the same employee benefits as the CSEA contract provides to its members, the board concluded Goldberg, who worked 17 years for Yorktown before leaving September 21 to become the Town of North Castle’s first ever town administrator, was only allowed to cash in three unused vacation days and the rest of the money constitutes a “conversion of the town’s funds.”
Supervisor Michael Grace and councilmen Terrence Murphy, Dave Paganelli and Vishnu Patel emerged from executive session about 90 minutes after the Town Board meeting had ended without having previously announced what they were discussing or listed on the public agenda and authorized Town Attorney Jeannette Koster to send Goldberg a certified letter demanding the town be reimbursed for $76,959.63 within one business day.
The board also vowed to take legal action to recover the funds if Goldberg refused to cooperate with its demands.
“The record is there,” Paganelli said when asked about his vote. He declined to make any further comments.
Only Councilman Nick Bianco voted against the resolution, saying about a dozen employees in recent years had left town employment and were paid for unused vacation time.
“I’m confident with my no vote,” Bianco said. “In my private and my personal life, I have never acted arbitrary, capricious and, above all, with vindictiveness.”
Bianco also said he had no prior knowledge of any of the four resolutions that came out of the closed session.
“This has been the norm of this administration,” he said. “It’s not good open government.”
Reached at her North Castle offices, Goldberg said several times department heads approached the town board over the years to try to formalize an agreement for vacation and sick time but “the town board always chose not to.”
“In my 17 years, there was never a resolution. There was never a limit what department heads could accumulate,” she said.
When asked if she felt she was entitled to the full amount of funds she deposited, Goldberg responded, “Of course.”
Reportedly, Goldberg was preparing to serve Yorktown with a lawsuit this week.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
