Accounts diverge in Noble matter
Lawyer says he didn’t advise filing complaint against mayor or selectively withholding info
An attorney for the New York Conference of Mayors says he did not advise any lawmakers from the city of Kingston to file an ethics complaint against
Mayor Steve Noble with the state Attorney General’s Office.
But one of the four Common Council members who asked the attorney general to investigate “potentially inappropriate and perhaps even illegal behavior” by Noble and his wife, a city employee, said the ethics referral was one of four options presented by the conference lawyer.
“I never recommended or advised anyone from the city of Kingston to make an ethics referral to the NYS Attorney General’s Office against Mayor Noble,” John Mancini, counsel for the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM), wrote in a Monday
email. “As an outside advisor and not involved directly with this issue, I do not have enough information or all of the surrounding facts and alleged circumstances to even suggest making a referral to an investigatory agency.”
The email, obtained by the Freeman, was addressed to Common Council President Andrea Shaut and city Corporation Counsel Kevin Bryant. It referenced the Freeman’s July 12 article about an investigation of Steve and Julie Noble being requested by Shaut, council Majority Leader Reynolds ScottChildress, D-Ward 3, Alderman Jeffrey Ventura Morell, D-Ward 1, and Alderwoman Rita Worthington, D-Ward 4. The four lawmakers have not specified the alleged wrongdoing by the mayor and his wife. And Morgan Rubin, deputy press secretary for state Attorney General Letitia James, said Tuesday that James’ office does not comment about the status of complaints or confirm or deny investigations.
Ventura Morell said Tuesday taking the group’s concern to the Attorney General’s Office was one of four options given to the four lawmakers by the New York Conference of Mayors. He said the others were going to the state police, the Ulster County district attorney or the city Ethics Board.
The four felt the attorney general was “best equipped to do a neutral investigation,” Ventura Morell said.
He said the four also were advised not to publicly share details of their requested investigation. He said they only shared the information with other members of the council who they felt would not disclose it to the public or press.
In his email, though, Mancini said he never advised anyone from city government to withhold personnel information from other elected officials. He said anyone possessing confidential personnel information has an obligation to safeguard it, and if elected officials need access to information to do their job, then access should be granted.
Alderwoman Michele Hirsch, D-Ward 9, said Sunday that she asked for information about the requested investigation but was told by her colleagues that, based on advice from the NYCOM lawyer, they could not disclose it. She said she believes the matter involves community members who filed Freedom of Information requests with the city for Julie Noble’s overtime records.
Scott-Childress said Tuesday the matter was a personnel issue, which is why he and his three colleagues were not publicly disclosing information. He also said they did not tell the mayor about their concerns because they wanted first to see whether there actually was an issue.
“It’s very difficult for us,” Scott-Childress said. “We understand this creates a significant disruption.”
The majority leader said the four lawmakers did not start an investigation but, instead, were reacting to information that was brought to them by community members who had filed Freedom of Information requests with the city. Scott-Childress said other members of the council were told about the basic concerns that were raised but that the four also were trying to protect the people who had brought the information forward.
Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors, said Mancini only offered options to the four lawmakers.
“In offering up options, he wasn’t recommending they needed to do any of them,” Baynes said. He also said Mancini did not offer an opinion about the validity of the lawmakers’ concerns.
In a press release issued about 5:40 p.m. Friday, Ventura Morell, ScottChildress, Worthington and Shaut said they had “become concerned about potentially inappropriate and perhaps even illegal behavior by Mayor Noble and Ms. Noble in their roles as Kingston city officials. We have received reports from multiple sources that require us, by our duty as elected officials, to investigate the matter.”
Julie Noble is the city’s environmental education and sustainability coordinator.
The press release said such concerns typically would be referred to the local government’s ethics board. But because Kingston’s board is appointed by the mayor, they said, a conflict of interest was possible, so the matter was referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
“An investigation by the attorney general, a disinterested authority, is the ideal pathway to learn if, in fact, violations of our ethics code or the law have occurred,” the release stated.
Noble first was elected Kingston mayor in November 2015 and was elected to a second four-year term in November 2019.