Rye TV staffer blows whistle on city officials

Written by CHRISTIAN FALCONE

Thursday, 16 February 2012 18:33

Senior city officials withheld information to the public, manipulated video footage and instructed a subordinate to lie, according to a Rye TV employee. The accusations flung at City Manager Scott Pickup and Rye TV public access coordinator Nicole Levitsky, stem from the handling of a controversial Jan. 25 council workshop. And councilmembers themselves may have been deceived, according to the employee.

This all comes on the heels of a “he-said, she-said” debate over the taping of the workshop in
question.

Rye TV employee Andrew Dapolite, in a scathing letter sent to the City Council on Monday, is requesting that the legislative body investigate the chain of events surrounding the controversy, which was reported on last week by The Rye Sound Shore Review. The city manager initially stated the fire department meeting was not recorded for the viewing public, but it was, in fact – although city officials said the taping was done merely for backup purposes.

Dapolite, 22, alleges that he was instructed by his superiors not to disclose that the workshop had been recorded when several members of the press, public and fire department inquired about it in the days following the meeting. He was also told by Levitsky specifically not to tell Republican Councilman Joe Sack, Dapolite says.

In an exclusive interview with The Rye Sound Shore Review, Dapolite said he came forward because he couldn’t continue being dishonest to the community, and the charges are surrounding some major issues in Rye. “People deserve to see those meetings,” he said. “The council deserves to know when the meetings are recorded and not recorded.”

The employee said he emailed his concerns to Levitsky on Jan. 27 and suggested that the city manager be notified that a recording existed. In an email response, obtained by The Rye Sound Shore Review, Levitsky told Dapolite, “He knows full well there is a recording,” referring to Pickup.

Dapolite went on to say, “Ms. Levitsky explained to me later that day that Mr. Pickup did not want the recording released.” According to the city employee, the city manager knew that a recording had existed from the time the workshop took place.

“It is my understanding that actions exhibited by Mr. Pickup and Ms. Levitsky, by withholding the recording of the meeting, lying to city officials and members of the public, placing expectations on me that challenge good ethics and morals, is in direct conflict with the code of ethics,” Dapolite said in the letter.

The meeting was eventually posted to the city’s website 13 days after it had taken place, but only after Councilman Sack pursued the matter.

Following its Feb. 7 posting online, the city employee began receiving calls about poor sound quality. When he reviewed the tapes, Dapolite said he found that “the audio levels were actually lowered” and that “this could be achieved only through operator/editor intervention, Ms. Levitsky’s.”

Further charges also revolve around the council’s Jan. 28 strategic workshop at Whitby Castle. The city manager told the council that meeting was not going to be recorded due to unavailability of staff. However, Dapolite said he offered to shoot the meeting, but claims he was told by Levitsky that Pickup didn’t want it recorded despite repeated requests by several members of the council – in particular Councilman Sack – to do so. The meeting was ultimately recorded only when former Mayor John Carey, a Democrat, volunteered his services at the request of Democratic Councilwoman Catherine Parker. Sack was unable to attend that meeting.

“To the best of my knowledge, no one on our part-time staff was asked to record the meeting and my offer was declined,” Dapolite said.

Rye TV employs two full-time staffers as well as five part-time employees. Dapolite, a Rye resident, has been a full-time employee for Rye TV, serving as its production coordinator since September 2011. Prior to that, he worked there as a part-timer dating back to 2009.

Apparently, there was an internal disagreement amongst members of the council over taping the meeting, claims the employee. However, conversations on Jan. 25 point to no councilmember objecting to the Saturday meeting being taped. Dapolite also alleges that Pickup said, in conversation with him last Thursday, there has been a disagreement on the council between Republican Mayor Douglas French and Councilman Sack over videotaping meetings dating back to a council meeting at The Osborn last year.

City Attorney Kristen Wilson confirmed receipt of the letter, but doesn’t expect much headway prior to the next scheduled council meeting on Feb. 29. Wilson is still in the process of reviewing the letter. The attorney will then advise the council, but said her relationship with the city manager could become a conflict at some point.

Mayor French didn’t provide much since the matter involved personnel except that the council would follow the normal course of procedure. “In this matter, we will do the same thing,” he said. “It is a personnel matter and we’ll handle it appropriately, and we are taking steps to do so.”
Dapolite said he only reached out to Sack first, and then the entire City Council after repeated attempts at addressing the issues in-house.

When reached for comment on Tuesday, City Manager Pickup said he couldn’t discuss the matter, but would do so when the timing was appropriate. A phone to call to Rye TV’s Levitsky seeking comment proved
unsuccessful.

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