A City Council investigation into personnel issues at the Rochester Police Accountability Board is drawing to a close, as Council President Miguel Melèndez urged the nascent city agency to focus on the work.
Melèndez’s comments came as the PAB faces its latest onslaught of firings, internal complaints, and allegations. Last week, the agency’s head of policy and oversight, Mike Higgins, was fired abruptly, as was Deputy Chief of Community Engagement Mozart Guerrier. And earlier this week, more than half of the agency’s staff submitted a letter to City Counciland the board calling for the firing of Acting Manager Duwaine Bascoe.
On Wednesday, Higgins sent a letter to City Council complaining a whistleblower complaint he filed last week was not acknowledged by the city. In the letter, Higgins alleged Bascoe was high or drunk at an Oct. 3 meeting. Bascoe responded Thursday, stating that migraine medication he takes caused his slurred speech at the meeting, and threatened legal action against Higgins and suspended executive director Conor Dwyer Reynolds.
Bascoe is also calling for Attorney General Letitia James's Office to investigate Reynolds, alleging he has interfered with the investigation.
At a news conference Thursday, Melèndez lamented the PAB’s opacity and the near bottomless well of issues it has borne.
“All too often, we learn about these issues through the media first,” Melèndez said. “Like the public, my colleagues on City Council are concerned and frustrated by what we hear.”
Melèndez declined to comment on any personnel issues at the PAB but did note that the Council's investigation – which was prompted by the suspension of Executive Director Conor Dwyer Reynolds and surrounding personnel issues – is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
While City Council is the overseeing body of the PAB, the Council does not have direct involvement in the board’s personnel.
Reynolds was suspended in May amid a flurry of allegations of mismanagement. Reynolds had filed his own complaint against Board Chair Shani Wilson, accusing her of sexual harassment. Wilson resigned in June and was replaced by labor organizer Larry Knox.
In total, eight staffers have been fired or resigned since Reynolds was suspended.
The investigation has thus far unearthed multiple other complaints, according to Melèndez. He said the agency, despite being given a full budget and other resources, has failed to functionally live up to its mission.
“An agency created to bring accountability, an agency whose middle name, literally, is ‘accountability,’ must be accountable,” Melèndez said.
Reynolds attempted to be reinstated as executive director through a lawsuit, arguing the board violated the state's Open Meetings Law. Reynolds lost that lawsuit in September, but stated he plans to appeal.
All the while, agency employees have expressed dismay. In a June letter from PAB junior staffers to leadership, obtained by CITY, employees complained that “the current state of the workplace is highly toxic; wrought with retaliation, fear, and low in morale.”
In the Oct. 6 letter calling for Bascoe’s firing, the 18 staffers argue the acting manager has “stoked and enabled an atmosphere of harassment, intimidation, retaliation, and confusion.”
As the investigation’s closure looms, the stakes for the PAB are high. In December, Council will decide whether to grant the other half of the board’s $5 million budget, which was withheld in June due to failure to meet any performance goals.
“Certainly, I think the outcome of the investigation will tell us more about where we go as a direction,” Melèndez said. “I don’t have firm positions today, because I don’t have the results of the investigation. Everything is speculation, gossip, rumors.”
Gino Fanelli is a CITY staff writer.
