PHOTO: Kathleen Gill, former New Rochelle City Manager
Cox writes: ‘Bramson was desperate to prevent the nullification of yet another Sustainable Westchester contract with New Rochelle, the second in four months, both based on illegal votes cast by successive New Rochelle Mayors, including himself.’
By Robert Cox, Editor | Talk of the Sound
Many readers have been asking to know the real story of what happened with the New Rochelle City Manager. As we have said, it is a complex story with many moving parts so it would take time to be ready to tell it. That time has come. This is the story of how and why Noam Bramson, David Blumenthal, Yadira Ramos-Herbert, and Stanley Bernstein, and others, conspired to remove Kathleen Gill as City Manager.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (April 15, 2024) — Kathleen Gill was removed as City Manager because she became an existential threat to Sustainable Westchester.
She is the only person to ever terminate a municipal contract with Sustainable Westchester, she did so while announcing plans to put any future energy aggregation contracts out to bid — contracts that would be opt-in not opt-out — a death knell for Sustainable Westchester.
As far as Noam Bramson was concerned, she had to go — and fast.
Gill sealed her fate when she was quoted in The Journal News after Robert Cox filed a new Sustainable Westchester ethics complaint, this time against Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert.
“Now there’s a new question,” said Gill. “If she was required to disclose and recuse herself from the vote, then that contract will also be null and void.”
Many have wondered why things seemed so chaotic over the past few weeks.
Noam Bramson, David Blumenthal, Yadira Ramos-Herbert, and Stanley Bernstein moved precipitously on Gill out of panic and desperation on the morning of March 25 in order to prevent the execution and publication of an agreed upon ethics board decision (the “March 25th decision”) which found Ramos-Herbert had an interest in Sustainable Westchester and so violated New York State law by voting on a contract between the City of New Rochelle and Sustainable Westchester with the result that the contract was null, void and unenforceable.
Bramson was afraid of the implications for Sustainable Westchester — and thus his career and income — if a second such contract was nullified based on illegal votes cast by two successive New Rochelle Mayors, including himself, in a period of four months.
We have submitted numerous Freedom of Information requests in recent weeks to obtain an array of records but given what has taken place since March 25, including illegal, unethical and corrupt practices, our confidence in receiving the requested records, and receiving them on a timely basis, is low.
We believe that these records will only see the light of day if they are subpoenaed by law enforcement.
This article is an attempt to make the case to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and/or the United States Attorney’s Office to convene a Grand Jury, subpoena all relevant records and interview the principals starting with Noam Bramson, David Blumenthal, Yadira Ramos-Herbert, Stanley Bernstein, Kathleen Gill, Dawn Warren, Michelle Oliveros and Charles Phipps.
Why did the firing of Kathleen Gill seemed rushed and disorganized?
Sustainable Westchester Executive Director Noam Bramson was in a panic over the weekend of March 23-24 after learning that the New Rochelle Board of Ethics had determined that New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert failed to disclose a prohibited interest in Sustainable Westchester when she voted February 20 on a short-term contract between the City of New Rochelle and the tax-exempt organization.
Bramson was desperate to prevent the nullification of yet another Sustainable Westchester contract with New Rochelle, the second in four months, both based on illegal votes cast by successive New Rochelle Mayors, including himself.
Compounding his concern, David McKay Wilson, the Tax Watch columnist at The Journal News had taken an interest in reporting by Robert Cox of unethical and illegal conduct by Sustainable Westchester board members and employees. One Tax Watch column focused on Cox’s reporting, his sustained ethics complaints against Noam Bramson and Sara Kaye and his new ethics complaint against Ramos-Herbert.
A second Tax Watch column detailed how Sustainable Westchester was costing Westchester ratepayers tens of millions of dollars above what they would have paid to Con Edison had they not been stuck with unfavorable opt-out-only Sustainable Westchester contracts.
Bramson’s concern was that a third vote in New Rochelle might fail as residents began to realize what a bad deal was on offer from Sustainable Westchester — and set off a stampede for the exits countywide.
The New Rochelle Board of Ethics has three members: Chairman Charles Phipps and Member David Blumenthal, both appointed by the City Manager to five year terms. The City Clerk serves as a voting member, ex-officio.
On September 20, 2016, the City Council took the power to appoint a City Clerk away from the Mayor based largely on poor political appointments by Noam Bramson, in particular Bennie Giles.
Michelle Oliveros was appointed by City Manager Strome on November 14, 2018 after 22 years working for the City of New Rochelle. She serves at the pleasure of the City Manager so is particularly vulnerable at this time.
In New Rochelle, when an ethics complaint is filed, an outside counsel is hired by the City Manager to represent the ethics board. The outside counsel advises the board and drafts a final report based on the deliberations of the ethics board members. Two members constitute a quorum. At least two of the three members must sign the decision report.
Once executed by signature, a copy of the decision is sent by the outside counsel to the complainant and the City Manager. The City Manager, in turn, forwards a copy to each member of City Council. The decision is then a public record.
The only complainant who ever filed an ethics complaint with the New Rochelle Board of Ethics is Robert Cox. Between 2021 and 2024 he filed five ethics complaints:
- 2021: Christine Dodge Case (Cox received a “no conclusion” letter dated 11/29/2021).
- 2022: Bramson Development Commissioner / Gill Rescind Case (Cox received a “sustained” decision report on June 16, 2022 and deposition transcripts days later).
- 2022: David Blumenthal Case (received a “not sustained” letter on December 30, 2022)
- 2023: Bramson / Kaye Sustainable Westchester Case (received a “sustained decision” for both Bramson and Kaye on December 1, 2023)
- 2024: Yadira Ramos-Herbert Sustainable Westchester Case (received a “not sustained” decision on April 12, 2024)
[Click on ‘Back’ and/or go to ‘Original Article’ to read the rest of this long, complex report at ‘Talk of the Sound.’]