Memorandum

To: James Noble, Common Council President

CC: Community Development Advisory Board

From: Steve Noble, Environmental Program Operations Specialist, Parks and Recreation SN

Date: April 12, 2015

Recently, I became aware of an undated memo that was sent to Kingston Common Council President Jim Noble from the Mayor regarding the 2015-2016 Community Development Block Grant Applications. This memo appeared to be a cover page for a letter dated March 30th from Brenna Robinson, Director of the Community Development Office, to Mayor Gallo regarding revisions made to the funding plan at the Community Development Advisory Board Meeting of March 24, 2015, a meeting that the Mayor himself did not attend.

In his memo to the Council President, the Mayor specifically called out my work ethic, my ability to follow the chain of command, and questioned my concern about all of Kingston’s youth.

I cannot allow the fabricated information in that memo to stand uncorrected, as much of what was said was far from the truth and was used, I believe, to discredit my reputation as an honest, hard working, caring and deeply engaged public servant.

In his memo, Gallo states “Steve Noble appeared before the Community Development Advisory Board to discuss funding proposals affecting the Department without the knowledge, consent or permission of Kevin Gilfeather, his department head.”

Kevin Gilfeather was fully aware of, supported and expected my attendance at that and all Community Development Advisory Committee meetings. Not only did he know of that particular meeting, but he himself and Brenna Robinson were included in emails I had sent to all of our department’s Community Development grant partners (those agencies who applied to the Parks and Recreation Department to receive funding to work at either the Rondout Center or Hodge Center), encouraging them to attend as well.

You can verify this by contacting Kevin Gilfeather, who can and will vouch for this.

In his memo, Gallo goes on to state, “As an employee of the Parks and Recreation Department, Mr. Noble is not authorized to make policy recommendations as to CDBG funding without consulting with his department head, the Mayor, and the head of Community Development office.”

As a city employee acting as our department’s grant manager, it is my role, working with Kevin Gilfeather, to advocate for grants written by the Parks and Recreation Department. I submitted a grant on behalf of the department, with my Superintendent’s full support. I answered questions regarding that grant application, for both the department and all of the partners included in that grant application. It is the responsibility of the Community Development Advisory Board, composed of community members

and Common Council members, to make policy. That evening, that group decided who they would recommend funding for, and who they would not. They also voted unanimously in that regard. Even though I am a staff liaison to the Community Development Advisory Board, I do not have a vote in those proceedings.

In his memo, Gallo goes on to state “Mr. Noble is only responsible for coordinating and scheduling activities under the auspicious of Recreation Department, CDBG Program, at Hodge Center.”

As the Parks and Recreation Department’s Community Development grants manager, I work cooperatively with Kevin Gilfeather to manage all of our department’s grants with Community Development. That does include work at the Hodge Center, a building that I also manage and schedule activities for, but also includes all other CDBG capital and programming work at the Rondout Center or within our parks. I also assist the Community Development Office in managing all of our partners, including signing contracts, managing budgets and working with each organization to run successful programs. This year, those organizations included the Hudson River Maritime Museum, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, New Progressive Church/Read and Write, Community Action of Ulster County, YMCA of Ulster County and Family of Woodstock.

You can verify this by contacting Kevin Gilfeather, Brenna Robinson or any of these other groups who I serve as direct contact with on behalf of the entire department.

His memo goes on to state,“Mr. Noble’s actions polarized and alienated CDBG from Not for Profits such as Center for Creative Education, Ulster County Community Action Committee and the Boys/Girls Club from CDBG and, Hodge Center employees from Rondout Center employees, CDBG staff and Rec Department employees.”

The fact is that I represented our department’s full interests by presenting a comprehensive grant that provided funding for each of the organizations that wanted to work in our community centers. These included: Hudson River Maritime Museum, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, New Progressive Church/Read and Write, Community Action of Ulster County, and Family of Woodstock, along with funding for the Parks and Rec Department at both the Rondout and Hodge Centers. Again, all decisions to recommend to fund or not fund certain agencies is the role of the Community Development Advisory Board and Common Council Committee. At no time did my words or actions, as recorded by the Community Development Director at the meeting, polarize or alienate any of these groups.

His memo goes on to state, “Apparently lacking understanding of the funding needs of the CDBG office Mr. Noble recommended taking substantial administration funding and giving it to him to spend at the Hodge Center.”

The fact is that at the end of the 2.5 hour meeting, when the Community Development Advisory Board was looking for ways to fund the Boys and Girls Club Music Program, I asked Gerald Brown, a CDBG Advisory Board member, whether any of the new administrative funds’ $10,000, which have never gone to the CDBG office before, would be available for that. Brenna Robinson indicated it couldn’t and was now needed to fund her office. It was clear after hearing this that the CDBG Advisory Board still wanted to fund the Boys and Girls Club Music Program. I believed that this was a worthwhile effort and offered a suggestion to be considered. I suggested that the CDBG Advisory Board use $6,000 of Public Facilities money to fund the Boys and Girls Club Music Program. This shift in funding is permitted under our recently approved Midtown Revitalization strategy. The entire CDBG Advisory Board and staff

concurred with this suggestion and went on to approve that recommendation of funding. None of this had anything to do with giving the Hodge Center any additional funding, and again, is all available on the meeting’s recording.

His memo then went on to state that “the bulk of Mr. Noble’s recommendations were intended to shift funding from Center for Creative Education, UCCAC, the Rondout Center and other Not for Profits to give to Family of Woodstock for tired old programs rather than proposals for new programs, job internships, BEAT initiative programs including Connectivity -Education - Art -Tech - Health Care programs designed to create an educational career path to new high school academics and our work force in our local economy.”

At no time did the Parks and Recreation Department, for who I represented at the meeting, ever work to shift funding from other programs to Family of Woodstock. A full recording of the meeting is available that proves that fact. This was not just a meeting of myself, Brenna Robinson and the Advisory Board. Representatives from the Center for Creative Education, Hudson River Maritime Museum, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Family of Woodstock, Boys and Girls Club, Ulster County Community Action and others were in attendance to be available to answer questions pertaining to their grant applications, should the Advisory Board have any.

The fact that the Mayor utilized a Council memo to call the program at the Everette Hodge Center, which is run by the Parks and Recreation Department, a “tired old program” is disappointing at best. This program has only existed for 2.5 years, and was created by dedicated staff of the Recreation Department, Family of Woodstock and other not for profit partners, and currently serves over 100, low income, at-risk youth annually in midtown Kingston.

This successful after-school program has created a safe, fun and educational learning environment for so many youth in our community. Youth have an opportunity to do such things as join a Bike Club through Cornell Cooperative Extension and the YMCA, take part in one on one tutoring programs through New Progressive/Read and Write Program, participate in programming with the Hudson River Maritime Museum, engage in a Nature Club for those looking to explore Kingston’s Parks, as well as a variety of fun and exciting field trips. This is all in addition to the daily nutritious foods, open recreation time, computer literacy, and social interaction this program provides. The youth also have access to one of the county’s most well known social service organizations, Family of Woodstock. The Kingston Cares/Family of Woodstock Program has operated out of the Hodge Center for the past 10 years, serving hundreds of midtown families, receiving little or no city funding during that time, while serving in the last 2.5 years as a partner with the Parks and Recreation Department to implement this comprehensive after-school program. Family also provides direct youth supervision, youth and family referrals and counseling. The number of youth services directly available to our families is impressive and, unfortunately, is heavily utilized because the needs are so high in our community. The Hodge Center also hosts a variety of programs from Ulster BOCES, Living Word Chapel, intergenerational programs and programs in collaboration with the Bruderhof Community.

This is all of the great work that is currently happening at the Hodge. The Mayor’s note in the memo inaccurately reflects the Hodge Center partners’ 2015-2016 applications, as they each addressed the Mayor’s priorities for increased job readiness and career exploration programs.

I am very proud of the work of my staff and partners at the Everette Hodge Center and believe the work being done at this community center is exceptional and should never be referred to as a “tired old program.”

It is irresponsible that the Mayor has chosen to send an inaccurate memo to the Council to personally attack a hard working and dedicated public servant, who has always kept the best interests of the community, and more specifically the Parks and Recreation Department for which he works, in mind.

His accusations are clearly unfounded and are not supported by the actual facts. This is an inappropriate way to treat a public employee. I am also personally disappointed he has taken to using the public record to personally degrade and disparage particular not for profits in our community.