Goldberg Reappointed as North Castle Town Administrator

 

Despite threats of litigation, the North Castle Town Board voted Wednesday night to rehire Joan Goldberg as town administrator less than three weeks after she was terminated by the previous board amid allegations of misconduct.

The new board, seated for its first meeting, reappointed Goldberg by a 4-0 margin to have her resume her responsibilities under the identical terms of employment from the time she was originally hired in September 2012. The town had originally approved a two-year contract carrying a $135,000 salary.

Supervisor Michael Schiliro said the town’s outside legal counsel, Keane & Beane, concluded in two separate investigations initiated by the previous board that there was no misconduct on Goldberg’s part.

“The results of those investigations resulted in the finding of no evidence of unlawful or actionable conduct by the town administrator,” Schiliro said.

One investigation centered around alleged harassment and bullying of former town comptroller Faith Berland, who resigned from her post on Monday. The other inquiry focused on a complaint submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Dec. 24 by the husband of court clerk Nancy Hall who charged that Goldberg didn’t hire him for a seasonal parks job because he is black.

Goldberg was fired without cause in a split vote on Dec. 20. However, former Supervisor Howard Arden, part of the board majority at the time of that vote, had released a statement detailing substandard job performance, serious allegations of misconduct and violating rules of conduct as outlined in the town’s Employment Practices Compliance Manual as justification for the decision.

Immediately following Wednesday night’s action to rehire Goldberg, Jason Berland, the attorney for and husband of the former comptroller, vowed to sue the town. At the meeting, he read his wife’s resignation letter, which accused Goldberg of “severe workplace harassment and invasion of privacy.”

The letter also stated that Faith Berland “was the target of hostile and aggressive verbal abuse and physical intimidation.”

Berland resigned after Schiliro failed to reappoint her and she read his comments in a recent news article saying he was unaware of her harassment complaints even though she brought the issue to the attention of last year’s board on multiple occasions.

“I guess it will all be fleshed out in federal court,” said Berland who added that there is a strong possibility that other parties would also be launching litigation related to Goldberg’s actions.

Schiliro said the town had planned to keep Berland in the comptroller’s position while a search committee interviewed candidates for the job.

“She made the independent decision to resign and we thank her for her service,” he said.

But Jason Berland questioned how the town could have completed an adequate investigation into the EEOC issues within hours of receiving the complaint or whether town officials had addressed the matter at all  He said he was contacted on Wednesday morning by Town Attorney Roland Baroni who was still looking for a copy of the complaint.

“How can you sit here with a clean conscience and say that you’ve investigated the matter fully and the town found no wrongdoing by Joan Goldberg?” Berland asked.

Baroni said he obtained the complaint and that the town’s legal counsel was satisfied with its findings. Should the EEOC find Goldberg engaged in any wrongdoing, town officials will address the matter at that time, he said.

“We realize that the EEOC will be conducting its own investigation,” Baroni said. “We’ve been fully apprised of that.”