GOSHEN – The closed-door policy of Newburgh City Manager Todd Venning has apparently extended to the Orange County Seat in Goshen.
Venning, who has been city manager for three years and city comptroller before that, has refused to talk to the media and has imposed a gag order on all city employees, including department heads, delegating that role to just one person.
County Executive Steven Neuhaus takes issue with the way city hall is being run.
“I love the city and it has so much potential and we have so many people that want to invest and do things there, but we really have a communication problem. The district attorney, the sheriff and myself never even met the city manager, never met him,” he said. “We need to have the two law enforcement agencies work a lot closer together; not only the county sheriff’s office, state police, and the city police department, but the local partners as well and I think that can use some improvement.”
The city spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about Neuhaus’ remarks prior to this story being published.
One City Councilwoman, Ramona Monteverde, has acknowledged that city hall needs to open up the lines of communication.
