POUGHKEEPSIE – The Common Council was supposed to meet this evening to appoint a replacement for 8th Ward Councilman Matt McNamara, who resigned at the beginning of June. The meeting has been postponed until Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Council Chair Sarah Salem and the other council members exchanged a series of emails to discuss the filling of the vacancy, including candidate interviews. The members used their personal email addresses, rather than their government email accounts to discuss the city government.
Six residents expressed interest in being named to the council. Nicholas Kalogris, Michael Hanrahan, Alana Wade, Megan Deichler, Laurie Sandow, and Sakima McClinton all sought to be interviewed by the council.
In the process of setting up the interviews, Councilwoman Sarah Brannen sent an email to colleagues on June 3, raising an issue with two of the candidates. Brannen pointed out that Alana Wade did not submit a letter of interest, or the one that was submitted was blank. Brannen also pointed out that Laurie Sandow had only submitted a letter, but no resume. Mrs. Brannen recommended that if the required documents were not provided, the two be barred from interviewing. “It doesn’t bode well if someone can’t meet even this most basic requirement,” Brannen said.
Sandow, when learning of Brannen’s comments, accused the 4th Ward Councilwoman of lying. “Brannen’s claim that ‘Laurie Sandow had only submitted a letter, but no resume’ is an absolute lie,” said Sandow.
