POUGHKEEPSIE – Mayor Yvonne Flowers plans to appoint Jamar Cummings to the position of City Chamberlain if the council approves the appointment at Tuesday’s (tonight) council meeting of the lawmakers.
Cummings gained attention locally in 2020 when he followed then-Council Chair Sarah Salem around the city, including her home and place of business, calling for her resignation after she was charged with a DWI. Salem eventually resigned after being convicted in 2023.
Cummings aligned himself with former First Ward Councilwoman Deb Long when the two sought to be the Democratic candidates in a primary for last year’s council elections. With Lee running against then-Councilwoman Flowers and Long. running in the First Ward, Cummings sought the Fifth Ward nomination against Ondie Jones. Flowers won the primary and followed with a successful mayoral campaign. Long and Cummings were defeated in their bids.
Cummings has been serving as the chairman of the Dutchess County Emergency Shelter Stakeholder Group, tasked with finding a suitable shelter for those in need.
While serving as the group’s chairman, he has gone to a few city council meetings where he has disrupted council meetings and verbally assaulted the city’s attorney, Rebecca Valk with a series of falsehoods that Cummings refuses to acknowledge, despite public records proving otherwise. The outbursts and attacks from Cummings resulted in Council Chairman Da’Ron Wilson calling for a return of civility and decorum to council meetings.
