Yonkers City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy
Collins-Bellamy’s dual roles raise questions after legislation targeting city officials’ two six-figure jobs is not placed before Rules Committee
A proposed ethics bill that could force Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy to choose between her elected position and her six-figure job with a city-affiliated agency was kept off next week’s Rules Committee agenda after the legislation was formally submitted for consideration.
The decision has put Collins-Bellamy’s handling of the Council agenda under scrutiny and raised a fundamental question about the exercise of her authority as Council President: Why was legislation addressing the very type of dual employment she holds not allowed to come before the committee?
Minority Leader Mike Breen said he submitted the proposed local law on Friday, September 18, for consideration at Tuesday’s Rules Committee meeting. He said his office followed the required procedure and notified the Council President’s office.
The legislation did not appear on the agenda. According to Breen, no explanation was provided.
That omission takes on added significance because Collins-Bellamy is not simply presiding over the Council. She is also employed as in-house counsel for the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers, or MHACY, according to the agency’s own staff profile.
The proposed legislation would prohibit elected city officials from simultaneously holding compensated positions with city-affiliated agencies such as MHACY, the Yonkers Parking Authority and the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency.
In other words, the legislation could directly affect Collins-Bellamy’s own questionable employment arrangement.
A six-figure conflict?
Collins-Bellamy’s MHACY position is a six-figure job, according to publicly available compensation records cited by Breen. At the same time, she serves as an elected member of the Yonkers City Council and its president, which is an additional six-figure job.
The proposed law would establish a blanket prohibition on that type of dual role.
Breen argues that the issue is straightforward: an elected official should not simultaneously collect a paycheck from an agency whose interests can come before the City Council.
“The state already decided you can’t do this with the IDA,” Breen said. “We’re just saying the same rule should apply everywhere. You can’t work for the Parking Authority, the Housing Authority, or the IDA and sit on this Council at the same time.”
The conflict became visible in the Council chamber
The conflict is not hypothetical. At the Council’s most recent meeting, Collins-Bellamy abstained from a vote concerning a tax abatement for an MHACY-owned property.
She stated on the record that she was abstaining because of her position with the Municipal Housing Authority. The episode illustrates the precise problem that Breen says his legislation is intended to address: an elected official can find herself in a position where her responsibilities as a Council member intersect directly with the interests of the agency that employs her.
Breen said he submitted the measure for the Rules Committee and expected it to appear on the agenda. Instead, he said, it was left off without an explanation.
That places the Council President in an unusual position.
Collins-Bellamy has responsibility for leading the Council while simultaneously holding a job that could be affected by the legislation.
Breen said he intends to resubmit the legislation for a future Rules Committee meeting and is calling on Collins-Bellamy to allow the measure to proceed to a public hearing.
The proposed law would still have to move through the normal legislative process if it is placed on the agenda. Committee consideration would not guarantee passage.
Collins-Bellamy issued the following statement: For three years, I’ve been silently dealing with constant attacks on my job and on my family. This isn’t new in Yonkers politics, and I’ve remained quiet to focus on my job and the people I serve, even as others were taking actions and filing false complaints to threaten my job and my family’s livelihood. Now, a so-called colleague has introduced legislation targeted at me personally that would make it a MISDEMEANOR to hold the job I earned nearly two decades ago and the job the voters elected me to in four separate elections.
The Republican, Minority Leader Mike Breen, introduced this bill did so because he knows that I am the strongest candidate for Mayor, and like Donald Trump, when he knows he can’t win fairly he tries to rig the game. It’s shameful.
YONKERS, I NEED YOUR HELP. Let’s fight back against Republican election rigging, and let’s make this city all we know it can be!