Settlement rejected
To read the full legal document in which former Gloversville city clerk Gary Margiotta rejected a settlement offer from the city - including a copy of the city's offer - click here.
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Ex-clerk rejects city’s offer
City proposed $42K to settle firing case
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
GLOVERSVILLE — Documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court reveal the city has offered fired city clerk Gary Margiotta $42,000 to settle his wrongful termination lawsuit. The documents also state that Margiotta and his lawyer, Elmer Robert Keach III, rejected the proposal. Keach said Monday he and Margiotta both regard the offer as “an insult.” City officials confirmed the settlement offer was approved by the Common Council during an executive session at its June 24 meeting. The offer was mailed to Keach’s office June 25, the documents show. Albany attorney Bryan J. Goldberger, one of the attorneys representing the city, declined comment Monday. “Gary and I considered it for approximately three minutes and rejected it,” said Keach, adding he will not make a counter-offer. “This is one of those cases that a guy like me was just born to take to trial,” Keach said. Margiotta’s 16-year career with the city suddenly concluded Dec. 29, 2006, when Councilman-at-Large James Handy and Mayor Tim Hughes had him escorted out of City Hall by a police officer. Handy and three other members of the Common Council admitted reaching the decision to fire Margiotta on the telephone. They have never explained their action publicly, not even to the council’s three other members. Former minority leader Patrick Clear has said he believes there was a conspiracy among the majority and the truth has yet to emerge. Margiotta filed suit a few months after his firing and has since moved back to his hometown near Rochester. In his deposition in this case, Handy testified he was motivated to remove Margiotta because of three alleged acts of insubordination. One of the incidents, he testified, involved Handy’s brother, who was unable to obtain a marriage license one day in 2006 because Margiotta said he arrived after the 3 p.m. deadline. Handy said the insubordination occurred in a discussion he later had with Margiotta. Clear has said he does not believe Handy’s explanation. Handy’s co-defendant, former councilman Lance Gundersen, posted a message on the city message board in September of last year attributing Margiotta’s firing to the clerk’s job performance. Clear has also questioned Gundersen’s version.
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December 4, 2008
5:14 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
Elected officials are expected to represent the people who put them in office. When a majority of those elected officials effectively disenfranchise the minority our rights as free people are compromised and the concept of representative democracy challenged.
6:24 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
WELL....NOW THAT THE CITY HAS ADMITTED GUILT A HEALTHY SETTLEMENT IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER....GOOD JOB MR KEACH..POOR JOB CITY OF GLOVERSVILLE.....
6:25 a.m. [ Suggest removal ]
You are right Al. This current representation of the people is a joke. By a telephone poll, three members of the council were not contacted about not renewing Mr. Margiotta for another year. What percent of the population were slighted by this maneuver? Also, Mr. Handy's relatives could not get a marriage certificate after hours, which, started this mess. Mr. Handy, council at large, must have a terribly large ego, to want to fire someone for following rules and not getting special treatment.
The solution here would be to not renew Mr. Margiotta at the council's next meeting. Then no law suit. Instead, we have hot headed representatives, wasting tax dollars on law suits. We have a mayor making secret deals, having secret relationships and loosing laptops in a timely manor.
I grew up in Gloversville and loved the area, but I am disgusted with this administration. It makes my home look like a junk yard. It's saddens me.