Town restricts councilwoman’s access after festival altercation

An incident involving town of Monroe Councilwoman Maureen Richardson and Councilman Sal Scancarello at a recent Food Truck Festival prompted the Monroe Town Board to approve new legislation restricting Richardson’s access to town properties and town officials.

During the June 17 town board meeting, Scancarello addressed the incident, claiming he got between Richardson and the town supervisor’s secretary out of concern that Richardson was going to hit someone. He further alleged that, while he was upset, he did not do anything physical to the councilwoman.

“There was no pushing or shoving going on, I was not raised that way. I would never put my hands on a woman. I came in defense of secretary,” said Scancarello. “I felt at that moment Miss Richardson was on the verge of becoming rather violent.”

Supervisor Anthony Cardone further alleged that Richardson attended the festival with a purpose and harassed his secretary and the town parks director.

“As far as I’m concerned, it was an unbelievable display of immaturity and sadly everybody on this dais should realize for this town board, she has created a hostile environment,” said Cardone.

Cardone also commented on social media, saying much of what was posted online was untrue. He pointed to a post on the Facebook page “Preserve Monroe” that claimed his secretary forwards complaint emails to him and questioned why anyone would call out her integrity. It was unclear from the meeting if this was what Richardson was confronting the secretary about during the festival.

Richardson reached out to The Photo News alleging that she was elbowed in the chest during the Food Truck Festival altercation, causing an injury that prevented her from attending the June 17 meeting.

In a letter, Richardson responded to the accusations made at the meeting in her absence: “A false version of events requiring police intervention on scene was told, including the story of the person who struck me — claiming they thought I was potentially violent.

“It was stated that state police ‘witnessed’ their version of events, implying validation by an authority. This is false and not how our system operates, much like Cardone’s other accusations. A verbal argument between two parties occurred. A third party came sprinting in. When I reported the incident to state police, they asked why I didn’t run away from someone running toward me, as the natural conclusion is that it would end in a physical altercation. I’ve been forced to sit through so many outbursts behind closed doors to be able to work that I just stood there. That was not mentioned at the meeting. Neither was the fact that police were there in their standard capacity as part of the festival, heard interpersonal drama, and came over to speak with both sides about de-escalating conflict at a community event. They asked what happened because they did not witness anything. I was not asked to leave. I was encouraged to stay and participate in the festival for the community — both sides were. State police listened to me for a long time and instructed me on how to file a report, which is why I left.” Her full statement can be found in the Letters section online.

During the meeting, the town board passed a resolution establishing policy prohibiting unscheduled in-person visits to certain town offices for the purpose of minimizing disruption to its employees and officials and the services that they provide. The resolution singled out Richardson and claimed that her unannounced appearances were disruptive and hindered the work of town employees. The policy further stated that the councilwoman “shall not be permitted to access the town offices of the secretary to the supervisor, the town finance office or the office of the recreation director in person without prior notice.”

Councilwoman Mary Bingham asked how Richardson could comply with this, to which Cardone responded she could do so by sending an email saying she wants to meet.