Investigation of 5 New Lebanon village administrators, finances, cloaked in silence

NEW LEBANON — Very little was being said publicly Thursday about the investigation in New Lebanon, which already has put five members of the village administration on paid leave.

News Center 7 Reporter Brandon Lewis worked to confirm word that an unknown number of additional village officials have been run from office pending the investigation being conducted by a special counsel the village council hired to run day-to-day village operations, including the village’s finances, until further notice.

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The attorney for the special counsel would not confirm that Thursday night.

News Center 7 also has learned that Mayor David Nickerson has asked the state auditor’s office to look into the village’s budget because he believes multiple funds are running deficits.

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Five members of the village administration -- the village manager, police chief, service department head, village chief financial officer and the village law director -- were sent home on paid leave after a vote of the village council on Tuesday night.

“It’s quiet sometimes,” village resident Kaleb Lutz said Thursday night.

Silence was the rule News Center 7′s Lewis found Thursday night, when he tried to speak with Village Law Director Ronald Keener and Village Manager Glena Madden.

Keener did not respond to a phone call and Madden reached at her home, declined comment.

Attempts to find police Chief Curtis Hensley, Service Department head Scott Brock and Chief Financial Officer Phillip Hinson were unsuccessful.

Lutz said he’s not surprised by all the silence.

“I mean they haven’t really done anything in this town in a couple years, so it’s really just letting itself go,” Lutz said. “I don’t really know what to make of it. "

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