BY JIMMY LAWTON

North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – As state police investigate a dispute between Ogdensburg Mayor Jeffrey Skelly and suspended firefighter Gerald Mack, the firefighter’s union president is accusing the city manager of provoking Mack in the past.

Ogdensburg Professional Firefighters Local 1799 Union President Jason Bouchard says that City Manager Stephen Jellie mocked and taunted Mack after issuing a suspension and disciplinary hearing notice on Dec. 3. Mack was later notified of a hearing that would be held regarding his possible termination.

“When Mr. Jellie walked in the room, the first thing he demanded was that one of the two union reps leave. When asked why, he said, 'because I’m allowing one union person here.' When pressed again, he said, 'one, just one.' Being that one of them was on-duty, Mr. Jellie then ordered him to leave the room, by saying “you’re on-duty working for me.”

Bouchard said that Jellie told Mack he was suspended for 30 days without pay and then slid disciplinary paperwork down the table to him. The paperwork included notification that the suspension was pending an Article 75 hearing and that the recommendation would be for a 60-day suspension without pay.

Bouchard said the union rep asked how Mack could be suspended without anything on file, but was dismissed by the city manager.

Bouchard said Mack was later willing to accept an official Letter of Reprimand be placed in his file as an offer by the union to settle this issue, but Jellie rejected the settlement.

Bouchard said that after the two-minute meeting when Mack left the room, Jellie started “openly clapping his hands while walking towards him, shamelessly taunting him right after suspending him. This blatantly disrespectful and unprofessional action by Mr. Jellie is what caused Captain Mack to become agitated.”

According to Jellie, Mack became “emotional” following the suspension meeting, which prompted Jellie to call police, but Mack allegedly left the building without incident and no charges were issued.

“Our members were peacefully leaving city hall when Mr. Jellie instigated the incident that then took place, which is now being used by Mr. Jellie to seek Captain Mack’s termination,” Bouchard said. After Mr. Jellie clapped his hands to intentionally agitate Captain Mack, while he was then standing outside the city clerk’s door, Mr. Jellie was asked repeatedly by a union rep to do the right thing and walk away to de-escalate the situation. Mr. Jellie refused and simply stood there, apparently to make sure he got what he wanted out of Captain Mack. “

Bouchard condemned Jellie’s tactics and said it was intended to get a reaction out of Mack that could be used against him.

When asked for comment on the matter Jellie issued the following statement.

“The City of Ogdensburg cannot comment on the disciplinary matter involving Fire Captain Gerald Mack with any level of detail as we respect the integrity of the Section 75 Disciplinary Process and Captain Gerald Mack’s right to a fair hearing on charges that propose his termination from civil service. What we can reiterate is that Captain Mack’s consistent history of disrespectful behavior and personal attacks, including vulgar language, false information and most recently, homophobic slurs (brought to our attention by members of the community), are well documented and none of it is fabricated.”

Bouchard said Jellie’s “reckless agenda” is destroying people’s lives and creating a toxic work environment that can’t be cleaned up at this point.

“Too much damage has been done and all trust is gone. And on top of his destructive tactics, he has now rejected the more than generous offer we made to save jobs and taxpayer money,” he said.

Bouchard also said the request to drop the allegations against firefighters that was included in a recent settlement off with the city, which he says could save the $2 million, was a separate side proposal from the amendments intended to foster a better working relationship.

Jellie reiterated his attempts to negotiate with the department.

“In 5 months as City Manager, I have requested on more than 10 occasions to meet with Local 1799 and collectively develop a plan to reduce the overall size of the fire department but each request was refused. As previously announced on 2 December 2020, the City of Ogdensburg is offering a retirement incentive of $20,000 for retirement eligible members of the fire department but to date, Local 1799 is silent on the offer other than to demand a paper version of our offer instead of the electronic version received,” Jellie said.

“The city’s very generous offer was sent to Local 1799 a full 7 days prior to adoption of the final budget, allowing ample time for review and consideration unlike the “settlement offer” sent to city management by Local 1799 on the morning of 9 December. The City of Ogdensburg continues to urge the Officers of Local 1799, President Jason Bouchard and Secretary Ronald Bouchard, to cease these one-sided media releases and pointless public attacks on the credibility of city management and get to work with us to prevent the layoff of 7 firefighters.”

Jellie added that he looks forward to hearing from President Bouchard and Secretary Ronald Bouchard in the near future to “begin this important work that will contribute fully to the survival of the city and ultimately begin the revival of the city.”