October 17, 2019
Mayor Derek Baichi
Village of Solvay
1100 Woods Road
Solvay, NY 13209
Mayor Baichi,
In light of your history as Mayor and most recent activity on [Link], the undersigned
Village Board members are notifying you that we do not agree and are not aligned with your
message, nor do we agree with the unprofessional and unethical manner in which you
conduct village business. Through your deplorable abuse of power and poor judgment, you
have brought division, created an atmosphere of belligerence, and have made a mockery of
our village.
You have overstepped your authority to the point of breaking the law in regards to the firing of
a village employee and rash suspension of our Police Chief. You have created a hostile,
anxious work environment where individuals are afraid to voice opinions for fear of retaliation
and punishment.
Many of your actions, have hurt the integrity of this Village beyond repair. To name a few,
you have conducted profanity-laced meetings involving inappropriate topics and language
which have no place in any professional setting. These inappropriate interactions have
become a liability for this village. Further, your support last year of a now convicted felon was
disgraceful. The individual should have been suspended immediately. You chose, rather, to
slow the removal process of that individual from his Ethics Board Chair and paid ZBA
appointments, both of which you were insistent upon his appointment to (even though more
qualified people showed interest). Several months of payroll were paid out to this individual,
delaying the filling of a much-needed position, while you had village attorneys working on
ways to protect his position.
Let's contrast your protection of a felon with your swift and illegal suspension of our Police
Chief. The information provided thus far has come up with zero wrong doing on his part. Yet
you continue to prolong his absense, and hurt the reputation of an honest, hard-working and
dedicated man whose number one priority is the safety of our village. This in turn has also
hurt the Solvay Police Department, which is now operating with reduced staff because you
have delayed the hiring of new officers. Out of spite, you have also cut a police training
program that was highly regarded by agencies through the region. As someone who states
that you are all about safety, we do not understand your reasoning to undermine the very
department that protects this Village. Your invalid suspension of the chief was an illegal
action and later changed by our village attorneys to an administrative leave in order to correct
your irrational action.
You continue to impede an independent investigation that the Board was forced to demand
because you wanted to instead, perform your own investigation. Presently, since the
investigator is not providing you with the answer you want, you continue to sideline the Chief
to the detriment of our Police Department and ultimately our citizens. We want closure that
vindicates Chief Wood, allowing us to pick up the pieces and move forward.
You may feel that your methods are justified in order to get whatever outcome you want, but
leaders do not lead in this fashion. True leaders do not antagonize, nor do they malign the
efforts of others, but instead find consensus in order to compromise and make progress for
the good of the people. You have taken credit for the hard work of others and have criticized
people who do not blindly align with you.
In closing, in order for the Village to begin to recover, the undersigned Board Members are
asking for your resignation. We wish to restore representation of the people once again with
honor and integrity.
Sincerely,
Trustees:
William McVicker
Daniel Bellotti
Thomas Tarolli
Raymond Fougnier
John Cregg
