NICOLS SUES VILLAGE OF COOPERSTOWN  |
| Police Chief Diana Nicols |
Jane Forbes Clark was at the center of the dispute that led to Police Chief Diana Nicols’ suspension, according to the chief’s lawsuit against the Village of Cooperstown and Mayor Joe Booan.
Heretofore, it was unknown what final episode prompted the chief’s suspension, but the suit says it involved which police force – the village’s or the state police – should lead the new Legends Parade during Induction Weekend 2010.
According to the suit, served on the village Wednesday, Jan. 5, Jane Clark, who is National Baseball Hall of Fame chair, “complained to Mayor Booan that Chief Nicols had insisted inflexibly that the local police department lead the ... parade.”
When Booan called Nicols to discuss the phone call, the chief “called the chair (Clark) in an effort to clarify her position. Mayor Booan claimed that he had directed her not to call the chair, but that was not true,” the filing says.
The suit also denies Nicols acted “inflexibly,” saying she told “another Hall of Fame official that the police had traditionally led the parade, and that she’d be happy to work the issue out.”
The parade incident is one of several outlined in the suit, which claims the village sought to punish Chief Nicols for seeking to exercise her constitutional rights under the First and 14th amendments:
• By seeking to discipline her for voicing criticism of the Village Board regarding the end of 24/7 police coverage during the public-comment period of a November 2009 meeting.
• Because her father, Henry Nicols, the former Democratic county chair, and her husband, Mark DeLorenzo, had campaigned for Jeff Katz in the 2010 mayoral election instead of Booan.
• Because she said publicly that mould had not been removed from police quarters at 22 Main by month-long renovations last summer intended to do so.
• Because Booan “commented in the press that he was disturbed about police harassment” after a home of a black CCS student was raided by village police. (A review of The Freeman’s Journal and Daily Star files only show that Booan was quoted as saying he was unaware of the raid, and would have liked to have been briefed.)
The suit also references Nicols installing of a GPS in a patrol car, a dispute over a family trip and the denial of compensatory time as evidence of “retaliatory bias.”
“This is a civil service position,” Nicols’ action further states about the police chief job. “She does not serve at the pleasure of the mayor and the board of trustees.”
While the suit details Nicols’ perspective, by its nature it does not reflect differing perspectives that might be held by Clark or Booan, neither of which took the opportunity to comment.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Albany. The chief is represented by the firm, Cooper Ewing & Savage.
Village Attorney Martin Tillapaugh is in conversations with the village’s insurer, SEFCU, to see how much of the legal costs will be covered.
He anticipates the action, even if thrown out at some point, will take “a considerable length of time – many months.”
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