Clerk and highway superintendent sue town board

JEWETT―A special counsel will be appointed in Jewett to defend an Article 78 lawsuit alleging that two policies passed by the town board are “punitive, arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of power.”

The complaint was filed in Greene County Supreme Court this week by Highway Superintendent Robert Mallory and Town Clerk Maya Carl against the town and the town board.

Their lawsuit follows the May 13 town board approval of a Security Policy and a Credit Card Policy and comes in the midst of a thickening legal quagmire dating back nearly a year.

If the policies are allowed to stand, Mallory and Carl, “will be unable to perform the duties they were elected to fulfill,” the lawsuit states.

In their lawsuit, Mallory and Carl make separate but similar allegations related to the policies.

“On or about April 7, 2026, the town supervisor unilaterally made the decision to change the locks on the town's municipal building, the town clerk's office and adjacent highway department building… The town supervisor justified the change of the locks because of recommendations of the New York State Comptroller and the town's insurance carrier,” court documents allege.

“However, despite repeated requests [by Mallory and Carl], no such recommendations have been produced” by the town board,” according to Mallory and Carl.

The security policy, as per the lawsuit, “requires elected officials, including but not limited to [Mallory and Carl] to take a key and to sign the associated key agreement form in order to receive a key.”

“The keys, however, give access to all the locks for the town municipal building, the town clerk's office and the highway department as well as the offices within” the lawsuit further states. “Anyone who receives a key will have access to the town clerk's office, which contains official records for the town, confidential information for its residents, banking information, personal belongings of the town clerk and the computer and records kept by the town clerk.”

“Anyone who receives a key will have access to the highway department building which includes the vehicles, highway and maintenance equipment, and personal belongings of the Highway Superintendent and union employees,” court documents further state.

According to the lawsuit, the town board’s passage of the security policy was “not supported by substantial evidence, without a rational basis, an abuse of discretion, made in violation of lawful procedure, affected by error of law and in excess of jurisdiction.”

Mallory and Carl, since the May 13 town board decision, have refused to sign for the keys, with Mallory saying the highway department is “at a standstill.”

Carl says she can access her office only if someone with a key is already in the building and will unlock her office door.

Allegations about the credit card policy are essentially the same, with the lawsuit claiming the town board “passed policies that will restrict [Mallory and Carl] and the highway department from performing their functions and would expose them to personal liability.”

“There was no legitimate reason for passing the credit card policy,” the lawsuit states.

“On November 12, 2025, during the town board meeting, the town board declared an emergency to replace the fuel tanks adjacent to and used by the highway department… The purported basis for this emergency was that the tanks were years old and may one day fail in the future,” according to the lawsuit.

“Mallory objected to the tank replacement and denied that there was an

emergency. Upon information and belief, there was no money in the budget for such a replacement,” court documents state, adding that the “town board made this decision without providing any documentation or evidence that would indicate an emergency.”

The fuel tanks were replaced, according to the lawsuit, “under the direction and oversight of the town supervisor and not [Mallory]”

“Upon inspection, the [new] tanks were found to be in violation of New York Department of Labor regulations and New York State Public Employee Safety and Health regulations,” the lawsuit states.

“The town tanks are currently unusable and the town highway staff cannot now purchase retail fuel with the town credit card,” due to limitations on use declared by the town board in the new policy, the lawsuit alleges.

The Article 78―a lawsuit to dispute an order or orders made by an administrative agency, in this case the town board―is not the first time Mallory and Carl have retained legal counsel.

On July 2, 2025, the community was stunned when the Greene County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at the town hall.

A statement issued then by sheriff’s Captain Joel Rowell said the police sweep was prompted by “allegations of potentially fraudulent activity.”

According to Rowell, electronic devices, paper files and business records” were seized in what police say remains an active investigation.

Since then, Mallory and Carl have served two notices of claim against the town and town board alleging that, in the wake of the search, they have been subjected to “hostile and retaliatory behavior” by some town board members for their role in revealing what police have termed the “potentially fraudulent activity.”

Those allegations reportedly surround the classification of a building project undertaken by town Planning Board Chairwoman Barbara Schobel and related permitting and documentation.

With regard to the Article 78, town board members, at a June 10 meeting, authorized retaining special counsel, recommended by Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea.

Rappleyea, in a June 9 letter to Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman, stated: “I will have to recuse myself from representation because all parties are my clients and it is very possible that I may become a witness herein.”