Town of Peru

This had to be expected: PERU COUNCIL CONSIDERS OPTIONS AGAINST SUPERVISOR COVEL.

"We feel that Mr. Covel has neglected his fiduciary duties to the town and the town's taxpayers," said Councilor Cortland Forrence, reading from a prepared statement.

"Mr. Covel continues to be unresponsive to our requests and efforts to operate the town. We have lost confidence in Mr. Covel's ability to conduct town business. We feel his inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, and his misguided actions have proven to be disruptive and to jeopardize the well-being of the town."

Forrence described a variety of examples the council cited as Covel's failings, including missed bond payments, inappropriate actions toward employees and elected officials and failure to complete a state-required financial report that was due Friday.
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According to Town Attorney Dennis Curtin, the council could follow suit and ask Covel to step down from office.

But the options could be much more severe, he said.

"Under town law, an elected official can be removed for malfeasance," he said, noting that many of Covel's actions over the past few months could be interpreted as acts of malfeasance, in particular his actions that have led to a criminal charge for assault against Town Clerk Kathleen Flynn and two pending civil lawsuits.

"The Town Board may take action Monday night to request the district attorney take appropriate action (against Covel)," Curtin said. "The town is in a state of crisis."

Councilor Thomas Powers said it was difficult to do town business without appropriate information coming from the supervisor's office.

"I don't know where to go from here," he said. "The man needs to go. I don't know where to go other than to find a way to remove Mr. Covel from the board. We have no confidence in this man."

Curtin said he didn't know how long legal proceedings might take if there's an attempt to remove the supervisor, but Covel would continue to act as supervisor during the proceedings.

He said it would be a much better solution for the town's taxpayers if Covel would resign from the office.