LOCKPORT, N.Y. — The Lockport Common Council voted to reinstate its ambulance service on December 19.
A lawsuit filed in Niagara County Supreme Court alleges that the vote was illegal and should thus be nullified, which would result in the ambulance service being discontinued.
The petitioners of the lawsuit are current council member Kathryn Fogel, former council members Gina Pasceri and Joseph Kibler, along with local resident Blake Lemoi.
The lawsuit alleges the emergency meeting held on Dec. 19, 2022, did follow New York State's open meetings law guidelines. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that an executive session held during the meeting was illegal, as was Mayor Roman's tiebreaking vote that allowed the ambulance service to be reinstated.
"It's rubbish," Lockport Common Council President Paul Beakman said. "Absolute rubbish. Not even worth the paper it's written on."
Beakman disagrees that the meeting was illegal and the claim that the mayor's vote was also not needed.
Three members of the council voted in favor of reinstating the ambulance service: council president Beakman, Alderman Devine, and Alderman Kantor.
Two members voted against reinstating the ambulance service: Alderman Barnard and Alderman-At-Large Pasceri.
Alderman Fogle abstained.
"I spoke to our deputy Corporation Counsel today, as I did the night of the council vote," Beakman said. "The the abstention is considered a no or a negative vote."
Beakman insists the meeting and vote was by the books.
"Everything was done properly, I firmly stand by that," Beakman said.
The lawsuit also alleges that Alderman Mark Devine did not follow the city's code of ethics during the vote. According to the documents in the lawsuit, Devine's son is a Lockport firefighter. The belief in the lawsuit is that Devine should have recused himself from the vote.
2 On Your Side reached out to Councilmember Fogle and the attorney representing her in the case, but they were unable to do an interview.