Former Fire Department Treasurer pleads guilty to grand larceny in the second degree

The Former Treasurer of the Vernon Center New York [Fire Department] "pled guilty to grand larceny in the second degree", conceding having stolen more than $300,000 from the Department. As noted in earlier NYPPL summaries of court decisions involving  a public employee stealing public funds, such breaches of the public trust are sometimes  referred to as "jobbery." Merriam-Webster defines jobbery as "the improper use of public office or conduct of public business for private gain". 

On August 14, 2025 New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued a press release reporting that Jonnell Rose, a former Treasured of the Vernon Center New York Fire Department, "pled guilty to grand larceny in the second degree" after stealing more than $300,000 from the Fire Department. 

In a press release dated August 14, 2025, Comptroller DiNaoppli, together observations made by Oneida County District Attorney Todd Carville, and New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James, stated the following:

“Jonnell Rose betrayed his community’s trust and stole over $300,000 meant to protect it,” DiNapoli said. “I thank District Attorney Carville and the New York State Police for their partnership in holding him accountable.”

Carville said, “This crime is particularly disturbing because of the victims that were targeted, the community and the fine men and women who selflessly give their time and talent as volunteer firefighters. I would like to thank the New York State Police and the New York State Comptroller’s Office for their hard work as well as the efforts of my Assistant, ADA Paul Kelly, who ensured that the defendant was held responsible and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

James said, “This guilty plea demonstrates the vital collaborative work of our law enforcement partners focused on the same goal; holding those who break our laws, accountable. Mr. Rose took advantage of a position he was entrusted in, and stole funds intended to support the Vernon Center Fire Department and the community it serves. I thank our State Police members, the Comptroller’s Office, and Oneida County District Attorney’s Office for their commitment to investigating and prosecuting those who victimize others.” 

A joint investigation by DiNapoli’s office and the State Police found Rose, 52, of Vernon, stole $309,000 from the department over a six-year period from May 2018 to May 2024.

Rose wrote fire department checks to cash, which he pocketed, deposited checks written to various legitimate fire department vendors into his personal accounts and deposited checks intended for the department into his own bank account. 

A forensic examination by DiNapoli’s office revealed that Rose made numerous personal purchases and payments, including crypto currency transactions, credit card payments, and cash withdrawals with the funds he stole from the department.

Rose pled guilty before Judge Michael Nolan in Oneida County Court to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and will be sentenced on October 28, 2025.

Selected items from various blogs posted on the Internet during the week ending August 15, 2025

New York State’s Local Cybersecurity Reporting Rules Kick In New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced that recently approve lawmakers requirements have kicked in and “all municipal corporations and public authorities” must report any “cybersecurity incidents” within 72 hours. Gov. Hochu has also established a Joint Security Operations Center, a data-sharing command center for cybersecurity.

Cyber Resilience for State & Local Government: A Roadmap to Smarter, Faster, Stronger Defense. Learn how to shift from reactive defense to proactive resilience with three key strategies: endpoint protection, real-time response, and unified visibility across hybrid environments. Download the paper.

Now is the time to secure your seat. The New York City Public Sector Cybersecurity Summit to be held on October 23 in New York City is now accepting registrations. Click here to register today to secure your spot.

AI in State and Local Government: Everything You Need to Know.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) often dominates technology discussions. This go-to guide shares everything you need to know to quickly begin implementing AI and developing the appropriate policy for the technology. DOWNLOAD

Preparing Utilities and Local Governments for a Paperless World. The paperless future is here. Is your utility or local government ready? This resource explores how utilities can embrace a paperless future to cut costs, improve operational efficiencies, and meet modern demands. DOWNLOAD

Pennsylvania Counties and Cities Step In to Rescue Struggling Main Streets Municipalities are investing in small-business corridors to combat closures, rebuild after disaster and boost local economies. READ MORE

S.F. Police Union Shifts Leadership to ‘Boots-on-the-Ground’ Advocate
After 30 years patrolling the city’s toughest neighborhoods, Louie Wong now leads the San Francisco Police Officers Association with promises to pursue better pay and earlier retirement benefits. READ MORE

Sixteen rural counties in New York State face a shortage of health professionals

On August 14,2025. New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli issued a new report which examined healthcare professional shortages in 16 rural counties in New York state, Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chenango, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Schuyler, Steuben, Sullivan, Washington, Wyoming and Yates counties.

The Comptroller reported "alarming shortfalls in primary care, pediatric, and obstetrician and gynecologist (OBGYN) doctors, dentists and mental health practitioners, with several counties having no pediatricians or OBGYN doctors at all." 

The report also noted that the "shortage of mental health practitioners in New York’s rural counties may be the most severe, with all counties designated by the federal government as areas having professional shortages."

 [Click report to access the text of the Comptroller's report.]

“Having access to health care is an essential quality of life issue and helps people live healthier lives,” DiNapoli said. “Addressing gaps in the rural healthcare workforce to alleviate current shortages and plan for future demand will not only positively impact the health of people living in less populated areas of New York, but could also create new jobs and bolster our rural economies.” 

Key Findings:

• Ten of the sixteen rural counties covered in this report are federally designated as Health Professional Shortage Areas for primary care, dental and mental health; all 16 counties examined have shortage designations for at least two of these fields of medicine.
• On average, the 16 rural counties have four primary care physicians per 10,000 people – a ratio that is less than half that of the state (8.1) and the U.S. (8.4) and falls below the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee (GMENAC) guideline (6.9). For the nearly 173,000 people within designated Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HP Shortage Area) who are underserved (23% of the rural counties’ population), these shortages are far more acute – as low as 0.12 physicians per 10,000 people.
• The 16 rural counties have 0.5 pediatricians for every 10,000 people – less than one-fifth of the state ratio (2.8), one-third of the U.S. (1.8), and less than half the GMENAC guideline (1.2). There are no pediatric physicians in three of the 16 counties.
• The OBGYN physician to 10,000 population ratio of the 16 rural counties is 0.4 – meaning there is roughly one OBGYN physician for every 23,000 people. This is less than half the GMENAC guideline (1). Four counties – Hamilton, Herkimer, Schuyler and Yates – have no OBGYN physicians at all.
• The 16 rural counties’ dentist to 10,000 population ratio (3.6) is less than half of the state ratio (8.3). There are no dentists in Hamilton County. Ten of the sixteen rural counties have dental HP Shortage Areas for the Medicaid eligible population with a combined underserved population of 134,248 people, or nearly 18% of the population.
• The rural counties’ mental health practitioner to 10,000 population ratio (6.9) is less than half that of the state (16.1). All of the rural counties are designated as mental health HP Shortage Areas either for the entire population, or for portions of the population like the low income or Medicaid eligible portions of the population. In the rural counties, there are 305,265 people within mental health HP Shortage Areas who are designated as underserved by the Health Resources Services Administration, or nearly 41% of the population.

Impact of Federal Actions

The limited number of providers and physical facilities in New York’s rural counties presents an additional barrier to recruiting more healthcare professionals. Not all counties have hospitals or rural health clinics, and those that do operate on tight margins, or at a loss. Reductions in eligibility for Medicaid and the Essential Plan made in the recently enacted federal budget bill (Public Law No: 119-21) may exacerbate the issue, potentially forcing some rural hospitals to close. New York state has six rural hospitals that are in the top 10% for Medicaid payer mix throughout the nation and an additional five that have experienced three consecutive years of negative margins. In the 16 rural counties examined, 204,899 people, or 27% of the population, were enrolled in Medicaid as of May 2025.

It is unclear at this time the extent to which the impact of Medicaid cuts on rural healthcare systems will be offset by funding made available through the federal Rural Hospital Transformation Program. Public Law No: 119-21 allocated $10 billion a year from federal fiscal years 2026 to 2030 to support rural hospitals, clinics, federally qualified health centers, and community mental health centers, but it is not guaranteed that all states that apply will receive funding.

Overcoming Rural Barriers to Healthcare Access

Transporting people to healthcare, particularly those with limited or no access to cars, is particularly challenging. Most rural counties have limited public transportation options, but paratransit for the elderly is relatively common, and there may be opportunities to expand services to other demographics where such services don’t exist.

The expansion of telemedicine for certain types of care is another option to bolster rural health systems but is not a complete solution. Physical examinations are more difficult, when possible, through telemedicine and many necessary services like bloodwork and other testing require in-person access to patients. For other types of care, such as mental health counseling, telemedicine has the potential to increase access to providers.

Other strategies to increase healthcare access involve meeting people where they are. Mobile clinics can be deployed on a regular schedule to underserved rural communities, alleviating transportation barriers to access, and without the cost of opening and maintaining brick and mortar clinics. School-based health centers are another option to expand healthcare access to rural New York.

Policies to bolster the rural healthcare workforce can also be pursued, such as incentivizing the training of new healthcare professionals to serve in rural New York through loan forgiveness programs and rural stipends or subsidies, and attracting existing professionals to rural areas through similar programs or implement reciprocity programs for out-of-state professionals to serve in rural areas.

Analysis

The Doctor is…Out: Shortages of Health Professionals in Rural Areas

Related Reports

Rural New York: Challenges and Opportunities

Availability, Access and Affordability: Understanding Broadband Challenges in New York State

Audit: Maternal Health

An employer cannot obtain summary judgment in an unlawful discrimination case unless the record demonstrates that there is no triable issue

In an action to recover damages for alleged unlawful employment discrimination on the basis of disability in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law [NYSHRL], Plaintiff appealed a Supreme Court's order granting the City of Yonker's [Employer] motion for summary judgment dismissing Plaintiff's complaint. 

The Appellate Division reversed the Supreme Court's order, on the law, with costs, and the Employer's motion for summary judgment dismissing the Plaintiff's complaint was denied.

Plaintiff, employed in the Employer's Department of Public Works [DPW] and was assigned to work in sanitation immediately before being placed on an authorized leave of absence without pay. Plaintiff requested assignment as a custodian at another location, one of the City's senior citizens centers, in consideration of his disability psoriatic arthritis as a reasonable accommodation of his disability. 

Employer told Plaintiff that it was currently unable to provide the requested accommodation as approving the request would require the Plaintiff to be "permanently excused from performing the essential functions of his position".

The Appellate Division, noting that NYSHRL prohibits discrimination in employment based on, among other grounds, disability, observed "if a reasonable accommodation would permit the employee to perform the essential functions of the employee's position, the employee has a 'disability' within the meaning of the statute, and the employer cannot disadvantage the employee based on that disability".

Observing that reasonable accommodations include "reassignment to an available position", the Appellate Division opined that an employer normally cannot obtain summary judgment on an employment discrimination claim based on disability pursuant to NYSHRL "unless the record demonstrates that there is no triable issue of fact as to whether the employer duly considered the requested accommodation," and the employer cannot present such a record "if the employer has not engaged in interactions with the employee revealing at least some deliberation upon the viability of the employee's request".

To prevail on a summary judgment motion with respect to a claim pursuant to NYSHRL, the Appellate Division noted:

1. The employer must show that it engaged in a good-faith interactive process that assessed the needs of the disabled individual;

2. The employer has a duty to move forward to consider accommodation once the need for accommodation is known or requested;

3. The Employer must establish, prima facie, that it engaged in a good-faith interactive process that assessed the needs of the plaintiff"; and

4. The Employer's consideration of the reasonableness of the employee's requested accommodation.

The Appellate Division said the Employer relied on the deposition testimony and affidavit of the DPW's Commissioner, who denied the Plaintiff's request for an accommodation. 

However, the court noted that there was no evidence in the record that the Commissioner was aware of Plaintiff's condition when he made his decision; or that the Commissioner considered the accommodation that the Plaintiff was requesting --  reassignment to the position of a custodian at one of the City's senior citizens centers;

The Commissioner, however, had testified:

a. He had not met with the Plaintiff to discuss his request for an accommodation;

b. He did not know that the Plaintiff's request for an accommodation involved  psoriatic arthritis; 

c. He did not know the limitations typically associated with that condition; and

d. He did not speak with the Plaintiff's physician and that he did not recall reviewing any of the information that the physician provided to the City.

Accordingly, opined the Appellate Division, the City's motion for summary judgment dismissing the Plaintiff's complaint should have been denied by Supreme Court "without regard to the sufficiency of the [Plaintiff's] opposition papers".

Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's decision posted on the Internet.

Supplemental military leave benefits for certain New York State employees extended

 On August 13, 2025, the New York State Department of Civil Service posted the item set out below on the Internet: 

NOTICE OF ADOPTION Supplemental Military Leave Benefits,  

I.D. No. CVS-18-25-00006-A Filing No. 689 

Filing Date: 2025-07-25 Effective Date: 2025-08-13 

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action: 

Action taken: Amendment of sections 21.15 and 28-1.17 of Title 4 NYCRR, Statutory authority: Civil Service Law, section 6(1) 

Subject: Supplemental military leave benefits. 

Purpose: To extend the availability of supplemental military leave benefits for certain New York State employees until December 31, 2025. 

Published in the May 7, 2025 issue of the Register, I.D. No. CVS-18-25-00006-P. 

Final rule as compared with last published rule: No changes. 

The text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from: Jennifer Paul, NYS Department of Civil Service, Empire State Plaza, Agency Building 1, Albany, NY 12239, (518) 473-6598, email: commops@cs.ny.gov

Assessment of Public Comment: The agency received no public comment.