Almost a year-and-half after the Clarkstown Town Council voted to fire suspended Police Chief Michael Sullivan, a State Supreme Court judge has ordered a re-vote due to a conflict of interest in the vote.

The ruling, released by Justice Robert Berliner, annulled the Sept. 12, 2017, vote in which Supervisor George Hoehmann and a former councilman should have recused themselves, the ruling said.

George Hoehmann, Clarkstown Supervisor Vira Mamchur Schwartz

The vote -- 3-2 along party lines -- removed Sullivan from his $273,000-a-year job. He later retired at the end of 2017.

The judge ruled that Hoehmann, a Republican, and then-Councilman Daniel Caprara, a Democrat, should not have taken part in the vote. Berliner cleared GOP Councilman Frank Borrelli of similar charges.

The re-vote should take place within 60 days unless the town decides to file an appeal, which would stay the order until the appeal could be heard, said Sullivan's attorney Richard Glickel.

"We’re still in the process of digesting the court’s decision," said Glickel. "However, there’s no small amount of irony in the fact that Justice Berliner’s decision confirms that George Hoehmann broke the law to attain his goal of firing Mike Sullivan."

Attorney Richard Glickel is the attorney for suspended Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan. Linkedin

Sullivan, who was facing a laundry list of disciplinary charges, has maintained all along that the vote was politically motivated.

"It is inconceivable that anyone could portray either Hoehmann or the town as having benefitted by the court’s recent decision which so clearly sustains Chief Sullivan’s position," said Glickel.

During the do-over vote, Hoehmann will not be able to cast a vote leaving the decision making to Borrelli, Donald Franchino, a Democrat who is currently running for re-election as a Republican, Democrat Patrick Carroll, and Peter Bradley, of the defunct Reform Party.

" It was, after all, Chief Sullivan’s reporting suspected violations of the campaign finance law to the District Attorney – who, in turn, referred the matter to New York’s Attorney General – that triggered Hoehmann’s retaliatory actions against Chief Sullivan and the Supervisor’s unrelenting campaign to disparage the Chief," said Glickel.

Glickel explained that the judge's ruling restored Sullivan to his status before he was fired, as police chief — suspended with full pay and benefits.

"Our calculations support that (as of March 7) the Chief is owed approximately $490,000.00 in back salary, health insurance premiums, and sick leave accruals," he added.

Berliner did deny Sullivan's request for "costs and legal fees" related to his suspension.

Currently, everything is on hold until the town makes a decision on whether to spend more taxpayer funds to file an appeal or to simply hold a re-vote.

Clarkstown officials could not be reached for comment.

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