Schenectady

Meeting behind closed doors, City Council members reached a consensus that the city should bring in an unbiased investigator to determine what happened between Mayor Gary McCarthy and a woman he confronted on a city street, several council members said.

"Because there's so many allegations that are involved," Councilwoman Marion Porterfield said, "it seemed better to have someone who was not in any way connected to the city, an unbiased person to take a look at it."

City Council President Leesa Perazzo said the executive session was called to discuss what, if anything, the council should do about an encounter between McCarthy and Sarah Dingley shortly after 1 a.m. May 19.

Dingley, 38, of Rotterdam called 911 and told a dispatcher that a man who identified himself as the mayor smelled of alcohol and was "highly intoxicated."

McCarthy, who followed Dingley and her friend driving to the police station, has denied he was intoxicated.

Police have said they interviewed McCarthy and Dingley separately and let them go without charging either of them because there was no evidence of a crime.

Councilman Vincent Riggi, a frequent critic of the administration, said there were questions about whether police followed protocol, citing McCarthy's past job as an investigator in the Schenectady County district attorney's office.

"I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but I think we have to find out why certain procedures weren't followed that night, and it certainly seems like they weren't followed that night," Riggi said.

He said that on Tuesday he sent a letter he sent to Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney calling for the investigation.

Carl Falotico, the city attorney, attended the meeting and answered questions, Perazzo said, but Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett was not present.

Riggi and Porterfield said they learned that Bennett would not appear when the meeting convened.

"I was ready to walk out, to be honest with you," Riggi said.

"I got to say, it was kind of a waste of time. We really didn't accomplish a lot tonight," Riggi said.

Perazzo said the council still has questions for the commissioner.

"I'm sure he should be able to answer them and help us decide what course of action we should follow," the council president said.

Riggi said if he were in the mayor's shoes he would want an outside investigation to clear his name.

"This is a convoluted, bizarre situation," he said.

jlawrence@timesunion.com - 518-454-5467 - @jplawrence3