Alex Taylor

artaylor@lohud.com

SPRING VALLEY - A village meeting devolved into chaos on Tuesday night after a Monsey man accused Mayor Demeza Delhomme of breaking up his marriage.

Reginald Alfred, 48, a maintenance worker, offered no proof of his claim, made minutes into an already vocal public comment period that saw dozens of firefighters and taxi drivers crowd into Village Hall.

"Mr. Delhomme is trying to use his power to get into my house," he said.

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Alfred, dressed in a gray suit and a heavy black overcoat, rambled for three more minutes. "He destroyed my house. He destroyed my family. I have two daughters."

A ripple of murmurs of astonishment went through the crowd as Delhomme bluntly denied the claim.

"I don't know this man," he said, raising his voice. "I've never met this man."

Trustee Vilair Fonvil stood up and shouted as others called for calm.

Fonvil pointed his finger at the mayor, used a crude term for sex and said, "And you say you don't know him?"

Tuesday's outburst was the latest in a series of disputes — personal and political — that have all but paralyzed the day-to-day business of government. In a tumultuous two years, Delhomme and other trustees have been accused of a litany of profane outbursts and insensitive comments.

Spring Valley is split between Delhomme and at least three Trustees: Vilair Fonvil, Asher Grossman and Sherry McGill, all Democrats. The Fonvil-led majority has stopped or stalled nearly every function of village government from hiring a village attorney to enforcing building and fire safety.

On Tuesday night, for example, dozens of Spring Valley firefighters gathered to push for a $6.4 million bond to replace their aging equipment.

Still, the 15-minute meltdown represented a new kind of fireworks for the two-and-a-half-square-mile village of 32,500.

Fonvil and Grossman appeared to have been tipped off ahead of time to Alfred's speech, encouraging him to speak up and recount his tale of alleged marital woes.

"Do you know his wife?" Fonvil asked.

Delhomme replied, "I know everybody in this community. I don't know the person."

The crowd broke into boos.

Toward the end of the shouting match, Trustee Emilia White, looking disgusted, called for calm.

"This is not the proper channel for that," she said, speaking to Alfred. "You need to file a police report."

Map: Spring Valley at a glance

Twitter: @alextailored