CITY OF NEWBURGH - Every few minutes, a wave of car horns honking on Lower Broadway could be heard Thursday evening from the third-floor of City Hall during the Newburgh City Council work session.

But it was the sound of someone laying on their horn for 23 long seconds, followed by a flurry of honks, during a presentation on criminal justice reform by the Orange County District Attorney's Office that plunged Mayor Torrance Harvey into a 10-minute aside about what he described as dangerous, unprofessional protesting by city fire union members.

About 20 off-duty firefighters stood along Broadway near City Hall with signs asking drivers to honk their horns in support of the NFD amid proposed personnel cuts next year.

"I'm sorry, I've got to ask you to repeat that because of the distraction outside," Harvey said to one of the DA's representatives explaining new bail reform policies. "I'm going to ask Chief Ahlers if you could please address this? Because I can't even hear these guys."

"OK," said acting fire Chief Terry Ahlers. "What do you want me to do? They're off-duty."

Harvey turned to city police Chief Doug Solomon to address the noise, but then began talking about how free speech can be limited if it creates a dangerous environment.

Harvey, who is a full-time local history teacher, said asking people to blow their horns, drowning out the work-session presentation about criminal justice reform and public safety, creates a clear and present danger, as well as a noise nuisance.

He also said the horn-honking campaign on Robinson Avenue distracted high school students at NFA North, where he teaches.

"I had to call the police chief, call the city manager, and I did not call the chief of the fire department because I knew he was going to say the same thing he just said, and do nothing about it," Harvey said.

Eventually, the honking subsided and other council members asked to move on with the criminal justice presentation. Harvey noted he does not want to layoff any public safety personnel before the presentation continued.

After the meeting, Local 589 President Brendan Hogan said the firefighters can't go on strike, so a horn-honking campaign was the nicest, most peaceful way they could think to picket.

He said they weren't targeting Harvey at work; that they just chose the busiest roads for their campaign and were at six or seven other street corners at that time. Their only direct target is City Hall.

"We're not trying to cause an accident or a public nuisance," Hogan said. "We're just trying to show the council how much support there is out there to find a way to not make drastic cuts across the board."

lbellamy@th-record.com