VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Wednesday, November12, 08:59:am
Author: prism
Subject: the velvet hammer may be exiting left.

https://midhudsonnews.com/2025/11/12/venning-may-be-on-the-way-out-in-newburgh/


Venning may be on the way out in Newburgh


NEWBURGH – The honeymoon is apparently over between the Newburgh City Council and City Manager Todd Venning.

The manager, who rules city hall with an iron fist and has apparently attempted to dictate to the city council on several occasions, may lose his more than $200,000-a-year-job.

Several sources have confirmed to Mid-Hudson News that the city council recently came one vote shy of firing him. A supermajority of council members is needed – five of the seven members – but the effort fell one vote short.

Venning was originally hired in Newburgh as the city comptroller, and he later convinced the city council to squeeze out the former manager and give him the job for an additional $50,000 a year.

While he is credited with turning the city around financially, it is his other actions on the job that have now struck a nerve with the current city council.

Venning will not allow anyone in city government to talk to the media, not even the city council members. Mayor Torrance Harvey does talk to Mid-Hudson News providing he knows the topics ahead of time.

Venning will not talk to the media and only his chief of Michael Neppl, is allowed to communicate with reporters, but only by email.

Several department heads, rank-and-file employees and elected officials have said Venning won’t talk to them. In fact, officials from other area communities have reached out to him with no return calls.

Adding up all of the local government ‘lockdown’ issues has apparently gotten under the skin of some council members and there is concern with new members joining the governing body in January, that may strike Venning’s death knell.

It could come sooner, since the city manager is working without a contract now and a super-majority of the city council members – would remove him from office.

To add insult to injury, knowing some council members did not support creation of commissioner police and fire commissioner posts, Venning called an executive session Monday night to interview candidates for both positions.

Three of the seven council members boycotted that closed door meeting, prompting Mayor Harvey to chastise them publicly afterwards for refusing to hear why Venning wanted the positions created.

Close to 20 city residents, including State Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson – a former council member – Monday night said those jobs were unnecessary.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Login ] Create Account Not required to post.
Post a public reply to this message | Go post a new public message
 * HTML allowed in marked fields.
* Message subject (required):

* Name (required):

  Expression (Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)

  E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:

Choose Message Icon: [ View Emoticons ]

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.