ELDRED, NY — New court documents have provided further details on the Town of Highland’s 2022 decision to disband its constable force. 

Former constable Marc Anthony filed a lawsuit against the Town of Highland in March, alleging that the town terminated him without following the proper process. The town contests this allegation in its latest filings, submitted on Friday, September 29. 

The town claims it chose to disband the force for two reasons: the cost of an independent constabulary, and the results of an investigation into the force’s alleged improprieties. 

The filings contain as well an unredacted copy of that investigation, which contains multiple allegations against Anthony of harassment and improper behavior. 

Costs and consequences

The legal case hinges in part on an interpretation of the town’s actions. 

The Town of Highland suspended its entire constable force in April 2022 to investigate that force’s operations. It eliminated the constable force in February 2023, after contracting with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office to provide equivalent services. 

Anthony claimed in his filings that the town needed a special referendum to suspend the constable force, and that the town’s actions denied him his rights of redress. 

The Town of Highland claims it can suspend or abolish the constable force by fiat, as long as it makes that decision in “good faith.”

The law that governs that decision—in Highland’s reading of it—makes one exception: the town could not abolish the constable force if it did so to get around the legal requirements of firing one individual. 

That’s not what happened, claims the town. 

“As firmly established on the record, the town elected to abolish its constabulary force as a whole due to the numerous instances of disfunction and maladministration brought to its attention, as memorialized in the town’s [constable] committee report, in combination with its determination that law enforcement coverage could be provided in a more cost-effective manner by retaining the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office to provide that municipal service,” reads a portion of the town’s legal filings. 

The numbers—according to the town—add up. An affidavit submitted by town board member Kaitlin Haas states the town’s payment to the sheriff’s office is capped at $100,000 annually, and amounted to $38,840.27 at the start of the year. 

The amount budgeted for the constables in the town’s 2022 budget was set at $104,500. 

A press release from the Town of Highland announcing the latest round of legal filings calls the constable force “a dated construct under the state statute that didn’t adequately support the modern law enforcement needs of the town.”

Allegations and investigations

The town submitted as part of its September 29 filings 85 unredacted pages of investigation material from its constable committee. 

The investigation includes multiple complaints against Anthony, some from the other members of the former constable force. 

A pair of citizen complaints—one from 2018, one from 2019—accuse Anthony of harassment in the course of his duties. Two officers alleged misconduct against Anthony in separate issues: one officer accused him of creating a hostile work environment in 2020, and the other accused him of protesting a newly instituted camera policy in 2022 (just before the town suspended the force). 

The town’s constable committee investigated the complaints against Anthony; it substantiated the officers’ complaints, without specifically investigating the citizen complaints. The committee was unable to substantiate multiple anonymous allegations of more serious misconduct against Anthony. 

Following its investigation, the constable committee recommended that the town commence an Article 75 hearing—a disciplinary action—against Anthony, for “insubordination, multiple violations of town policy, sexual harassment, [and] harassment.” 

The recommendations, prepared in May 2022, focused on how to rehabilitate the constable force, and did not recommend to disband it. The town made the decision later in the year to instead move away from having its own constable force. 

Anthony has until late October to reply to the town’s filings, barring an extension of time.