At the end of February, James Petro, the former Planning and Zoning Coordinator and Property Development Manager for the Town of New Windsor, and Richard McGoey, the former contracted Town Engineer, pled guilty to one count of “negligently causing the releasing of asbestos into the ambient air, thereby negligently placing other person in imminent danger of death and serious bodily injury,” for the 2015 demolition of former Army barracks at Stewart International Airport.

The pair pled guilty in White Plains federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy. The offense has a maximum sentence of one year in prison and they are scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2021.

“As they admitted in court today, James Petro and Richard McGoey decided to cut corners and do things on the cheap, soliciting bids for demolition work without disclosing that the property contained asbestos,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss in a press release. “The contract was awarded to a contractor unqualified to do asbestos abatement work, and as a result Petro and McGoey jeopardized the health and safety of the people they had a responsibility to protect.”

The background

In 1999, the Town of New Windsor acquired 250 acres next to Stewart Airport from the Department of the Army. The property has “dozens of military barracks and other buildings that the Army constructed in or about the 1940’s.” Ten of these buildings contained asbestos, which the town planned to get rid of in order to demolish the buildings.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, the town applied for various grants to abate the asbestos from 2006 to 2009 – which Petro and McGoey conducted, along with others.

In 2008, they obtained a report from an asbestos inspector that stated that they needed a licensed contractor to move forward and follow federal and state regulations. When 2012 rolled around, they discussed preparing a written request for bids to abate the asbestos. They decided that asbestos surveys were unnecessary because of the surveying in 2008.

May and June of 2015, Petro and McGoey drafted a request for proposals to demolish the 10 buildings, which did not disclose the presence of asbestos but did say the demolition materials had to be disposed of in accordance with all regulations. The lowest bid of $262,000 was awarded the contract. The contractor reportedly had limited experience with asbestos and was not a licensed asbestos contractor. He was able to receive permits to demolish the buildings without submitting a plan to abate the asbestos or obtaining an asbestos clearance letter.

The same contractor, along with his crew, demolished the buildings in August of 2015. They did so without removing the asbestos, which led to the release of asbestos to the open air. Petro and McGoey visited the site while the buildings were being knocked down. Three days after the demolition, an Asbestos Control Bureau of the New York State Department of Labor official suspended work on removing the debris piles.

The response

Petro’s attorney, Michael Burke of White Plains-based Hodges Walsh & Burke LLC, said his client “was the part-time planning and zoning coordinator for the Town of New Windsor and he did not do anything on the cheap or cut corners as the United States Attorney claims in it’s press release.” Instead, he is questioning the contractor at hand.
Burke said the contractor, who he identified as John Pastor Sr. with his company Hudson Valley Environmental Solutions, was selected and approved by the town board, not his client.

“John Pastor Sr. was fully aware that the buildings contained asbestos,” Burke wrote in an emailed statement. “In fact, in 2014, a year before the demolition of these buildings, the Stewart Airport site was being considered as a potential location for a casino.”

He reported that Luther Winn Jr., CEO of Greentrack Inc., submitted a proposal for a resort and casino at the same property earlier and at that time the SEQRA review identified the presence of asbestos. Burke said this information was made available to potential applicants like Pastor. In 2014, Pastor applied to demolish the buildings for Greentrack Inc., signing off on the demolition permits that identified there was asbestos.

“Before he began the demolition in 2015 Pastor was again told by my client numerous times, as well as told by other Town officials, of the presence of asbestos in those buildings,” said Burke. “If anyone cut corners here and did something wrong, it was the contractor, John Pastor Sr.”

McGoey’s lawyer, Kerry Lawrence of Calhoun & Lawrence, wrote a similar statement, saying that “the contractor who was awarded the contract, as well as anyone familiar with the buildings, was fully aware that there was asbestos before he started the work and he’s the one who cut corners by not performing the work in a safe manner.”

So why plead guilty?

Burke said Petro pled guilty “to a misdemeanor that involved negligent conduct to bring this matter that has been going on for over five years to an end.” He described Petro as a “good man,” “a local business man,” and someone who has devoted his life to serving the people in Orange County on the planning board.

“This investigation had been pending for many years and Mr. McGoey admitted to a misdemeanor offense involving his limited role of aiding and abetting the negligence of others,” said Lawerence on his client pleading guilty.

Current town supervisor, George Meyers, said he couldn’t make a comment on the several-year long case because “there might be something actionable against the town.”