Newburgh mayor calls for government consolidation

Newburgh, New York Mayor Judy Kennedy has proposed consolidation of three departments and creation of new positions as a means of saving the financially strapped city money and reinventing city government. Hudson Valley Correspondent Hank Gross has more.

Kennedy said the city must be bold and think outside the box.

“We’ve got to take a new direction because we can’t keep doing it the same way we have been doing it,” she said. “Things are going to get more serious year by year and as government employees, as municipal employees, we have to start getting creative and getting new solutions.”

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Mayor Kennedy

The mayor wants to consolidate the Water, Engineering and Public Works departments into a new Department of City Services overseen by a commissioner. The three current superintendents would become deputy commissioners.

Kennedy also wants to create two new police officer positions along with a part time human resources officer and a part time lawyer for the city council.

The mayor also wants to see if reducing the police department’s $1 million in overtime can be free up money for additional cops.