MAYOR YOUNG'S SISTER ALLEGEDLY DOES NOT POSSESS QUALIFICATIONS FOR EMPLOYMENT

SPECIAL REPORT

Immediately upon taking office Mayor Clinton Young hired his sister Mary Young to be Commissioner of Management Services.  Mayor Young also showed no respect to Mount Vernon taxpayers by increasing his sister’s salary from $87,060 to $97,460.  The practice of nepotism, cronyism, and favoritism would become an intricate part of the day to day operations of Mayor Young’s administration.

Mount Vernon Exposed through a freedom of information request has obtained Mary Young’s resume and employment application due to the overwhelming outcry from Mount Vernon residents demanding her qualifications for her positions.  When we received our request through the law department we were provided with strange documents.  Corporation Counsel Loretta Hottinger, wife of Mount Vernon Democratic Committee 2^nd Vice Chairman Ronald Detres, provided us with a redacted copy of Mary Young’s resume.  When Hottinger was asked as to why she provided a redacted copy of the resume, Hottinger stated there was a clause in the Freedom of Information law to protect an employee’s age.   That statement by Hottinger was 100% false.  Date of Birth’s are not protected from disclosure.  In fact, we have obtained the voting records for Mary Young and her date of birth was attached.  Mary Young was born December 29, 1961. Corporation Counsel Hottinger allegedly was fully aware of the actions her husband was a party to and was doing what she was installed to do; filter information and carefully screen the F.O.I.L requests that come through her department.

Mount Vernon Exposed re-submitted the request and informed the Law Department of the law and we received the following response.

·         Please be advised that an un-redacted resume you requested contains information of a personal nature. New York State Public Officer’s Law §87 (2) (b) allows public entities to withhold records that “if disclosed would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under the provisions of subdivision two of section eighty-nine of this article.”  It is the City of Mount Vernon’s policy to redact information that falls within this category.  Therefore, we are unable to provide you with an un-redacted copy of the requested report.

In the past Mount Vernon Exposed has obtained several employment applications and resumes and the dates were not redacted.  Being the fact that this was Mayor Young’s sister and her qualifications were “questionable” we were not able to get the information that we were seeking. 

It is alleged that Mary Young does not possess a degree in Business Administration and Economics from Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama as stated on her employment application.  It is further alleged that Mount Vernon Democratic City Committee 2^nd Vice-Chairman Ronald Detres was very instrumental in getting Mary Young fired from the Mount Vernon Board of Education during her stint there from 1990-1992. Mary Young was Deputy Clerk of the Board, Business Department.  Her brother, Mayor Young served as a school board trustee during that time. 

By her own admissions, Mary Young states that she is not qualified to hold the position that she currently has.  On her employment application, Question # 5 states-

·         Have you a license, certificate, or other authorization to practice the trade or profession that you are applying?  Mary Young answered no to this question.

The dates on the application are also suspect and should be of great concern to Mount Vernon taxpayers.  Mary Young was hired and took her position soon after her brother was sworn on as Mayor.  Her employed application was time stamped on August 14, 2008 by the Civil Service Commission and was signed by Mary Young on June 29, 2008.  It is unclear if Mary Young was receiving paychecks prior to those dates.