Today's winner: Champlain Telephone Co., the parent company of PrimeLink--the city's internet provider. Every month, PrimeLink earns a decent chunk of change (more than $5,000 a month) through its contract with Plattsburgh taxpayers, a contract the company won in an open bid before Read took office in 2017:
Mayor Read, as of December 2016, following his election, was listed as a director of the company. The readily available information on Read's role with Champlain/PrimeLink is less extensive than for Arrow Financial Corp., the parent company of city contractor Glens Falls National Bank. That's because Arrow is publicly held and discloses more.
But deep investigative reporting (which involved Googling "Champlain Telephone Company and Colin Read") led to this from Champlain's 2016 filings with the State of New York:
No compensation amounts were reported on the company's 2016 filing, but Read appears to have been paid $5,000 as a director in 2011 (line 7 on the second screen shot):
Just as with his role at Arrow Financial, which coincidentally has another director, Bill Owens, to whom--at Read's behest--the city is now paying money, Read has not documented this potential conflict of interest for the Common Council or the citizens. Article 18 of the state's General Municipal Law says public officials are required to disclose personal financial interests in government contracts.
Read has multiple academic degrees, so maybe he knows clever loopholes in the letter of the law. But this is not a good look. Makes you wonder what else he's failing to disclose.
