David Ross From The Epstein Files No Longer On City Board; Beacon Was Not Going To Announce That
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After being appointed by Mayor Lee Kyriacou in October 2025, David Ross, a citizen of Beacon; husband to former City Council Member Peggy Ross who served with Mayor Lee on Council years prior; widely-known director of contemporary American museums nationwide; who was found with multiple correspondences in the Epstein Files after the January 30th, 2026 drop; is no longer on the Board of Assessment Review for the City of Beacon, the City’s attorney Nick Ward-Willis confirmed after A Little Beacon Blog called in during the second Public Comment opportunity of the evening to ask who resigned from the once full board to create two new vacancies so quickly that the City voted on that night with no prior notification or announcement of vacancy to the public.
Otherwise, the City of Beacon was not going to mention David’s departure from the Board.
Katie of ALBB asked: “Can you tell me, for the Board of Assessment Review, who are the two people who resigned? The last time we had nominations was in October 9th, 2025, which was Michele Rios, a realtor, and David Ross, curator of museums, and a board member here at the Southern Duchess Country Club, who was also recently found in the Epstein Files and resigned his position elsewhere,” referring to David’s resignation of his position as chair of the MFA Art Practice Program at New York’s School of Visual Arts (SVA) after ARTNews broke the story of his relationship and correspondences with Epstein.
“Can you tell us who resigned, when they resigned, and why they resigned, and also, why there was no public announcement of these two vacancies.”
Attorney Nick took over answering. He neither confirmed or denied that David Ross resigned, saying: “So, we don't go into details on personnel matters. The two individuals who served before were Mr. Ross and Mr. Palisi, I believe. That's generally all we provide.”
Mayor Kyriacou began to respond: “Um so…”
Attorney Nick was swift to cut him off, repeating his previous statement: “So that’s generally all that we provide.”
Mayor Kyriacou wanted to continue, but restrained himself, saying: “Okay,” with a pause. “And…Okay. I’ll stop there.”
Attorney Nick concluded: “Yeah.”
City Administrator Chris White picked up the response: “Well, and he didn’t resign. He passed away.” To which Attorney Nick responded “Well…Yes,” without referring to which former board member they were referring to.
City Administrator Chris continued: “So Bobby Palisi, for those...” implying he was going to describe who Bobby Palisi was for those who did not know. “Very involved in softball. Life member of Mase [Hook and Ladder]. We had the Memorial Bunting on the firehouse for his fire service.” Bobby was also a brother-in-law of Michele Rios, his wife’s sister, who is also on the Board of Assessment Review.
Mayor Kyriacou picked up the description: "That's the dark bunting when you were, if you were passing by and you're wondering what that was. That was Bobby."
Mayor Kyriacou wanted to continue again, but held back. "Um...So...And then...Um...Yeah. Okay." And the meeting ended.
