Assessment Review Board Vacancy Not Promoted; Discussion of Ethics Complaints; Both Appointees Confirmed
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Beacon’s City Council reviewing the two appointments to the Board of Assessment Review, where they confirmed that the appointment opportunities were not promoted to the public, and discussed the Ethics Complaints process of Board Members, or lack there of.
The Beacon City Council has appointed two people to the five person Board of Assessment Review: David Ross, a new appointee to the Board who replaces Ron Donofrio, a realtor. David is the former director of the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Whitney Museum, and others. Michele Rios is a reappointment for a third term to the Board. Michele is a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway. This board is one of three boards that is statutory, meaning it is required by law to be filled.
Upon being questioned by A Little Beacon Blog on the uncontested nature of Michele’s third reappointment, and a general question of if the Board of Assessment Review should be stacked with three of the five seats being realtors, Michele publicly replied to this reporter by insulting, threatening and shaming this reporter: “I am not sure who you are or why you have it in for me but this is exactly why the professionals are on these committees and not people who pretend to be real. You are going to hear from my attorney and I will ADVERTISE IT in the Beacon Blog and see how you like it. You are a horrible unstable individual who needs helps. There are places for you to go to get help. This is now harassment for no reason and I you are put on notice. For the City of Beacon to allow you to use their name is an injustice. This coming from a woman who lives in a garage most of the time. I am pressing harassment charges on you, maybe then you'll stay away.”
To clarify clarify Michele’s comment on the garage before reporting what the City Council discussed prior to voting on these appointments, this reporter does not have a garage, but does have a shed, which has been decorated into a studio. This reporter works in that studio shed, and enjoys spending time there as part of the back yard to the rest of her property that includes a house, front and back yard, and shared driveway.
Deep Dive Into October 2025’s Appointment Discussion
The City Council’s complete discussion about these appointments and the process has been made available as a transcript below so that all details and considerations can be seen.
Appointments to most boards in Beacon are sleepers, but especially so with the Assessment Review Board, being that the concept of property assessments is myriad in complexities. However, this Board is one of the most personal, as it can impact people’s property assessments, which is connected to how much property tax they pay.
The discussion below brought to light new information:
Beacon’s Board of Ethics: That Beacon has no Board of Ethics anymore, should anyone have a complaint about a Board Member on a committee.
Dutchess County Board of Ethics: It was recommended by the Mayor for complaints to be made to the Dutchess County Board of Ethics. However, Beacon’s Assessor, Kathy (Kathleen) Martin, who Beacon’s Board of Assessment Review answers to, is a Board Member on Dutchess County’s Board of Ethics.
The two types of qualities Mayor Lee looks for in an appointee: real estate experience, and experience with financial numbers.
That Mayor Lee approached David Ross to fill the financial numbers role, but a Councilmember wanted to know more about his finance background beyond art curation, despite David being the Director of several art museums.
Mayor Lee started the conversation with an overall explanation of what this board does: "So, [Councilperson] Pam and [Councilperson] George, I just have a comment, which is, the Board of Assessment Review. There's two skill sets that are relevant for a Board Member. Just so you know what they do: they only review grievances in May, and that's their kind of only job.”
He went further into detail: "The two skill set areas, which you know I know from having run the Property Tax Agency, is either: you know something about real estate and real estate assessments; or you know something about numbers.
"The first person I'm appointing is in the real estate business. You want that expertise. It has no effect on assessments. The person doesn't get referrals. The person doesn't selling anything. But the person does know something about the market, and what assessments might be.
"The second person I'm appointing actually knows about numbers. And Amber, you will recall, when we added people to the the… (City Administrator Chris fills in: “Data Committee,”) the the Fjord Trail Committee, you know, I needed people who actually understood numbers because there were people on the other side who had no idea, and were just making stuff up. So that's the basic skill set.
"The alternative, which I used to see years ago, is you just appoint, you know, some people who don't know much, and one of two things happens: either they do whatever the Assessor tells them, or they favor their friends. Neither which I wanted as a response. So I just want you to know that. Any comments on the first one which is Michele?"
The Conversation Moved To the Concept Of Beacon’s Ethics Committee
Councilperson Paloma Wake paused the discussion on anyone in particular, to focus on what people should do if they have a complaint about person serving on a Committee for the City of Beacon. Mayor Lee provided a circular answer.
Councilperson Paloma asked "I don't have a comment on Michele or David in particular. But on if there is an ethics complaint about any of our Committee Members, where does that go? I know we don't have an Ethics Committee anymore. I believe it disbanded several years ago. So I want to understand where complaints or concerns should go."
Maybe Lee answered: "Yeah, we almost never have had one," meaning a complaint. "If we ever do [have a complaint about a Board Member],” he continued, “we can form one [an Ethics Committee]. But I think the alternative would be to ask [Dutchess] County to do it because the County has an Ethics Committee. In fact, one of our citizens is on that now. So that might be another approach."
Mayor Lee did not name which citizen of Beacon is on Dutchess County’s Ethics Committee, but as of this publishing, Hon. Peter Forman is on the Dutchess County Ethics Committee. Peter served as a Judge in Dutchess County in Family Court, County Court, and Acting Justice of the Supreme Court for 20 years until his retirement in 2020, where he went on as counsel at the law firm of Cuddy and Fedder, who often goes up against the City of Beacon when representing commercial property developers.
Kathleen (Kathy) Martin is also listed as a Board Member of the Dutchess County Ethics Committee. Kathleen, who goes by Kathy on Beacon’s Assessor page, is the longtime Assessor for the City of Beacon who recommended Michele Rios to Beacon's Assessment Review Board, the Board Member of this evening's reappointment vote. Kathleen also serves at the Mayor of the Village of Fishkill since 2021, and was appointed as the Assessor to Pleasant Valley in 1995. In 2006, she was appointed Assessor to the Town of East Fishkill and the City of Beacon, where each municipality shares in paying her fee for that service.
The City's Attorney Nick Ward-Willis of the law firm Keane & Beane contributed to the Mayor’s instruction on point of contact for ethics complaints: "Our office would also get involved and try to facilitate a resolution, provide advice and guidance. But you're right, there are other resources available."
Mayor Lee finalized to close the topic: "Yeah. But thank you for asking that,"
However, Councilperson Paloma persisted: "So, someone, if they had a concern, they should go to the [Dutchess] County Ethics Board."
Mayor Lee responded: "Well, they can come here and then I think I would refer them to Nick and Nick might suggest that or offer something else."
Attorney Nick answered: "Correct."
Councilperson Pam Weatherbee raised another question: "Is it ethics for the position that they're volunteering for? Or is it for their personal life or business?"
Mayor Lee answered: "Well, so it would have to be that somehow there's some conflict with respect to their position, right? And the Board of Assessment Review again, I don't think has any, you know, conflict. But that's that's how you go about it. Okay?"
Councilperson Pam wanted to understand the board meeting process a little more: "And the Board meets as a group? It's not just whoever shows up that day? It's a group."
Mayor Lee answered: "It's 5 [people]. And it's done in May during Grievance Period and then they review grievances, with attorney advice and the Assessor." Mayor Lee looked to Attorney Nick for clarification, to which Attorney Nick responded: "Right. And they receive training as well. There's state mandatory training."
Councilperson Paloma continued: "And is there sort of a standard in particular with the Board of Assessment Review? Is there a standard Conflict of Interest Disclosure or process that they have to go through?"
Attorney Nick answered: "I can't speak to it, but…I can't speak to their process."
Mayor Lee continued: "Now, again, unless you're the Assessor of Beacon, I don't think there's any conflicts at all because the role is to if someone has a grievance, you - the Assessor - provides data of adjacent homes or like homes [aka "comps"] and you look at those relative to the assessment of the particular home that's being grieved. I don't see what there could possibly..."
City Administrator Chris White chimed in: "Well, if it was if it was your property, you'd have to recuse yourself."
Attorney Nick brought up occurrences "in other communities where someone has grieved their own assessment." Mayor Lee agreed, and elaborated: "Yes. Right. So, you know, if somebody, you know, say somebody owned a bunch of properties, and were on it [the Assessment Review Board], that that might create a conflict for your particular one, but only your particular one." Attorney Nick confirmed: "Correct."
Mayor Lee continued with the reappointment: "I'll also point out this candidate's been on the Board of Assessment Review for 15 years -" to which Administrator Chris corrected him: "I think ten." Mayor Lee continued: "Oh, this is the third 5 year term...And um you know, our Assessor [Kathy Martin] actually says person [Michele Rios] does a really good job and would be happy to have her do it again."
The Mayor then brought it to a vote, and all Councilmembers voted in favor of appointing Michele Rios to the Board of Assessment Review.
The First Time Appointment Of David Ross
The second appointment was to fill a vacancy on the Board of Assessment with a new appointee, David Ross, who Mayor Lee hand-picked to bring to the City Council. For this appointment, Mayor Lee indicated that this selection was based on filling the "numbers" seat, where he wanted a person very familiar with numbers, as he explained at the beginning of the meeting. During this point in the meeting, the Council also pressed about how the vacancy and term ending were promoted, if at all. It was discovered that these vacancies were not promoted at all by anyone in the City of Beacon administration.
"I think many of you know who David Ross is," Mayor Lee began. "He actually has a good numerical background and he was very gracious enough to say he would do it. We always struggle to fill this one. So. Any other comments on David?" He is the former director of the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Whitney Museum, and other art museums.
Councilperson Molly Rhodes asked for explanation on vacancy promotion: "Yeah, not on David, but just on the point you just said about struggling to fill this particular position. Can you say a little bit more for the community? I know these are 5-year terms, so there might not be a vacancy for this particular one, but just how these are kind of advertised or shared, so community members who might have relevant experience know they can put their name in the hat for things like this."
Mayor Lee did not answer the question, but provided fog around the concept of the Committee, which as he pointed out, is one of the only municipal boards required by law to exist. "Yeah, I think the primary issue is it's an arcane committee, right?" Arcane is defined by Oxford Languages as meaning "understood by few; mysterious or secret."
Mayor Lee continued: "Only a data geek who's interested in property assessments like, you know, your Mayor when he ran the Agency, has some interest in this area. So, it's hard to take on people." This indicates a reluctance to open the vacancy to public awareness in order to preserve personal working relationships.
Mayor Lee continued: "Again, it's helpful to have a background in real estate. You could be an assessor, an appraiser, various other roles. It's uh other otherwise relevant to have a numerical background because you're presented with data that are looking at comps for homes that are being grieved."
He then considered the promotion of the vacancy: "So, we can certainly advertise it. There are only three statutorily [required by law] required committees in the state: the Planning Board, the Zoning Board, and the Board of Assessment Review. It's just important we fill this one quickly. Okay."
Councilperson Paloma pressed on about promotion of the vacancy: "How would you advertise it? You just said that we could advertise it. I guess I'm asking about all of our committees and generally I think we've asked a couple...it comes up every couple of months. You know, how do people know when there are vacancies on the committee, and there's never a full answer. "
One of the most recent examples was the reemergence of Councilperson George Mansfield onto the City Council after he retired and did not seek reelection. After the unanticipated resignation of Councilperson Wren Longo, the Council seat was filled via appointment by Mayor Lee, who approached individuals to consider coming onto council. With pressure, an open call was made, but candidates who put their hats into the ring - if any - were not presented to the public.
Mayor Lee answered: "Well, so we can post, but again, this one...I just figured nobody in their right mind would be interested to solicit."
City Administrator Chris interjected: "But we do accept applications any time. If you go on the website and you have an interest, somebody moves to Beacon, somebody decides they've retired, they want they want to contribute some time, you can go to our website and you can submit an application. The kind of default here is when somebody's term is coming up, if they've done a a good job and they show up at meetings, we reappoint them generally."
City Administrator Chris introduced a new claim: "We had one [Assessment Review Board Member] who did not show up, and we were asked by the Assessor [Kathy Martin] to consider a different candidate who would actually make a commitment to being there." While he did not mention who the Board Member was, the only Board Member to have his name vanish off the website during the publication of this article series was Ron Donofrio, who serves many roles professionally, including being a realtor. His term expiration and reappointment opportunity would have been in October 2025.
City Administrator Chris continued: "We didn't have a lot of time either on this one. This is a little unique from the other, but we went back; we had no expressions of interest; no applications. We didn't go out and publicize it. Ben [Secretary to the Mayor] and I realized a few weeks before this was going to expire, that it was expiring in October rather than December. So we said to Lee, 'Do you...can you figure out somebody to do this?' We also did ask the Assessor and she didn't have any recommendations other than [saying] 'Michele has been great to work with. I'd like to renew her.' So, we did that."
Councilperson Jeff Domanski had a new question about the proposed new candidate, David: "You said a few times, Lee, that Mr. Ross knows numbers, but you look at his resume, it's all art curatorship. Can you speak to that just for a few minutes?"
Mayor Lee responded: "He happens to be the finance person for the Country Club and a few other things." According to the Southern Dutchess Country Club website, David Ross is on the board.
Mayor Lee continued: "Somewhere along the way, he learned numbers probably from running budgets of uh, uh, museums, right? Cuz I talked to him about it, and he was he was comfortable because I had to explain the role. He was more concerned about it being too much time, but once he heard it was a fixed amount of time in the month of May, he was willing to do it."
Councilperson Pam circled back to attendance requirements, which resulted in new information being presented: "Is there attendance requirements for positions...type of positions?"
City Administrator Chris answered: "In this case it's just one meeting a year. So if you don't show up to that for 2 years of your 5 year term, it's a problem."
Councilperson Pam reinforced her agreement: "It's a real problem."
While it was not stated who the Board Member was who did not show up for a meeting, Ron Donofrio was the only name suddenly no longer on the City of Beacon's website as of the publishing of this article series, whose term was up for renewal in October 2025. Ron confirmed with ALBB that he missed one meeting for personal reasons, but not two years of meetings. ALBB has reached out to Assessor Kathy for her comment, but she was out of the office the week of this publishing.
City Administrator Chris concluded: "Again, we don't really have any other attendance standards with any of the other committees. They manage their own committees. If they have an issue, they would relay it to us. And that, again, would be most pertinent to the other two committees that is statutory: the ZBA [Zoning Board] and the Planning Board."
The Mayor then set the vote appointing David Ross to the Board of Assessment Review. All were in favor, and David was appointed. Mayor Lee concluded: "I'll tell David he has to sharpen his mathematical pencil. But he's good at it. Okay. Anyone opposed? Not hearing any. That's done."
