Politics on the Hudson

The firefighters’ union wants a state Supreme Court justice to annul the September appointment of the fire chief because the union claims he is unqualified.

Frank Ramos, president of the Uniform Firefighters Association, Inc. of Mount Vernon, filed an Article 78 suit on Jan. 12 asking the court to declare Mayor Clinton Young’s Sept. 22 appointment of Al-Farid Salahuddin arbitrary and an abuse of discretion.

An Article 78 proceeding is a way of having the court rule on whether a municipality has followed the law when it comes to hiring or firing personnel.

The union wants the court to force Young to chose a new fire chief from among six deputy fire chiefs.  The union claims that Salahuddin has not passed the necessary Civil Service examinations.

The union’s court filings also accuse Mount Vernon officials of not following the city’s Civil Service hiring rules for a fire chief, which stipulate that a fire chief must have one year of experience as a paid deputy fire chief prior to being appointed chief.

UPDATED: Mount Vernon’s corporation counsel refers media inquiries to Young’s chief of staff Yolanda Robinson, who Wednesday morning declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Salahuddin could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The Journal News learned about the union’s lawsuit during a routine check of court filings Tuesday morning.