In the legal dispute between County Executive Jen Metzger and County Comptroller March Gallagher over access to documents pertaining to the latter’s probe of potential misconduct in the county finance department, a judge has ruled completely in favor of Gallagher.

Back in October, Gallagher filed a special proceeding in state Supreme Court seeking to enforce her subpoena of the month before of documents related to a 2021 investigation by the administration of then-county executive Pat Ryan into former finance commissioner Burt Gulnick Jr.’s conduct. Gallagher said her involvement in the case began in April 2021 when she received two complaints, one of them anonymous, about Gulnick’s behavior. The complaints involved allegations that Gulnick was having an inappropriate relationship with a member of his staff and may have altered time sheets for their benefit.

The allegations are similar to those contained in two workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuits filed earlier this year by female former employees of the county’s finance office. Records filed in that case indicate that at least one additional complaint about Gulnick was reported through the county’s corporate compliance hotline.

After she reported the allegations, Gallagher said in October, the county launched an investigation using outside counsel. In the fall of 2021, she sought the results of the investigation and any documents generated by the corporate compliance complaint to determine if Gulnick’s actions had put taxpayer funds at risk. Instead of the documents, she received verbal assurances that the investigation had not turned up any evidence of fiscal malfeasance. Gallagher said she had compiled some material, including the allegedly altered time sheets but, she said, she did not have enough information to determine if there was any wrongdoing.

“I have not been able to prove out one way or another the intention of those changes [to time sheets] or if they were legitimate or not; my point is it requires further investigation,” Gallagher told Kingston Wire at the time. “[The County Executive’s Office] investigated it and I don’t have the results of that investigation except for their word that nothing happened and that’s not sufficient for my purposes.”

Wednesday afternoon, Gallagher announced that state Supreme Court Judge Richard Mott saw things her way. Completely her way.

“The decision and order grants the comptroller’s petition in its entirety and orders the county executive to comply with the comptroller’s subpoena by 4 p.m. this Friday,” Gallagher’s office stated in a press release announcing the decision. “Justice Mott found that the Ulster County Charter grants the Comptroller’s Office broad authority to issue subpoenas, and that the comptroller was well within her authority to issue the subpoena seeking documents related to the Burt Gulnick internal investigation and related corporate compliance hotline logs. The decision further affirms that the Comptroller’s Office is entitled to access confidential and personnel records of the county.”

“Justice Mott affirmed the will of the voters who adopted the Ulster County Charter, which grants broad authority to the Comptroller’s Office to conduct investigations and subpoena information, so that the Comptroller’s Office can protect the county’s finances and fulfill the Comptroller’s role of evaluating whether any department, program or function of the county is economical, efficient or effective,” Gallagher stated.

“We look forward to finishing our work on this matter and providing taxpayers some assurances that the elected Comptroller’s Office is here to work with the county executive and the county legislature to improve internal controls and protect taxpayer resources.”

In a statement issued later Wednesday afternoon, Metzger said she would cooperate. “I appreciate the clarity provided by ... Mott with respect to the authority and obligations of the Ulster County comptroller. I especially appreciate Justice Mott’s requirement that any investigation protects the confidentiality of employees and whistleblowers. I look forward to working with Comptroller Gallagher to ensure that Ulster County government is efficient, transparent and responsive to the people we serve.”

With reporting by Jesse J. Smith