Fellow council members say Bialkowski brought in complaint letter, threatened to release it

We don't know yet who leaked a complaint letter to the Daily News, but two council members say that Councilman Bob Bialkowski is the person who brought the original letter to the council.

Bialkowski also reportedly told a council member that he would divulge the contents of the letter if City Manager Jason Molino received a pay raise.

Council President Charlie Mallow and Councilwoman Kathy Briggs both confirmed that letter first came to the council through Bialkowski.

"That's highly unusual," Mallow said. "Complaints usually come through the council president or the city attorney. We treat all complaints we get equally. But that's not normal."

We've left a message for Bialkowski on his home phone. Yesterday, The Batavian left two messages for Bialkowski asking him to respond to our survey of council members. Bialkowski has not responded to our email, answered the questions or returned phone calls.

Councilman Bill Cox said he had no knowledge of Bialkowski bringing the letter to the council. He thought it came through Councilwoman Marianne Clattenburg, whom he thought had the letter two or three weeks before it was discussed in closed session.

Briggs said that prior to the vote on Molino's raise, another council member called her and said that Bialkowski was threatening to make the contents of the letter public if the council approved Molino's raise, and Briggs said, "What letter?"

She said at that point, she hadn't received the letter and referred to it as "the first letter" that went to only "select council members" from Bialkowski.

Briggs said she believes Bialkwoski brought forward two letters from the same person, and it is the second one that the council reviewed in closed session.

Mallow said he wasn't aware of a "first letter." Cox wasn't aware of there being more than one letter.

Following the closed session where the letter was discussed, four council members -- Briggs, Mallow, Rose Mary Christian and Clattenberg -- received phone calls from the letter's author discussing the substance of, in some detail, though with inaccuracies, the things individual council members said during the closed discussion.

Both Mallow and Briggs said that it's clear that a council member discussed the meeting afterwards with somebody not at the meeting, which made it possible for the letter writer to learn what was discussed behind closed doors.

Bialkowski was not at that Sept. 14 meeting, which was the same night the council voted on Molino's pay raise.

Cox voted against the pay raise, and after the meeting, first characterized his "no" vote as related to a personnel issue he would not discuss publicly. Later he issued a statement that criticized the timing of the raise.

This afternoon, in a phone conversation with The Batavian, Cox agreed that there would be nothing wrong with a council member who was present at a closed session calling a member of the council who missed the meeting and discussing what was said in executive session.

We then asked Cox if he called Bialkowski after the closed door meeting and Cox said he would rather not comment on that question.

While Bialkowski missed the vote on Molino's raise this year, he was present a year ago, June 23, 2008, and voted "yes" on that year's raise for Molino. Bialkowski has been a member of the council since Jan. 1, 2008.

Molino was on vacation the night of the council voted on his raise, which is the same night the council first discussed the complaint letter. Sources say the council delayed further discussion of the complaint until Molino could be present to reply to the charges. Before the council could meet again, the letter was leaked to the Daily News and now at least five council members are unwilling to enter into an executive session without confidence that statements made in a closed session will remain confidential.

UPDATE: Councilman Frank Ferrando just returned our call. He said it was his understanding the letter was brought forward by Bialkowski, but he never heard of Bialkowski threatening to release the letter if Molino received a raise.

Previously:

• Mallow: Council member who leaked document should resign
• Today's Poll: Should the council member(s) who leaked personnel information from a closed session resign?
• 'Council antics' don't pass 'smell test,' asserts Councilman Cox
• Most council members answer straightforward questions about leak of personnel information
• The power of Grand Juries in New York to investigate government actions