A State Office of Emergency Management chief making $153,000 a year has been dismissed by order of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, for diverting publicly funded resources to have emergency crews remove a tree from his driveway during Hurricane Sandy, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Steven Kehr, a resident of Suffolk County in Long Island, allegedly asked a subordinate to contact emergency workers there from where he was working in Albany to have them remove a tree, according to the New York Post.
Kehr was dismissed following a preliminary investigation after another state employee alerted the Governor’s office, according to the paper.
An administration official said, “It is staggeringly inappropriate for a public servant to direct resources to a private residence when so many people are in trouble,” as quoted by the Post.
Kehr had been in the position for a little more than a year. His resume includes 20 years working for the City, including serving as deputy director for operations and planning for the City’s Office of Emergency Management.
Kehr is currently listed as a principle for Strategic Emergency Group, his emergency management consulting firm located in East Northport, New York, in a U.S. Chamber of Commerce directory that was last updated in late September.
Yesterday’s nor’easter caused an additional 60,000 outages on Long Island bringing the total number to 300,000, including damage done by Sandy, the Daily News reported.
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