GF Mayor Collins questioned over hiring McKrells for Holiday Fest

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins drew scrutiny over spending $6,000 of the city’s Warren County Occupancy Tax money to hire The McKrells to perform twice at the city’s Adirondack Holiday Festival last week.

Mr. Collins has a business relationship with band frontman Kevin McKrell through Celtic Attitudes, the Mayor’s Irish-themed screenprinted casualwear shop on Maple Street.

The men are also personal friends.

The Mayor also planned to sell Celtic Attitudes T-shirts and other wares at the Holiday Fest, but withdrew following questions about a potential conflict of interest raised by Diana Palmer, Ward 3 representative on the Common Council.

Mayor Collins had told The Chronicle about his business link with Mr. McKrell in a casual conversation earlier this year.

Mayor denies conflict

When the McKrell show came up during a Chronicle interview on separate matters last month, Mayor Collins said, “Yes, I call him a business partner, but he really just does artwork for some of my designs and my company. I also know he has an amazing Christmas show that I’ve gone to for years.”

He told The Chronicle the City was required to spend the additional Oc Tax funds by the end of this year. He said he reached out to the Glens Falls Collaborative which runs the Holiday Festival, and offered to bring in The McKrells.

The City also paid for an expanded entertainment tent, stage, seating and lights. Receipts are not in, but Mayor Collins estimates the total at about $8,000.

Separately, Dr. Palmer told The Chronicle she’d heard from a constituent about the Celtic Attitudes connection. She found references to it in recent personal Facebook posts by both men, as well as on the Celtic Attitudes website.

Mr. McKrell had posted on Facebook, “At the upcoming Glens Falls Christmas Celebration…I will be showing some new work at our Celtic Attitudes booth.”

He added, “…Many years ago Sully (Bill) Collins…and I thought of starting a company that focused on Celtic gear…Stop by our booth and say hey….”

Mayor Collins reposted the message, adding, “See our booth this weekend.”

The Facebook post by Mr. McKrell was subsequently deleted. The wording of the Mayor’s repost was edited from “our” booth to “his,” and on Friday morning Mayor Collins withdrew from vending.

Asked Monday about the Facebook and Web postings, Mayor Collins maintains, “I do not have any business relationship with Kevin McKrell.”

He said, “He does talk about those as his designs, but that’s it. I purchased them from him over 10 years ago, out of 30-some odd articles of clothing that are on my Website. They all say that they’re from the great Kevin McKrell. And then they jokingly say that he’s the head bard, all sorts of things. It was a half joke.”

Years ago, Mayor Collins says, Mr. McKrell encouraged him to add specific Celtic wares for Irish themed festivals.

But, the Mayor says, “As soon as I realized what the post implied and that people were questioning me, I just stopped.”

Asked at the time by Dr. Palmer to clarify his relationship to Mr. McKrell, Mr. Collins wrote, “His only tie to my business was his production of some artwork for me more than a decade ago…I neither benefit from his musical performances nor do I have any financial stake in the band.”

The Mayor wrote also that he planned to donate proceeds from his vendor sales to the local charity Operation Santa.

Dr. Palmer cited the City’s Code of Ethics prohibiting officers or employees from receiving direct or indirect personal benefit from their official actions.

Without an active Board of Ethics in the City, Dr. Palmer told The Chronicle, she reached out to the state Comptroller’s office, other state agencies and state attorneys for clarification.

She said she was told there seemed at least the appearance of a conflict, and that even good will derived from donating sales proceeds could constitute a benefit.

But Dr. Palmer said that without a Board of Ethics to consider the matter, no other body has jurisdiction.

She says she was advised, “The best thing you can do is go public.”

Nancy Turner, president of the Glens Falls Collaborative, notes that the $6,000 the McKrells were paid for two 90-minute shows, Friday night and Sunday afternoon at the Holiday Festival, is more than the band the Collaborative itself hired for $800. They played on Saturday.

Ms. Turner, who represents Glens Falls Ward 3 on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said that if the Collaborative had been given opportunity to spend what she also estimates was at least $8,000 total on the event, they would likely have done more to decorate the vendor tents, add children’s entertainment and reinstate horse and wagon rides that had been cut for budget reasons.

“Most of our award money from the County paid for the tents, heaters, propane and electricity,” she said. “There was not much left for other extras.”

Copyright © 2024 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved