Meetings Tuesday follow Millbrook Mayor's arrest

MILLBROOK – The Washington Town Council will meet for a special board meeting Tuesday, and the Village of Millbrook board will meet for a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, following the arrest of Laura Hurley.

Hurley, Millbrook's mayor and former Town of Washington bookkeeper, is accused of stealing Town of Washington funds. She has not said whether she will step down as mayor.

The purpose of the Town of Washington meeting is to “discuss a personnel matter regarding a particular employee and any other business that may come before the board” according to a notice on the town’s website.

The meeting notice, dated Monday, comes just four days after Hurley's arrest by state police in Poughkeepsie.

Hurley is accused of stealing $1,700 in town funds to pay a family member’s college loans, between March of 2014 and July of 2015, while Hurley was employed as the Town of Washington bookkeeper. Payroll account statements from the Town of Washington, obtained through a Journal Freedom of Information records request, show two separate payments made to Sallie Mae — one payment of $1,513.34 on March 24, 2014, and one payment of $250 on July 18, 2014.

Hurley's attorney Bruce Petito has said Hurley accidentally used a municipal account to make payments on her daughter's school loans — it was a bookkeeping error, not theft, during a time of "extreme family stress (when) she was taking different medications."

Hurley's term as mayor is set to expire Dec. 31, 2016. Hurley will not run for office this year, according to her attorney and Dutchess County Board of Elections records.

Republican Rodney Brown, whose term as trustee is expected to expire at the end of 2018, is the only candidate that will be on the mayoral ticket in November.

Deputy Mayor Joseph Spagnola Jr. did not immediately return calls for comment Monday. None of the trustees listed on the Village of Millbrook website could be reached.

The Journal first reported on the state police investigation surrounding Hurley, former Town of Washington bookkeeper and secretary to the supervisor, in August. Hurley is due back in court on Oct. 20.

Amanda J. Purcell: apurcell@poughkeepsiejournal.com; 845-437-4807; Twitter: @amandajpurcell