Fairview fire board meets to discuss embattled chief

GREENBURGH – The governing board of the Fairview Fire District needs more time to discuss the fate of Fire Chief Anthony LoGiudice, who apologized last week for making anti-Semitic remarks about the town supervisor.

The board met during a special meeting Thursday but decided to defer any decisions until it discusses the issue further, including at its regularly scheduled meeting next Thursday, said Commissioner Michael Cotter, one of five board members.

"We want to make sure everyone is treated fairly," Cotter said.

Earlier in the night, he suggested the board might make a decision so that the department could move forward.

"We need to get the department back on track," said Cotter. "We need the community to know we're concerned about them. I don't know if we'll make any decisions."

After the meeting, Cotter said that while LoGiudice's comments were "out of line and inappropriate," board members also know another side of LoGiudice, who has been a member of the fire district for 40 years.

"We're not all in complete agreement with our course of action," Cotter said. "We're going to take our time to be sure what we come up with is fair."

LoGiudice hand-delivered an apology last week to Supervisor Paul Feiner, who is Jewish, after The Journal News' Tax Watch column reported that two Greenburgh firefighters — one retired, and another now serving as a deputy chief — testified under oath that LoGiudice had often used slurs when talking about Feiner. According to the retired firefighter, LoGiudice referred to Feiner "quite a bit" as a "... sucking Jew bastard." Their testimony was part of a federal age-discrimination lawsuit filed against Fairview.

Feiner called the apology a good first step, but said it was still "insufficient."

The district earlier had received criticism from Feiner and the Anti-Defamation League's New York regional director after releasing a statement acknowledging LoGiudice's remarks. The supervisor and ADL said it fell short of the apology they were looking for.

LoGiudice, whose wife said he has cancer from working as a 9/11 responder, had indicated to The Journal News in February that he wants to step down in the next three years, but not before grooming a replacement. He supported a proposal to fill a $135,000-plus position — a chief-in-waiting role — that was criticized by Feiner as unnecessary in one of the state's costliest districts. The future of that plan is unclear, Cotter said.

Feiner has been a frequent critic of Fairview, championing a study in 2010 that considered merging the district with two others in unincorporated Greenburgh. The district has said LoGiudice's vulgar comments were made in a spate of anger over Feiner's efforts to consolidate.

Staff writer Hoa Nguyen contributed to this report.

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