Almost three years to the day, former Elmira Police Chief Anthony Alvernaz has filed a lawsuit against the city, mayor, and city manager.

As of publication, the specific allegations in the lawsuit have not been made public; however, the lawsuit involves civil rights and employment matters.

Read more here

Thought he would do this. Waited until the day the statute of limitations ran out.

I'm glad to see it. Everything I know about Tony both as an officer when I was out on the street and communicating with him for this site ( and he was very open to communication and follow up questions ) indicates to me he's a good man. I hope we get to find out more details about what led up to this.

15 hours ago, KarenK said:

Thought he would do this. Waited until the day the statute of limitations ran out.

So the City Manager and Mayor would get all confident and cozy , then Bam , throw the hammer down on them … good !

1 hour ago, Chris said:

I'm glad to see it. Everything I know about Tony both as an officer when I was out on the street and communicating with him for this site ( and he was very open to communication and follow up questions ) indicates to me he's a good man. I hope we get to find out more details about what led up to this.

Me too. The whole thing never sat right with me. He got railroaded for something. Even with the event that lead up to it, where he really was never proven to have done anything wrong, the city continued to push him out. To me, they wanted him out and used that event as a way to pursue. The fact that he gave up so easily led me to believe they were holding something over his head.

1 hour ago, KarenK said:

The fact that he gave up so easily led me to believe they were holding something over his head.

That had been my initial thought too. But once there was talk of a lawsuit, I figured maybe his lawyers advised him that it was best to save it for the courtroom.

If I recall correctly, there was something that he felt went against his sense principles but took the option to resign because he’d retain his pension and perhaps other benefits. I can’t blame the man for that.

Protect your future and then come back and fight later.

An organization going by the name ActNowMedia has released what appears to be the official court complain filed on behalf of Alvernaz. The suit alleges sexual harassment by City Manager Michael Collins as well as retaliation for what Alvernaz says were discriminatory hiring practices by Collins.

Lawyers representing Alvernaz say that Collins subjected Alvernaz to "... a barrage of unsolicited and offensive sexual advances, comments, and physical contact. This pervasive harassment included, among other things, Collins bragging about the size of his penis, telling Plaintiff he was the "best looking Chief," sending Plaintiff a photograph of himself in wet, skin-tight underwear, and professing his "love" for Plaintiff just one week before orchestrating his termination."

You can see the entire lawsuit here.

If true all I can say is WOW and no wonder the City is dealing with the problems it has.

Wow. Just wow.

Who in this day and age thinks they can treat a person that way and have nothing come of it? If it's true that's pretty bad.

Being I'm not from the city I'm not that familiar with Michael Collins but I have heard complaints about him before. I never paid attention and figured someone always has to complain but those accusations are a whole different ball game.

When that hits the news outlets, I wonder who else is going to come out of the woodwork.

WENY reported on it tonight, which I figured would take a day or two longer.

by reading the Document, sounds like there is hard( no pun intended) evidence and not just claims the City is screwed

11 hours ago, ADAM said:

by reading the Document, sounds like there is hard( no pun intended) evidence and not just claims the City is screwed

I imagine Alvernaz "kept the receipts" where possible.

This thing could break open a door that leads to a lot of bones falling out of the closet.

From WSKG:

Defendants have 21 days after being served a summons of the civil action to respond unless they waive the summons. It is unclear how long the defendants in this case have to respond: documentation shows that on Jan. 7, legal representation for the city waived the summons, therefore all three defendants may have 60 days to respond.

Collins said he has not been served and he has “no comment.”

It is not clear if Mandell has been served. He said he has “no comment at this time.”

Attorneys for the city did not respond to WSKG for clarification.

Source

After reading the article in the source I am hoping the Veteran , Mr Sturgis can get in on this along with Mr. Alvernaz or in a separate action of his own The comments by Collins against Mr. Sturgis are deplorable and quite frankly, although only my opinion , quite libelous .