Ramapo officials make changes after St. Lawrence departure

<p>Town officials are making changes just days after a jury found Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence guilty on federal fraud charges, disqualifying him from office.</p>

News 12 Staff

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May 22, 2017, 9:34 PM

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Updated 2,523 days ago

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Town officials are making changes just days after a jury found Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence guilty on federal fraud charges, disqualifying him from office.

St. Lawrence was forced out of office Friday after being convicted on 20 counts of federal securities and wire fraud for cooking the books to get better interest rates on $25 million in loans he took out to build a minor league ballpark. Inside Ramapo's Town Hall, staffers moved quickly to take St. Lawrence's name off the door and are trying to move past his 16-year reign at town hall.

One of the changes town officials are implementing immediately is changing the times when meetings are held.

“There's not going to be anymore town meetings during the day. All town board meetings will be held at night so people could come,” says Yitchok Ullman, Ramapo's new acting town supervisor.

Ullman, who was temporarily appointed by the town board, also plans to dissolve the Ramapo Local Development Corporation and limit the power of the next supervisor, which he insists is for the sake of transparency.

He says that perhaps his biggest job will be restoring the public's faith in government, which is something he thinks can’t happen overnight.

It is in the Ramapo Town Board’s power to keep Ullman in the job until a new supervisor is elected in November.

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