Spring Valley Mayor Demeza Delhomme jailed on contempt charge

The mayor of Spring Valley has been jailed on a contempt charge for allegedly refusing to open a civic center in the village for use as a summer day camp. Doors to the Kurtz Civic Center were supposed

News 12 Staff

Aug 2, 2014, 3:37 PM

Updated 3,780 days ago

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The mayor of Spring Valley has been jailed on a contempt charge for allegedly refusing to open a civic center in the village for use as a summer day camp.
Doors to the Kurtz Civic Center were supposed to be opened today for the day camp for children, following a judge's order. According to Trustee Vilair Fonvil, Mayor Demeza Delhomme only opened the building and a few rooms inside.
News 12 contacted Mayor Delhomme by phone earlier Friday. He began yelling and swearing, saying the doors were open. He then went to the Kurtz Center to confront Fonvil, repeating that the doors were open, but there was no staff qualified to run the camp.
The mayor was ordered back to court to explain what was happening. In court, Fonvil and others testifed that several doors remained locked.
The judge found the mayor in contempt for not unlocking the doors and ordered Delhomme to the Rockland County jail.
Volunteers now expect to begin registering youngsters for what will be at least three weeks of camp.
Delhomme's attorney says he is exploring every possible option to satisfy the court order, but is unsure as to when the mayor will be released.