April 29, 2008. Mayor Raymond McDonough denied again that he was involved in anyway with the theft of quarters by former Superintendent of Public Works William Tanski. This was the second time that McDonough denied any involvement with the theft. The Mayor seemed agitated by the questioning from Councilman Steven McCormick during the April 11th Special Council Meeting. William Tanski was a close friend of Mayor McDonough. McDonough was known to visit Tanski early in the morning at the Public Works garage to discuss town business. Rumors have been circulating for years that Tanski could not have stolen $100,000.00 in quarters by himself without the knowledge of town officials and/or town employees. One speaker at the Special Council meeting queried on how it was possible to move so many quarters, an admitted $100,000, without anyone noticing.
At a prior meeting of the Mayor and Council, Mayor McDonough went out of his way to state that he was instrumental in getting Tanski to make detrimental admissions about the theft which resulted in Tanski's guilty plea and sentencing. The Town of Harrison is still waiting to be reimbursed the proceeds taken by Tanski. Councilman Steven McCormick has also questioned the method the town uses to collect and account for parking revenues. McCormick has suggested that the town invest in centralized parking meters which provide accounting safeguards to insure that parking revenues are not diverted. To date, the Mayor and Council have not moved toward such a system but rather have opted to maintain the current system of separate parking meters.
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