The Mantello Record

City Council Files Lawsuit Against Mantello Over Flock Emergency

2026-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

Troy’s City Council and City Auditor took Mantello to Rensselaer County Supreme Court in May, asking a judge to declare her April 1 emergency order unlawful, nullify it, and throw out the Flock Safety contract renewal. The legal complaint is direct: Mantello used emergency powers to authorize a $78,000 payment without council or auditor approval, cutting them out of the process entirely.

Council President Steele said the declaration “overstepped legislative authority.”

Sources: News10, CBS6, Spectrum News

Good Cause Eviction Veto Overridden 7-0

2026-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

When Mantello vetoed Good Cause Eviction in March, the vote was 7-0 against her. When the council overrode her in April, it was 7-0 again. Every Republican-aligned council member who had voted against Good Cause was gone, replaced in November 2025 by Democrats who had campaigned on it. The new council wasted little time.

Sources: Spectrum News, WAMC, News10

Emergency Declaration to Pay Flock Camera Contract

2026-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

On April Fools’ Day, Mantello declared a public safety emergency over license plate reader cameras. The council had let the Flock Safety contract renewal deadline pass while debating privacy protections. Mantello argued the contract had renewed automatically anyway, then declared an emergency to authorize a $78,000 payment without going back to the council or the city auditor.

She called the council’s proposed data regulations “dangerous, misguided and a gift to criminals.” The council eventually reached a compromise requiring annual audits and limits on data sharing with other agencies. By then, Mantello had already gone to court.

Partisan angle: She pulled the emergency trigger precisely when the council was drafting legislation to put guardrails on the technology.

Sources: WAMC, Spectrum News, WAMC compromise

Mantello Vetoes Good Cause Eviction

2026-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

The council had passed Good Cause Eviction 7-0. Mantello vetoed it anyway, citing concerns about small landlords and calling for a third-party study before any action. Council members weren’t buying the delay. Good Cause was the reason most of them were sitting in those seats. Voters had already cleared out every council member who had voted against it the November before.

Partisan angle: Good Cause Eviction flipped the Troy City Council to a Democratic supermajority. Mantello’s veto was a direct attempt to block the mandate voters had delivered six months earlier.

Sources: CBS6, Spectrum News

ICE Cooperation: Council Acts, Mantello Stays Silent

2026-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

When the new council passed a resolution saying Troy would not cooperate with ICE enforcement, Mantello declined to take a position. Her statement: the resolution “does not change or impact any city code, local law, or operational policy. It is solely a statement of the Council’s political views.” She neither signed it nor vetoed it.

Across the river, Republican Sheriff Patrick Russo’s office reaffirmed its 287(g) agreement with ICE, keeping Rensselaer County the only county in New York State running such a program. Mantello said nothing about that either. Residents had already reported ICE vehicles in Troy on New Year’s Day 2026.

Partisan angle: Dismissing the council’s resolution as purely political while staying silent on the county’s active federal cooperation agreement put Mantello in step with the county Republican machine.

Sources: CBS6 on council vote, WAMC

Absent from New Council’s First Public Meeting

2026-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-two people showed up to speak at the new council’s first public forum on January 8, 2026. Mantello was not there. Neither was anyone from her administration. Speakers noticed.

Sean Collins of the Troy Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said it plainly from the podium: “The mayor’s absence at the new council’s first public meeting is indicative of what the next two years of your term will be.”

Council President Steele acknowledged the absence in her closing remarks.

Source: Troy City Council Jan. 8, 2026 meeting transcript (City Clerk’s office; no formal minutes filed)

$6 Million Frear Park Bond Pushed Through Outgoing Republican Council

2025-12-30T00:00:00+00:00

The outgoing Republican council’s last day in office was December 30, 2025. Before they left, the administration got them to authorize a $6 million bond for a Frear Park pavilion, with no site plan, no community engagement, no construction documents, and a disputed environmental review that a resident would later testify may have violated state law.

Jessica Bennett told the new council she called the city clerk at 3 PM that day and was told no project plans were on file. State law requires SEQR documents to be available 24 hours before a vote. When the new Democratic council tried to rescind the bond, they spent weeks being stonewalled from accessing bond counsel. Council President Steele eventually pulled the rescission, noting that misrepresentations had been made during the rush to get it done.

Sources: Dec. 30, 2025 and Jan. 8, 22, 2026 meeting transcripts (City Clerk’s office); clerk’s minutes IDs 1760, 1761

Mantello Calls Knickerbacker Park Board ‘Reckless’ After 5-Month Non-Response

2025-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

The Knickerbacker Park Board sent the city a proposed updated lease in July 2025 and heard nothing back for nearly five months. When they finally hired legal counsel and set a meeting to sort it out, Mantello went public, accusing them of acting in “bad faith,” calling their conduct “reckless,” and claiming they tried to “strong-arm” city officials.

The board’s account: the mayor ignored them for five months, so they got a lawyer, and then she blamed them for it.

Sources: WAMC, CBS6

Proctor’s Theater Seat Removal Contradicts Preservation Claims

2025-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Photos hit social media showing every orchestra-level seat pulled out of the former Proctor’s Theater, the building Mantello was converting into city hall. The images landed awkwardly against earlier administration assurances about preserving the theater’s historic character. A city communications director said the seats would go back in and floated an “adopt a seat” program.

What no one disputed: the project carries no legal obligation to preserve anything, because it does not use historic preservation tax credits.

Source: WAMC

City Hall Move to Proctor’s Approved on 4-3 Party-Line Vote

2025-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

Four to three, straight down party lines. The Republican-majority council approved the Proctor’s Theater lease on November 7, 2025, two months before the new Democratic supermajority would take office. Council President Steele argued the incoming council should make that call. She was outvoted. The Troy Local Development Corporation approved up to $12.5 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project, with the city paying $675,000 a year to the LDC for 30 years.

Partisan angle: The vote happened when it did for a reason. The administration wanted the city hall move locked in before January 2026.

Sources: Spectrum News, CBS6