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Mayor asks council to confirm Sean Radigan as public service director; council moves to executive session
Summary
The mayor submitted an emergency ordinance on May 19 to hire Sean Radigan as Cortland’s director of public service. The mayor argued Radigan stabilized the service department, but council raised concerns; the meeting adjourned to an executive session to discuss personnel and defer confirmation.
On May 19, 2025, the mayor of Cortland submitted Ordinance O-26-25 as an emergency to hire Sean Radigan as the city’s director of public service and asked the Cortland City Council to confirm the appointment.
The matter drew extended comment because the service director oversees the largest capital project in the city’s history, and the mayor said a confirmed director is needed to continue that work. The mayor cited the charter as the legal basis for the appointment and asked council to confirm Radigan at the meeting; council instead voted to adjourn to an executive session to discuss personnel before taking a final confirmation vote.
The mayor said the appointment rests on the mayor’s authority under the city charter and argued Radigan is the best available candidate. “According to section 4.04 f of our charter, the authority to appoint and remove department directors lies solely with the mayor,” the mayor said. The mayor said Radigan has worked as a consultant, that the city is paying him a salary only (no benefits), and that during his tenure he has realigned and stabilized the service department, worked with architects and engineers on the safety services complex, and overseen equipment upgrades and emergency responses.
The mayor told council three members had approached Radigan and asked him to continue in the role and said the administration would not present alternative candidates at the meeting. Council members asked questions about the candidate’s outside professional responsibilities and sought more time for deliberation. The mayor cautioned that refusal to confirm would affect the working relationship between the mayor’s office and council and said leaving the position vacant could border on malfeasance or nonfeasance.
Council then moved, by roll call, to adjourn into executive session to discuss personnel matters related to the appointment and other city positions. The transcript records the roll call on the executive-session motion with affirmative and negative responses; the transcript excerpt records several named votes (for example: “Kevin Fleisher? Yes,” “John McCurry? No”) and other members’ responses. The meeting announced no action would be taken during the executive session and that the body would resume to consider Ordinance O-26-25 after the closed discussion.
Because the meeting entered executive session to continue personnel discussions, the transcript excerpt does not show a final confirmation vote on the appointment; that decision was deferred pending the closed-session discussion.
