Former city councilor slams city attorney for 'disrespect' at codes meeting

Former state rep and city councilor Steven Beaudoin (City of Rochester screenshot)

ROCHESTER - A former Rochester city councilor slammed a city attorney on Saturday for showing a lack of decorum during a codes and ordinances committee meeting during which finishing edits on a new Code of Ethics policy and council rules of order were being finalized on Thursday.
City Attorney Andrew Kroeckel at times berated the committee for bringing to the table an ethics policy that he called "pointless" and "toothless."
When Kroeckel asked why a portion of the old ethics policy that said a board appointment should not be used as a political reward was taken out of the new policy, codes and ordinances chair David Walker shot back, "Because it's not necessary."
"Why is it not necessary" Kroeckel demanded.
"Because it's not," Walker fired back.
"I am not a child, and that is not an answer," replied Kroeckel.
That exchange came after Kroeckel spent more than a half hour dressing down the committee over language he said made the ethics policy too vague.
Much of the council ethics policy centers on mutual respect between city staff and elected and appointed officials, but at one point a frustrated Walker flatly told the attorney," Now you're getting argumentative."
Beaudoin, a four-term Rochester state rep and former city councilor. said Kroeckel had stepped way over the line in a post on The Rochester Voice Facebook page.
"The attorney was unbelievably disrespectful of the council members," he said. "He should be shown the door."
The Rochester Voice reached out to city officials, but they were not immediately available for comment.