LEYDEN — Following months of concern about unreturned, town-owned equipment, Leyden residents are taking research about the property’s whereabouts into their own hands.
“I want to know, and I’m not going to be quiet about it until I find out,” Finance Committee Chair Ginger Robinson said during a Selectboard meeting this week. “I want answers to these questions.”
The town received equipment through the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) Program, which transfers excess military equipment to non-military law enforcement agencies. Some items have been in the possession of Dan Galvis, the town’s emergency management director and former police chief. Galvis retired in October after the Selectboard reviewed racist content from emails he shared with town employees and officers between 2015 and 2016, an incident that Galvis says has misrepresented him.
The Selectboard previously expressed confidence in a March 30 deadline to return the federally-allocated equipment, and, according to the board, that deadline has been met. Margaret White, the LESO Program’s state point of contact, confirmed by phone on Tuesday that all of the town’s outstanding equipment has been shipped to the appropriate sites. White previously mentioned a turn-in location in Pennsylvania.
The return of the equipment marks the end of Leyden’s connection to the federal LESO Program.
Robinson then presented to the Selectboard her concerns about LESO equipment that she said was sold in private auctions — primarily a dump truck — but the sale profits cannot be accounted for by the Finance Committee.
A dump truck with “D.J.’s Auto Sales & Service,” the name of Galvis’ business, painted on the side was sold for $5,300 on Auctions International in 2019. According to resident Sara Seinberg (who is married to Robinson), the auction company confirmed that this vehicle was titled to Galvis, though it cannot be confirmed whether it is the same one listed on the LESO Program’s list.
Speaking during this week’s meeting, Robinson asked the board, if the dump truck is one and the same, who signed it into Galvis’ name.
Selectboard Chair Bill Glabach did not want to proceed with discussion of specific items without Galvis present to defend himself, but residents said Galvis has been invited to attend past meetings.
“There’s still some stuff that’s going to auction,” Galvis told the Greenfield Recorder by phone on Tuesday. He said he is out of town until next week, but that he will follow up with the Selectboard about the items discussed.
Robinson said she plans to report the ongoing situation to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office next Tuesday if it is not resolved.
Selectboard member Erica Jensen called the information Robinson presented “alarming” and suggested giving Galvis a week to respond.
“The chair of the Finance Committee can do what she thinks is needed,” Jensen said.