Village Trustee Carmen Rue, a frequent critic of Mayor Gordon Jenkins, is placing the blame on him for what she said is sweltering and unbearable conditions in the Monticello village lock-up at the police station.

Rue said the mayor has told her it would cost roughly $2,500 to repair an air conditioner compressor in the lock-up and that the village didn’t have the money for the work.

Jenkins denied the conditions are bad because of the hot weather and he said there has been no discussion about the cost of repairs. In fact, he said he got back from being away for a week at a mayors’ conference.

“No one complained”, Jenkins said. “There were no issues about anything and I don’t know why she is putting out an email saying those statements. They are absolutely false.”

Rue wrote in her email that she “personally witnessed the unbearable heat in the village lock-up, and am honestly shocked.” She said those “atrocities are what third-world countries do to their prisoners.”

The trustee said she was at the police station on Saturday when three young people were in cells all appearing to be in good health, “but they were literally begging for water due to the excess heat.”

(Source: MidHudsonNews.com)