Menin fires more than a dozen council staffers

Newly elected Council Speaker Julie Menin fired more than a dozen City Council staffers on Thursday, the speaker’s office confirmed. Those included longtime communications aide Shirley Limongi, who had worked for multiple speakers going back to Christine Quinn. Also let go were former Director of Planning and Land Use Perris Straughter, Finance Division counsel Kathleen Ahn, Deputy Chief Sergeant-at-Arms John Biondo and Deputy Chief of Staff Danielle Castaldi-Micca, according to three sources with knowledge of the personnel moves. Castaldi-Micca also served as the executive director of the council’s Charter Revision Commission. The firings were first reported by NY1’s Bernadette Hogan.

“Just as the City Council has done under previous speakers, and as is standard practice during leadership transitions, the Council is undergoing some staffing changes. This includes bringing in new staff to the Council's workforce of about 750, who will support the Speaker and her colleagues in enacting their legislative priorities on behalf of New Yorkers," City Council spokesperson Jack Lobel said in a statement to City & State. The 750 figure includes staff of individual council member offices.

Indeed, most speakers clean house to make room for hand-picked staff. In 2002, Gifford Miller fired 66 people in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. In 2006, former Speaker Christine Quinn fired 61 people in one day in what her staffers described as a “restructuring.” Melissa Mark-Viverito laid off 18 staffers in her first few months in 2014. Corey Johnson laid off 10 people in one day in 2018. Those speakers waited longer before they shook up staff than Menin, who did so on her first full day as speaker. 

Lobel did not say whether Menin intended to let more staffers go. Former Speaker Adrienne Adams’ Chief of Staff Jeremy John, First Deputy Chief of Staff Faiza Ali and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Mandela Jones all voluntarily left their jobs the day before the first stated meeting of the year. 

One staffer who was let go said that they did not meet with Menin or her staff. They were notified in a meeting with human resources that their services were no longer needed. 

“You can clean house but giving people time, like a few weeks, is the right thing to do,” a former speaker’s staffer said.