Following up on a tip from a community member, Newspaper Publishers is gathering information regarding an arrest and arraignment that took place earlier in February. John A. Finch Jr., Commissioner of Public Works for the Town of Kirkwood, was arrested on or about Feb. 9th for Larceny from Lowe’s Home Improvement Store in the Town of Chenango.
It is alleged that the offense occurred during normal working hours and that he was making purchases for the Town of Kirkwood using a Town of Kirkwood vehicle. Mr Finch was arraigned shortly after 1pm Tuesday February 27th in the Town of Chenango Court by the Honorable Judge Scott.
He was represented by the Broome County Public Defender’s office. The arraignment lasted almost 10 minutes and Mr. Finch was released on his own recognizance. When Judge Scott asked Mr. Finch if he would be represented by private counsel or a public defender at his next court date Mr. Finch replied “Public Defender.” Mr Finch will appear again in the Town of Chenango Court March 26th.
Mr. Finch was last elected to the Town of Kirkwood Highway Superintendent in 2020 running unopposed with Broome County Election results shown below.
BROOME REPORTED - Town of Kirkwood Highway Superintendent
Candidate: John A. Finch (R)
Total votes: 1,816
% votes: 100.0%
Mr. Finch oversees an annual budget over a Million dollars with revenues of $1,258,000 and expenses of $1,325,000+ with Public Works records showing department payroll exceeding $186,000 per year, this all according to records reviewed by Newspaper Publishers.
Newspaper Publishers reached out to the Town of Kirkwood Board members Monday morning at their email addresses listed below for a response, with no response coming from the Board before publication.
Lew Grubham, lgrubham@townofkirkwood.org
Bob Weingartner, rweingartner@townofkirkwood.org
Katie Legg, katie@townofkirkwood.org
Sandy Wasson, swasson@townofkirkwood.org
No email was listed for Mr. Finch.
Next a tip regarding a Timber issue. As previously reported, Newspaper Publishers is shorter on reporting staff due to decreases but works to follow important public taxpayer interest stories. Public input is always helpful to focus attention on important events
