VESTAL, NY (WSKG) - Binghamton Mayor Rich David is reporting City Councilman Dan Livingston to the New York Comptroller for a video he posted to Facebook of construction work on the Binghamton-Johnson City Sewer Plant.
Livingston and fellow Councilman Conrad Taylor took a tour of the plant on May 24. Livingston streamed the video on Facebook. A release from David's office said it was a potential security threat because it showed areas not open to the public.
“It is not uncommon for the media or public to view areas of government facilities that are normally off-limits,” said David. "Disregard for safety and security puts the employees and public at large at risk."
Livingston said he took it down a few hours later, once he found out it was a problem.
David reported the video to the state Comptroller’s office. In the past, the office criticized Binghamton for other troublesome infrastructure videos. Just last year, it directed the city to remove one of the water treatment plant.
Livingston doesn’t think that video was meant to defy any security protocol and said his wasn’t either. “I shot that video in the same spirit that I imagine that the City shot their video of the water treatment facility," Livingston said. "You know, to give the public an inside view of what’s going on inside a public facility so they can understand it a little bit better.”
Livingston has questioned plans to privatize the management of the plant and the pace at which work is being done.
The Binghamton-Johnson City Sewer Plant has been a headache for years due to system failures, flood damage and what the David administration calls poor management.