New Windsor puts IT official on leave amid bid-rigging probe

New Windsor has placed Patrick Mangan, its deputy chief information technology officer, on administrative leave as the town’s bid-rigging probe widened. Residents now have to ask who had authority over town purchasing, which contracts are under scrutiny and whether other systems at Town Hall could be affected.

The move comes after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Comptroller’s Office executed search warrants at several offices in Town of New Windsor Town Hall on July 22. The investigation has centered on the town IT department and government contracts, putting a normally back-office function at the center of one of Orange County’s most closely watched municipal corruption cases.

Mangan is not a peripheral employee. The Town of New Windsor’s Information Technology Department lists him as deputy chief information technology officer under Chief Information Technology Officer John McDonald, alongside Information Technology Officers Danyelle Barrett and Justin Puglia. The department says it is responsible for the design, implementation and maintenance of all technology infrastructure, which makes any disruption there more than a personnel matter.

That is why the leave carries practical consequences beyond Town Hall politics. The IT office sits behind the systems that keep municipal work moving, from technology maintenance to the records and internal communications that support day-to-day operations. When a key member of that team is taken off active duty during a corruption probe, the immediate questions are about continuity, oversight and whether taxpayer-funded work was managed with enough controls.

The investigation also lands in a county with a history of procurement scrutiny. In September 2021, State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced that corrupt Orange County IDA officials were ordered to repay more than $1 million. Orange County has also faced scrutiny over a separate no-bid tech contract, adding to the pressure on local governments to show that vendors, bids and awards are being handled transparently.

For New Windsor, the issue now is bigger than one official’s leave. The town’s handling of its IT department and contracting process will shape whether residents trust the safeguards inside Town Hall while outside investigators continue to examine how public work was awarded.