Greenport Councilman Jim Dolan, 72, was in critical condition at Albany Medical Center after a medical emergency interrupted the town board’s special meeting Monday night, his sister, Lynn Pawluk, said. Before collapsing, Dolan had argued for extending review of the town’s 2027 budget, according to Michael Grisham, a Greenport planning board member and Democratic committee chair who was at the meeting.
The collapse happened in the middle of a contentious session, and Pawluk told The Daily Gazette that Dolan appears to be suffering the aftereffects of a heart attack. Those present helped lay him down, per Grisham's account, and emergency services were called immediately. The Greenport Rescue Squad sent a couple of ambulances, and the sheriff's office arrived within minutes, Grisham said.
Supervisor Kathy Eldridge, a former nurse, performed CPR while waiting for the ambulance, according to Grisham. He said Dolan had a heartbeat and was breathing when responders attended to him. Emergency crews planned to transport Dolan by helicopter to Albany Medical Center if they could stabilize him at the scene, Grisham said. Dolan is now receiving treatment at the hospital.
A Sister's Plea Amid Heartbreak
Pawluk described the family as heartbroken and characterized her brother’s situation as an example of dirty politics. She said Dolan had faced harassment and that she believed ten months of political sparring had taken a toll on him. Pawluk said he had fought for transparency and honest government and was now fighting for his life.
Grisham praised Dolan as brave and unusual and said he hoped Dolan would recover. A former Hudson police chief, Dolan joined the Greenport town board in January and became an advocate for more open and transparent town government, often clashing with fellow board members over how to achieve it.
Tensions Over Budget Notice and the Flock Contract
Monday's meeting itself was already shadowed by disputes over process. Grisham's account indicates Dolan had criticized Supervisor Eldridge over what he viewed as a rushed budget timeline and inadequate public notice for the special session. Those concerns echoed earlier reporting from greenportperimeter.com, which noted the meeting was unlikely to even feature the tentative budget on its agenda, since Eldridge had told officials that Town Accountant Mike Torchia might not be able to access and distribute the current version beforehand. If the budget wasn't taken up Monday, the outlet reported, the town would need yet another special meeting to accept it and file it as the preliminary budget before Nov. 5.
Dolan's push for openness extended beyond the budget fight. He had also pressed Eldridge over the town's Flock camera contract, telling NEWS10 that “if it was all legit, she'd be answering the questions in an open and honest way and a transparent way.” NEWS10's review of Greenport's meeting minutes did not find any approval of the Flock contract, though Deputy Supervisor Clayton Clark told the station the cameras were paid for through a technology grant for the police department.
What New York Law Requires for Special Meetings
State law lays out specific procedures for calling and publicizing sessions like Monday's. Under New York Town Law Section 62, a supervisor may call a special meeting and must do so within 10 days of a written request from two board members, giving at least two days' written notice of the time and place. Separately, the state's Open Meetings Law Section 104 requires that public notice of a meeting scheduled at least a week out be given to news media and posted conspicuously at least 72 hours beforehand.
How Notice Rules Apply—and Another Council Medical Emergency
The New York State Committee on Open Government says the cited notice statutes require the meeting’s time and place to be announced, but do not require an agenda or a description of the meeting’s subject matter. The rules therefore do not make the absence of an agenda, by itself, proof of a notice violation; whether Greenport met the requirements depends on the notice given.
A separate example of a medical emergency during a public meeting was reported by Boston.com: Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia suffered a medical emergency during a City Hall council meeting on July 8, 2026. The report said Mejia appeared conscious as EMTs took her out and that a city spokesperson said she was doing well.
Dolan's condition remains critical as of the Daily Gazette's Monday night report, and no further updates on his treatment or prognosis have been independently confirmed. For now, the town he pushed to make more transparent is left to process the collapse of one of its most vocal advocates for openness, as his family waits for news from Albany Medical Center.
