Editing Mount Vernon, New York (section)

=== 2019 mayoral dispute ===
On July 9, 2019, mayor Richard Thomas pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds and lying to the [[New York State Board of Elections|State Board of Elections]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-and-comptroller-dinapoli-announce-guilty-plea-mount-vernon|title=Attorney General James And Comptroller DiNapoli Announce Guilty Plea Of Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas &#124; New York State Attorney General|website=ag.ny.gov|date=July 8, 2019 |access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-date=September 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924230741/https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/attorney-general-james-and-comptroller-dinapoli-announce-guilty-plea-mount-vernon|url-status=live}}</ref> Thomas was ordered to resign from office by September 30, 2019. The city council then appointed council president Andre Wallace as acting mayor.<ref name="Nir 2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/nyregion/mount-vernon-mayor.html|title=Mt. Vernon Has 2 Mayors, and Its Police Commissioner Was Just Arrested|first=Sarah Maslin|last=Nir|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 18, 2019|access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-date=September 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915100442/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/nyregion/mount-vernon-mayor.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Thomas refused to resign from his post. Wallace then appointed Shawn Harris as new police commissioner. After arriving for work, Thomas ordered the Mount Vernon Police to arrest Harris for trespassing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/mountvernon/news/da-orders-release-after-police-commissioner-named-by-mount-vernon-city-council-charged/772174/|title=DA Orders Release After Police Commissioner Named By Mount Vernon City Council Charged|last=Failla|first=Zak|date=July 17, 2019|website=Mount Vernon Daily Voice|access-date=September 24, 2019|archive-date=July 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718195115/https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/mountvernon/news/da-orders-release-after-police-commissioner-named-by-mount-vernon-city-council-charged/772174/|url-status=live}}</ref> Harris was released after an order from the Westchester County District Attorney. Both Thomas and Wallace occupied offices in the city hall, with Thomas in the mayor's office, under the guard of the Mount Vernon Police.<ref name="Nir 2019"/> Finally, before a packed courtroom in White Plains, Judge Ecker made a decisive ruling that Thomas had actually vacated the office of mayor on July 8, that Wallace had automatically assumed the office at that time, and that Wallace would be the acting mayor of Mount Vernon until January 1, 2020.