In the wake of the uproar over Kevin Cottrell’s violation of his agreement not to engage in outside work while promoting the Underground Railroad on the public dime, Mayor Paul Dyster has cut Cottrell from the city payroll which in effect reduces his salary from $74,800 to $52,500 with the state picking up the entire cost.

Cottrell was undone when an investigation by the Niagara Reporter found that he was selling tours from his private company, Motherland Connextions, to Underground Railroad sites in clear violation of his public contract.

Councilman Glenn Choolokian credited the Niagara Reporter for exposing the conflict, saying “it put the Dyster Administration and Kevin Cottrell into a position where there was no way of getting out of it,” and they had to come up with something like this arrangement to keep him.

Councilman Bob Anderson said, “I think perhaps he [Cottrell] should get on his pony and ride.”

Cottrell says he’s willing to continue his public work “with what I was making at the state,” saying he supports being cut from the city books because “you can’t really justify paying me that money when you have to lay people off.”

Cottrell insisted that the issue is not about money but about moving forward and completing the work on the heritage tourism project.