Town of North Hempstead Deputy Clerk Concetta Terry violated the town’s ethics code by omitting debts from four financial disclosure filings, the town’s Board of Ethics ruled earlier this month.
The ethics board found “reasonable cause to believe” Terry, the wife of embattled former North Hempstead Democratic Committee Chairman Gerard Terry, did not list debts on financial disclosure forms in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013, according to a memo Town Attorney Elizabeth Botwin sent to the Town Council on May 12.
Terry specifically failed to disclose debts over the $5,000 disclosure threshold on her original and amended town financial disclosure forms in those four years, and “understated the category of a debt” on her second amended forms in 2012 and 2013, the memo says.
Town spokeswoman Carole Trottere said the ethics board will decide Terry’s punishment at a public hearing, but a date for one has not been set. Ethics code violations are punishable by a fine of up to $10,000.
The ethics board made the ruling at its May 9 meeting, the memo says, two months after it started investigating her for an “alleged omission” on her filings.
The ethics board’s investigation started after a Newsday report revealed in late January that Gerard Terry carried a $1.4 million state and federal tax debt while earning more than $200,000 a year in six government jobs. He and Concetta Terry live in Roslyn Heights.
The memo indicates Concetta Terry failed to disclose her own debts and does not address her husband’s, which do not appear on her financial disclosure forms dating back to 2006, town records show.
Gerard Terry was arrested April 11 and charged with one felony count of state tax fraud. Prosecutors have said more charges could be coming.
Terry was special counsel to the town and the attorney for its Board of Zoning Appeals under a legal services contract that was not renewed at the end of 2015. He resigned as chair of the North Hempstead Democratic Committee in February.
In March, the town widened the pool of officials required to file financial disclosure forms and this year will enforce the 25-year-old requirement that leaders of town political committees file them. Terry never made a filing as a town contractor or party leader.
Relatives of town employees who also hold town jobs, as well as outside contractors who “directly advise boards” must now file disclosure reports.
The Town Board last week voted to extend the filing deadline from May 15 to June 1 to give employees more time to comply with the reforms.
Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth also recently commissioned a working group to update the ethics code upon Botwin’s recommendation last month. The town is also looking to hire a central procurement adviser and to prohibit family members from supervising each other.
