The Town of North Hempstead will implement a package of reforms to prevent nepotism and increase accountability following the arrests of a town contractor and employee in the past two months, Supervisor Judi Bosworth said Thursday.
The changes Town Attorney Elizabeth Botwin proposed in a Wednesday memorandum to Bosworth include the establishment of a working group to update the town’s ethics code, the hiring of a senior procurement advisor to oversee contracts and a prohibition on family members supervising each other.
They represent additional steps to protect the town from corruption and conflicts of interest after former town Democratic party Chairman Gerard Terry was found to have $1.4 million in tax debts and ex-employee Helen McCann was arrested for allegedly stealing $98,000 from the Solid Waste Management Authority.
“It’s not business as usual here in the town,” Bosworth said. “We are tightening procurement procedures and shining a light on anyone who does business with the town. In addition, we will be engaging an advisor to oversee procurement and open the town to new vendors, thereby making bidding more competitive. This is all good news for our taxpayers.”
Botwin issued her memorandum about two months after Bosworth instructed her to conduct a comprehensive review of town policies and procedures after a Newsday report revealed Terry, once special counsel to the town and attorney for its Board of Zoning Appeals under a $74,000 contract, had the massive tax debt. He was arrested April 10 on a felony tax fraud charge.
In addition to now requiring contractors and political party leaders to file disclosure financial disclosure forms, Botwin said, the town needs to address questions about the content of its ethics code and procedures for ethics violations.
For example, while financial disclosures are public records available through a Freedom of Information Law request, confidentiality is required for all town Ethics Board reviews of filings — such as the current review of Gerard Terry’s wife Concetta Terry, a deputy town clerk who did not list her husband’s tax debts on disclosure forms dating back to 2006.
Upon Botwin’s recommendation, an “ethics reform working group” will examine the town’s ethics code, adopted in 1990 pursuant to state law, and propose changes to the Town Board for discussion at a public hearing, Bosworth said in a statement.
The committee will include Democratic Councilman Peter Zuckerman, Republican Councilwoman Dina De Georgio and former state Commission on Public Integrity member John Brickman, as well as current town Ethics Board members Richard Kestenbaum and Charles Vogeley.
The group will weigh changes to rules regarding gifts to town employees and political contributions from contractors, the town said in a statement, and the town will require contractors to disclose “substantial tax debt.”
The Town Board approved a package of revisions to its ethics code in March, requiring contractors and more officials to file financial disclosures and adding family members who work for the town to the list of information that must be disclosed.
Town officials said in February they would start enforcing a 25-year-old requirement in the ethics code that town political committee leaders make the filings.
Terry never made any disclosure filings as a contractor of as chairman of the North Hempstead Democratic Committee.
Botwin’s office will work with the town’s human resources department to develop an “anti-nepotism” policy prohibiting town employees from hiring, promoting, disciplining or supervising family members, the statement said.
McCann’s brothers, Thomas and John Tiernan, work for the town highway department and her son works for the parks department. Her husband, county Corrections Sergeant James McCann, is one of several county sheriff’s department officers reportedly under investigation for allegedly not escorting Terry out the front of the courtroom where he was arraigned.
Botwin’s review did not recommend changes to the town’s contract procurement policy, but the town plans to adopt her recommendations that it centralize procurement and hire a procurement adviser to make the town’s approach to bids and requests for proposals more competitive, according to a town statement.
“The town’s current vendors provide great services and do fine work,” Bosworth said in the statement. “However, we believe that by centralizing the procurement procedures and preparing bids in a way that attract a wider pool of possible respondents, we will be able to open the town to new vendors and increase competition.”
The town changed its procurement policy in August 2015 from “strongly recommend(ing)” to requiring requests for proposals for any contracts worth more than $20,000, but they were not legally required for Terry’s 2014 and 2015 contracts, Botwin’s memorandum says.
Despite the $20,000 threshold for competitive bids, longstanding relationships with contractors make town departments hesitant to work with others who could provide better services for less money, Botwin said in the memo.
“It takes an institutional commitment to good procurement practices to continually open the door to new vendors,” she wrote. “This is a broader problem than just the example of Mr. Terry’s contract.”
Terry had a total of six government jobs that earned him more than $200,000 in 2015.
He has lost contracts with North Hempstead and four other agencies; his contract with the Freeport Community Development Agency is still active.
