Millions of dollars in repairs in Nassau under emergency declarations

                                                                            

From News12 Long Island

Nassau is proceeding with nearly $52 million in repairs to the burned out 2nd police precinct and the East Meadow jail roof under emergency declarations by County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican.

Unlike most county contracts, emergency repairs do not need approval by the county legislature before work begins. To expedite the work, the county executive can simply issue a notice to proceed, usually after selecting contractors through a normal bidding process.

In the past ten days, Public Works Commissioner Ken Arnold,  in memos to legislative leaders and other high-ranking county officials, outlined plans to rebuild the Woodbury precinct for a total project cost of $30,400,000 and to repair the roof and mechanical systems in Building 832 at the Corrections Center for a total cost of $21,825,000.

The memos, he said, were the required notice to the legislature, the county comptroller and the county's financial control board about the emergency procurement procedures.

He also included copies of Blakeman's emergency orders: Blakeman declared an emergency on Nov. 30, 2022 for the 2nd precinct, which was destroyed by fire that month.

Blakeman declared an emergency on March 6 for the jail repairs in an order  signed by Chief Deputy Arthur Walsh.

                                                                              

There is some disagreement about the steps required after an emergency is declared.

One section of the charter says the legislature's Rules Committee shall be convened within 24 to 72 hours to approve emergency repairs. If the committee does not meet, it shall be assumed the repairs are automatically approved.

There were no emergency meetings of the Rules Committee to approve the precinct and jail repairs.

Another section of the charter says the county executive can proceed with emergency work, but must receive ratification by the legislature for contracts over $100,000. It also says the work cannot exceed $100,000 without ratification, but that section makes reference to "open service contracts" which are different than project-specific construction contracts.

So interpretations differ depending on who is doing the interpreting: the county executive, the legislative majority or the legislative minority.

So it went with nearly $240,000 in emergency purchase orders by former Republican County Executive Ed Mangano for hot meals  provided by restaurateur Harendra Singh to top county officials during the clean-up after Hurricane Sandy.

The legislature never ratified the emergency purchases above $100,000 as required by charter, but county officials said then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's declaration of a state emergency after Sandy overrode those requirements. 

Mangano is now serving a 12-year prison sentence in federal prison for pressuring Oyster Bay town officials to guarantee $20 million in private loans for Singh, a town concessionaire and a Mangano family friend.

Mangano maintains he is innocent and has appealed his conviction. His conviction on the loan guarantees was not connected to the hot meal purchases.

The only legislator at the time who questioned the emergency purchases from Singh without legislative authorization was Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, a Glen Cove Democrat. She said she worried that the term "emergency"  is a "very good opportunity for something going through without being scrutinized." 

Arnold said in his memos that the precinct and jail emergency contracts will be filed with the legislature's Rules committee after normal bidding processes and after the administration and inspector general vet the deals.

After the fire, legislators said they supported rebuilding the 2nd precinct as soon as possible.