The Nassau County Legislature on Monday unanimously mandated legislative approval for all personal service contracts worth $1,000 or more.
The vote officially lowered the threshold for approval by the Legislature’s Rules Committee from $25,000. Hundreds of Nassau contracts were found last year to have fallen just below that line, barely skirting legislative scrutiny.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves introduced the measure earlier this month, touting it as another step the county has taken toward greater transparency.
“These are all going to be coming to us,” Gonsalves said. “They’re coming to us, they did not come to us before.”
The Democratic minority and Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas said the lower threshold does not go far enough, calling again Monday for an independent inspector general to review all contracts.
Debate over the threshold turned into debate over the merits of the new office, with County Attorney Carnell Foskey again receiving questions from Democrats about his dual roles as county attorney and Commissioner of Investigations, an office Republicans say makes an inspector general moot.
The Democrats’ refusal to approve $275 million in borrowing for the county’s capital plan until an inspector general’s office is created and the GOP’s skepticism about whether one is necessary have created a political deadlock.
“You’re using your power over borrowing to stop us from paving roads, fixing bridges, from getting vests for police officers,” Deputy Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said. “So you’re cloaking it in something it’s not. … It’s purely political.”
Bonds for the capital plan, which includes sewer projects, police equipment purchases and road repairs in Roslyn and Great Neck, failed to get the required supermajority of 13 votes Monday with all seven Democrats voting against them. They were reconsidered and tabled in another party-line vote.
Democrats pledged two weeks ago to block the capital borrowing until the Legislature creates and funds an inspector general’s office, the leader of which would be nominated by an independent panel and appointed by a supermajority of the Legislature.
Qualifying her position as non-partisan, Singas said an independent inspector general is necessary to prevent corruption, fraud and waste.
In testimony before the Legislature on Monday, Singas called Foskey’s roles “fundamentally incompatible” because the attorney is tasked with defending the county and its officials, while the Commissioner of Investigations is supposed to address “malfeasance” in county government, she said.
An independent panel Mangano commissioned last year in the wake of former state Sen. Dean Skelos’ indictment also reported the county lacks an independent auditor with the two positions combined, Singas said.
Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said the county executive is in the process of separating the two offices’ duties, in addition to hiring a separate procurement compliance director.
One candidate for the job, Joseph LaRussa, backed out after questions about an inconsistency on his resume. Former Comptroller Alan Gurien holds the position as a search continues.
The two parties held dueling press conferences Monday, with Republicans charging Democrats that blocking the capital borrowing endangers public safety, and Democrats saying Republicans aren’t doing enough to protect taxpayer funds from misuse.
Gonsalves and other Republicans dismissed the move as a “political stunt,” saying Nassau’s contract process is already “the most transparent in the state” and noting every contract requires 10 separate approvals, including three passes through the county attorney’s office.
“This isn’t about the contracting process,” Gonsalves said at the Republican press conference Monday afternoon, flanked by labor union leaders and members. “It’s about the Democrats trying to bring the county to a grinding halt.”
Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead) disputed that, saying the fact that 90 percent of the county’s contracts are for capital projects inextricably ties the two together.
The Democratic caucus won’t abandon its position, he said.
“We have history on our side that has proven time and time again that the Republicans in this Legislature and the Republican county executive cannot police themselves,” Abrahams said. “So we need an independent inspector general.”
In recent months the county has created a lobbying registry and required vendors to disclose political contributions.
With the separation of the commissioner of investigations’ and county attorney’s duties, Nevin said, the county will have implemented all the reforms the independent panel recommended.
Singas said she commended such “progress” toward contract reform, but maintained her calls for an inspector general, which she has made since Skelos and his son, Adam, were indicted last year on federal corruption charges involving a $12 million Nassau contract for Arizona-based AbTech Industries.
“If such a case were insufficient to commit this body to reform, then it is clear to me that this is a problem that indeed will never be solved only with arrests and prosecutions and we need comprehensive, best-practice solutions,” Singas said.
Both Skeloses were convicted in November and are appealing.
