Rockland County Exec Ed Day responds to Legislative Chairman's demand on Community Development Office

Rockland County Executive Ed Day responds to Legislative Chairman Alden H. Wolfe:

“My administration has long had concerns about how the Community Development Office is run.

We instructed the former director to report back to us about the agency’s financials. We were not satisfied with the response.

In June of this year, very soon after Dr. Penny Jennings was appointed, I directed Rockland County Auditor Robert Bergman to review the financial operations.

He reported back that he found numerous areas of concern, including issues that were possibly criminal.

In early October, he informed the office of the District Attorney of his preliminary findings.

The federal Housing and Urban Development has also been reviewing the Community Development Office.

They have recently added a special investigator to the review.

Any allegations of wrongdoing involving federal funds is handled by federal agencies.

Perhaps if Chairman Wolfe and other members of the legislative majority had asked Dr. Jennings about the work she had done during her months at the agency instead of insulting her, they too would have heard about her concerns regarding use of federal funds.

But instead of asking her about the work she was doing in both the departments of Community Development and Human Rights, Wolfe and some members of the legislative majority took the nearly unprecedented step of failing to confirm a sitting Commissioner.

To show the extent of the Legislative majority’s disorganization, Mr. Wolfe is now informing Dr. Jennings that issues related to the CDBG program “will be placed on a committee agenda for discussion in the near future.”

That next regularly scheduled committee meetings will take place Nov. 29. Mr. Wolfe has essentially fired Dr. Jennings effective Nov. 19.

Perhaps Legislator Wolfe might want to rethink that request.

In addition, in his memo of Nov. 10, 2016 to Dr. Jennings, Mr. Wolfe complains that Dr. Jennings never responded to his questions about CDBG funding.

Attached please find a copy of her response to the Legislature dated and time stamped by the Legislative clerk on August 2, 2016.

Finally, I think it’s interesting that Legislator Wolfe suddenly sees the Legislature’s function as a “watchdog.”

Where were these fiscal watchdogs when the county was spending itself into a $138 million deficit?

In short, we have been working diligently with HUD investigators to look at issues in the Community Development office. We will continue to work with them.

The investigation is ongoing and that is all we will say.”