Corruption in Rockland's Block Grant program: Wolfe Asks DA To Investigate

Rockland County Legislature Chairman Alden H. Wolfe announced Thursday that he has asked the county’s Acting Human Rights Commissioner to provide the Legislature with information regarding “wrongdoing and possible corruption” in the Community Development Block Grant program.

The commissioner is Dr. Penny Jennings, who County Executive Ed Day named to the post this spring, but whom the Legislature has not confirmed.

Wolfe also wrote the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office requesting an investigation based on Day's remarks to The Journal News Nov. 5 about the block grant program.

“If this information is accurate, then we must fulfill our role as watchdogs and do everything to ensure that any ‘wrongdoing and possible corruption’ is thoroughly investigated,” Wolfe said. “The CDBG program annually provides funding needed by numerous municipalities and nonprofit organizations for affordable housing, social service programs, infrastructure updates and other important work. We must ensure that the integrity of the program and its funding is in place – for the programs and for the taxpayers who help fund them.”

The CDBG program is administered nationally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and locally by the Rockland County Office of Community Development.

The grants help fund public improvement projects ranging from the Bowline Point Park playground in Haverstraw town and a community park in Kaser, to sidewalk improvements on Midland Avenue in Nyack and Wayne Avenue in Suffern, Wolfe's office said.

Public service CDBG grants benefit services ranging from a children’s scholarship program in Sloatsburg and an aftercare program run by the Center for Safety and Change, to a nutrition program run by Together Our Unity Can Heal (TOUCH) and a small business training program run by the Women’s Enterprise Development Center.

In response to Wolfe, Day said that the investigation has already started.

“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," Day said. "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."

Wolfe said his Thursday memo to District Attorney Thomas Zugibe asked the DA to take appropriate action to protect county taxpayers.

Meanwhile, he said, no information about the possible corruption or the investigation has been provided to Legislators by the County Executive or Jennings. In a memo sent to her Thursday, he formally requested that she provide the Legislature with detailed information as to what has been uncovered.

The most recent CDBG awards were announced by the County Executive in July and totaled more than $2.38 million to more than 30 municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and community groups across Rockland. Wolfe also said that Jennings had never answered lawmakers' questions from July about how the 2016 block grant allocations were "more fair" than in previous years.

Responding to that allegation, Day made public a copy of her response to the Legislature dated and time stamped by the Legislative clerk Aug. 2, 2016.

Wolfe also informed Jennings that the issue of “wrongdoing and possible corruption” in the CDBG program will be placed on a committee agenda for discussion in the near future.

But that next regularly scheduled committee meeting will take place Nov. 29, and Jennings' provisional appointment ends before that, Day said. "Mr. Wolfe has essentially fired Dr. Jennings effective Nov. 19."

PHOTO: Dr. Penny Jennings appointed Rockland Commissioner of Human Rights in May 2016 by County Executive/ rocklandgov.com