Of?ce of the County Clerk

 

Monroe County, New York
Adam J. Bello Jeffery IL. McCann
County Clerk Deputy Cbunty Clerk
May 30, 2018 i

Dear Monroe County Taxpayers:

Last week, a local television reporter found discarded DMV forms, containing perso: al and
con?dential customer information, located 1n dumpsters used by the Henrietta and rondequoit
Department of Motor Vehicles branches. i

Upon learning of this problem, I pledged to conduct a full and transparent investigaiion in
cooperation with the Monroe County Of?ce of Public Integrity and the New York St ?te
Department of Motor Vehicles. Today, I?m providing an update on that investigation.

The Monroe County Clerk?s Of?ce and New York State Department of Motor Vehicl is have clear
policies 1n place to require the shredding of any document not retained by the Clerk? Of?ce or
NYS DMV.

All Motor Vehicle Representatives (MVRs) employed by Monroe County are trained on, and
required to be familiar with, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles policies 11d
procedures. Those policies and procedures include adherence to the Driver?s Privac Protection
Act (DPPA), the Cashier Accountability Policy, and theUD' ?11 of Personal, {rivate

and/ or Sensitive Information policy. 

  
   
 
 
  
  
   
 

Upon viewing documents from the news reporte

indicating he felt more comfortable shre
images of the customer documents fr 5

On the afternoon of Thursday, May 24, 
additional forms with personal and
whether intentionally or not. Those

Provided locked bins for secure 3
at each 

 
 
  

In addition, I immediately called Monroe County Shem axte' egarding the ?Request for
exemption form use of political subdivision license plate? applications, and he con? med those
particular vehicles were not used in undercover investigations, and that their disclo ure does not
constitute a threat to of?cer or public safety. i

101 County Office Building - 39 West Main Street 0 Rochester, New York 146$
(585) 753?1645 0fax: (585) 753?1650 - - email: mcclerk@monrdecounty.gov

On the morning of Friday, May 25th, I spoke to David Moore, Monroe County Direct

Of?ce of Public Integrity. I indicated that I would contact the NYS DMV and ask for
assistance as well. Director Moore suggested that NYS DMV should take the lead in

our efforts due to their expertise in DMV matters. Director Moore also indicated the

yet been contacted by anyone requesting an investigation into the matter and would
any statements to the media until the investigation was complete. He also stated tha

to inform the public of our conversation and I could describe Director Moore?s willin.

help.

I next contacted Deputy Commissioner Heriberto Barbot from Albany to request ass

NYS DMV. Commissioner Barbot agreed to speak with state audit personnel and ass
Monroe County Clerk?s Of?ce in auditing records that may have been handled imprc
accepted his offer to provide a risk assessment evaluation at all of the DMV branches

strengthen internal procedures.

On Friday afternoon, we determined the documents could be traced back to individu
At that point, Deputy Clerk Jeffery McCann and I consulted the Monroe County Dire
Human Resources, Brayton Connard. Deputy Clerk McCann and I met with Mr. Cor
discuss disciplinary options and obligations related to the collective bargaining agree
Deputy Clerk McCann also met with Emily Walsh, Monroe County Labor Relations 5

late Friday afternoon.

On the morning of Tuesday, May 29th, Deputy Clerk McCann and Assistant Deputy
Morrisey traced the documents back to transactions performed by three MVRs, two
in Irondequoit and one in Henrietta.

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In Irondequoit, one of the forms was ?lled out to request a replacement license, an the other

form was related to a trailer registration. Both of these transactions are performed
electronically at MVR stations, which means no physical forms were needed. Both
performed those transactions have been interviewed, and acknowledged that custo

VRs who

present unneeded forms are given the forms back for the customer to dispose. Ther fore, It IS
reasonable to conclude that the customer then disposed of those forms 1n a public ceptacle

which was later emptied into the dumpster.

In Henrietta, the forms found outside of the Henrietta DMV were traced back to a s1

Eers who

'ingle cashier

working at that location. The forms included applications for driver?s license or permits, copies

of supporting documentation to prove legal immigration status and a form that allo
government vehicles to have nongovernment license plates. It was quickly establish
documents found in Henrietta represented a more serious issue and threat to con?d
information than those found in Irondequoit. Following investigatory interviews on
of the employee and her manager, conducted in conjunction with Monroe County 
Resources staff, it has been determined that this staff member erroneously believed
recycling documents was an acceptable practice for the handling of con?dential info
that a substitute custodian had been accidentally bringing her bagged recyclables 0
outdoor dumpster instead of the recycling totes located in a locked area of our bran
approximately 3-4 weeks. We believe a serious lapse was made in the training of thi
by a manager who is no longer employed at our DMV.

To address what happened in Irondequoit, the Clerk?s Of?ce has contracted with Cl
Scanning and Shredding for three locked shredding bins to be located at each DMV 

one bin for the public and two for the employees to use. 1
. 

 



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Late Tuesday morning, I was made aware that the Director of the Of?ce of Public In egrity,
David Moore, made a statement to the news media suggesting residents should chec their bank
statements and that the Monroe County Clerk?s Of?ce offer credit monitoring servic to anyone
who had a transaction at any Monroe County DMV in the last 90 days.

At the time of this statement, and despite indicating his policy to not issue stateme ts prior to
the conclusion of an investigation, Director Moore failed to communicate with anyo in the
Clerk?s Of?ce and therefore Director Moore was unaware that the scope of inquiry narrowed
to a single cashier at one branch for a limited period of time. Mr. Moore?s statement misled the
public into thinking tens of thousands of documents may have been exposed, over a 90 day
period, from multiple locations, when there is no evidence to that effect.

On Tuesday, Deputy Clerk McCann called Director Moore to update him on the investigation,
and to express disappointment that the Director would issue statements based on incomplete
and inaccurate information before he followed?up with the Clerk?s of?ce or NYS DMV to

understand the scope of impacted documents.

 

determined responsibility. By and large, the investigation revealed that the vast majority of all
documents taken from customers at a DMV of?ce are sent to Albany along with all 0 her
transaction paperwork. Forms discarded at the branch are a very limited subset of that
were either unneeded for the transaction to be processed, or photocopies of informa ion that
does not need to be retained. I also informed Commissioner Barbot that Director oore
released a statement and Commissioner Barbot indicated he had not spoken to Direitor Moore

I contacted Commissioner Barbot to inform him what we have discoveredknow the basis for Director Moore to determine that a 90?day window necessary
for transactions completed at all branches. Commissioner Barbot indicated his tea would add
to their inquiry an audit of the speci?c clerk?s transaction history to identify which customer
forms may have been mishandled. Once those customers are identi?ed, they will be?individually
contacted to offer free credit monitoring and answer any questions they may have. 
Commissioner Barbot and I agreed that this approach is a valuable, targeted and prudent
avenue of investigation.

I?m proud of our efforts over the past two years to root out instances of waste, fraud and abuse.
We?ve instituted a number of new policies to protect taxpayers and ensure that event?resident is
treated equally and fairly, regardless of who you are or who you know. This issue is 0 different.
When visiting a DMV branch, Monroe County residents deserve to be con?dent thati their
personal information is handled appropriately. When ?rst alerted to this issue, we tbok
immediate steps to investigate what happened, and took a number of steps to prevent it from
happening again in the future. 



1
This is a preliminary report and I will share more information as it becomes available.

1

Si cere

Ada . 0
Monroe County Clerk