BEFORE THE HONORABLE ANDREW M. CUOMO GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK IN THE MATTER OF CHARGES AGAINST ANSWER AND RESPONSE OF DEBORAH REYNOLDS, COMPTROLLER HON. DEBORAH REYNOLDS OF THE CITY OF MOUNT VERNON DEBORAH REYNOLDS, as the Comptroller of the City of Mount Vernon, by her attorneys, Bank, Sheer, Seymour Hashmall, as and for her answer and response to the purported charges against her, dated October 22, 2018, purporting to be ?led by ?The City of Mount Vernon?, alleges as follows: JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURAL DEFECTS l. The charges asserted against DEBORAH REYNOLDS, as the duly elected Comptroller for the City of Mount Vernon, have been brought purportedly in the name of ?The City of Mount Vernon,? and not by an individual. The charges are executed by Hanan B. Kolko, Esq., a member of a Long Island law ?rm, Meyer Suozzi English Klein PC and by Lawrence A. Porcari, Esq., the Corporation Counsel of the City of Mount Vernon. These two attorneys do not have standing to commence a proceeding in the name of the City of Mount Vernon, to remove the duly elected Comptroller of the City of Mount Vernon under the statutes relied upon: ?26 of the Mount Vernon City Charter and ?33 of the Pubic Of?cers Law. Neither attorney has the authority to bring such a proceeding against a duly elected of?cial in the name of the City. 2. These charges are purportedly authorized by ?26 of the City Charter of Mount Vernon and ?33 of the Public Of?cers Law of the State of New York. The City Charter provision relied upon states that the Comptroller ?may be removed by the Governor in the same manner as a ?Sheriff A ?Sheriff is a public of?cial employed by a County, usually an elected of?cial. Section 33 of the Public Of?cers Law of the State of New York only authorizes the removals of Chief Executive Of?cers of Police Departments in a City. By reason of these facts, there is no authority or ?subject matter jurisdiction? in either the Mount Vernon City Charter or the Public Of?cers Law for these charges to be brought seeking the removal of Comptroller Reynolds by the Governor. INTRODUCTION 3. The City of Mount Vernon unfortunately is in a state of political paralysis. The Mayor, Richard Thomas, is under criminal indictment for mishandling his campaign funds for personal reasons and is ?ghting with every elected of?cial in addition to the Comptroller, members of the City Council, and the County Executive. A. LITIGATION 4. The Mayor has commenced numerous lawsuits against the Comptroller and has caused several other lawsuits to be ?led against the City of Mount Vernon because of his actions and inactions. 5. There is currently pending the following actions in Supreme Court Westchester County: Matter of Thomas v. Maureen Walker, Comptroller Index Number 67119/2017 (over failure to allegedly pay an invoice for a police vehicle and seeking additional access to the Comptroller?s ?nancial records.) Matter of Thomas v. Reynolds, Index Number 64764/2018 (raising many of the issues alleged in these charges for removal involving purportedly unpaid vouchers.) Civil Service Employees Association and Jillian Rizo?Brewington v. City of Mount Vernon, Index Number 63787/2018 (a terminated employee suing for her job back in which the Mayor has cross?claimed against the Comptroller for acting ultra vires.) The City Council Ofthe City ofMount Vernon v. The City ofMount Vernon, Index Number 59081/2018 (involving the Mayor?s wrongful actions at Memorial Field in which an injunction was issued.) KELA Tennis Inc. v. City ofMount Vernon, Index Number 59091/2018 (damage done to the Plaintiff?s Tennis Center at Memorial Field by a contractor in the middle of the night at the unilateral request of the Mayor in violation of City law.) B. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION 6. Upon information and belief, there are numerous criminal investigations currently ongoing by law enforcement agencies and grand juries investigating Mayor Thomas? administration. C. DUTIES REGARDING PAYMENTS 7. Deborah Reynolds is the duly elected City Comptroller having taken of?ce on January 1, 2018. 8. When Ms. Reynolds took over the operations of the Comptroller?s of?ce, she began to institute systems to make certain that the of?ce acted as a check and balance on all monies being spent by the City Administration. In accordance with City Charter provisions, she has the authority and right to issue directives to each department as to the ?nancial operations and procedures of the Mount Vernon City Government. (Exhibit B) 9. In accordance with ?91?a of the Mount Vernon City Charter: ?The Comptroller shall formulate and prescribe a system of keeping accounts in the several City departments, and changes therein, and from time to time, whenever he shall deem it necessary, direct in writing the installing of such system, or change therein, by any one or more of the City departments. Any department head or subordinate who shall refuse or willfully neglect to comply with such written direction of the Comptroller within such reasonable time as the Comptroller may prescribe shall be guilty of an offense.? 10. Most of the charges set forth in the Petition involve payments of vouchers, also known as ?requests for payment?. Under the City Charter ?92, each voucher must have the following: Signature of the vendor; and Signature of the department head approving same; and Have attached either an invoice or back?up material corroborating the goods or services purchased; and An appropriate budget account code corresponding to the payment. 1 1. The Comptroller?s of?ce then veri?es that those requirements are met and further veri?es that the budget account code provided on the voucher has adequate funds to make payment. Once that is done, a check is issued, signed by the Comptroller and goes up to the Mayor?s of?ce for a countersignature. This allows the Mayor to track all expenditures. 12. The Mayor and his department heads refuse to follow the City Charter procedure and on numerous occasions refuse to either provide an invoice or back?up, or a proper account code or the account code is inadequate for the proposed expenditure. These are the very same issues that are currently pending in Supreme Court, Westchester County in the matter previously cited; Matter of Thomas v. Reynolds, Index Number 64764/2018. In that Article 78 proceeding, the Mayor claims that $1 million dollars of vouchers remain unpaid in the Comptroller?s of?ce and which vouchers, the Mayor claims are from small business in the City of Mount Vernon. The truth is that $900,000 of that $1 million dollars relates not to small Mount Vernon businesses, but to attorneys and legal expenses for the numerous lawyers that the Mayor has engaged with his Corporation Counsel, Lawrence Pocari, Esq. Prior to the Article 78 proceeding being ?led, $300,000 of those vouchers had previously been paid over $100,000 of the alleged vouchers were not City expenses but expenses of other agencies such as the Urban Renewal Agency. The remaining were vouchers that were defective in failing to provide invoices, back-up material or were proposed to be paid from budget account codes which had insuf?cient ?mding. 13. In accordance with ?91 of the Mount Vernon City Charter: ?No warrant shall be drawn by him for the payment of any claim against or obligation of the City unless it states particularly against which of such {?nds it was drawn. No fund shall be overdrawn nor shall any warrant be drawn against one fund or appropriation to pay a claim chargeable to another.? 14. The Comptroller, Deborah Reynolds, is diligently performing her duties and responsibilities by verifying every expenditure submitted in order to protect the taxpayers of the City of Mount Vernon notwithstanding the Mayor?s ways, in particular with regard to hiring attorneys and commencing lawsuits. D. POLITICAL AND SEXIST CONDUCT 15. The Comptroller, DEBORAH REYNOLDS, previously ran against Mayor Thomas and, upon information and belief, he fears she will run against him in the future. Consequently, he has commenced all types of actions and activities to attempt to damage her reputation. During the week of October 15, 2018, he led two demonstrations of senior citizens that he bused to City Hall to disrupt the Comptroller?s of?ce in which the participants blocked taxpayers from paying their taxes. The police had to be called. 16. Mayor Thomas has ridiculed Comptroller Reynolds at every opportunity. After she took of?ce in January of 2018, he treated her as if she was one of his secretaries or interns and told her that he was glad to have her working for him. He began to tell her what to do, including who to terminate in her of?ce and other matters. Upon information and belief, if the Comptroller was a man, Mayor Thomas would not be treating her in that manner. Mayor Thomas has not learned any lessons from the #MeToo movement. 17. The Comptroller will now respond to each of the charges ad seriatz'm. 1. Failure to appoint a First Deputy Comptroller and not having an employee with an accounting degree. 18. When Deborah Reynolds took of?ce as Comptroller of the City of Mount Vernon, there was employed a First Deputy Comptroller. That person was terminated approximately two months later and the Comptroller has decided to evaluate the needs of the of?ce and the quali?cations necessary in a First Deputy before hiring a replacement. 19. The Comptroller Deborah Reynolds has an accounting degree and more than three years? experience in accounting and bookkeeping. There are also other persons with accounting degrees in her of?ce, including Susie Valentin, who has served as Second Deputy Comptroller, Senior Account Clerk and now Chief Accountant. There is nothing in the City Charter which requires any person in the of?ce to be a CPA but only to have accounting degrees and three years? experience. 2. Failure to pay GLOBAL MONTELLO (fuel bill) 20. The voucher and invoices relating to monies owed to Global Montello for numerous invoices dating from August through October were submitted bunched in several vouchers to the Comptroller?s of?ce. Two checks were issued, one on 10/3/ 18 for $26,960.22 and a second on 10/5/18 for $15,559.99. Another voucher for remaining invoices was submitted on 10/19/18 and a check for $25,381.88 was sent to Mayor for countersignature a few days before these charges were ?led. (Exhibit B) 3. Failure to pay SPRAGUE DIESEL (fuel bill) 21. The invoices for Sprague Diesel from July and August 2018 were similarly paid on October 10, 2018 by check in sum of $4996.95 and again on October 22, 2018 for $10,444.19. No other invoices were submitted to the Comptroller?s of?ce for any period of time subsequent. (Exhibit C) 4. Failure to pay lease payments for DPW bucket trucks 22. The budget account line to pay lease payments for DPW vehicles is currently in the negative and has no funding available. The Executive Assistant to DPW Commissioner, Damani Busch, was so advised in writing on August 20, 2018. Vouchers with correct budget account codes having suf?cient available funds were never re-submitted. (Exhibit D) 5. Failure to pay ALTECH (for vehicle repairs) 23. There is no money in the budget account code provided by the Public Works Depaitment. The Department was so advised in an email on October 1, 2018 from Lloydeshah Williams from the Comptroller?s of?ce to Jennifer Mastrogiorgio of Public Works. (Exhibit E) 6. Failure to pay CHAMPION WHOLESALE ELECTRIC (electrical parts) 24. The Comptroller?s of?ce received a voucher and invoices on October 25, 2018, signed on October 24, 2018, after this grievance was ?led. (Exhibit F) 7. Failure to pay VERNON HARDWARE and GRAMATAN PAINT (hardware) 25. These two vendors were paid respectively for all invoices up to July 27, 2018 for Vernon Hardware (which was only submitted on October 15, 2018) and up until June 30, 2018 for Gramatan Paint. Six additional invoices were submitted attached to one voucher shortly before these charges were ?led in mid-October of 2018 and are being reviewed and timely processed. (Exhibit G) 8. Failure to pay NATIONAL WATER MAIN (sewer cleaning) 26. The Comptroller?s of?ce has received no vouchers, invoices or other paperwork requesting payment to this vendor in 2018 and it has no current contract in place. The vendor was paid previously in 2017. 9. SENIOR CENTER SUPPLIES 27. Upon information and belief, the vendor supplying toilet paper for the senior center is Tri-State Supply. The vendor has been completely paid and there is a credit of $39.50 on this account which is con?rmed by an email dated October 19, 2018 from Monica O?Neill of Tri-State Supply to Lloydeshah Williams of the Comptroller?s of?ce on October 19, 2018. (Exhibit H) (This email con?rmation was obtained following the Mayor bringing numerous senior citizens into the Comptroller?s Of?ce in City Hall by bus to demonstrate and interfere with the of?ce?s functions in violation of City Code Section 191.1 wrongly claiming she was responsible for the lack of toilet paper. 10. LAW DEPARTMENT AND WESTLAW 28. The Comptroller?s of?ce received a voucher to pay WestLaw without the requested invoices and the voucher was returned to the Law Department requesting the invoice to be attached. It has not been resubmitted in two months. 11. PAPER FOR MAILROOM 29. Paper for the mailroom is obtained through purchase orders through the MUNIS system. Although when the Comptroller took of?ce in January of 2018, she was the administrator of the MUNIS system and had the ability to approve purchase orders on the system, on or about June 15, 2018, the Comptroller was removed as the administrator of the MUNIS system and no longer has any control over purchase orders. The Comptroller has requested the Mayor?s of?ce to return the system to the way it previously was with Ms. Reynolds as Administrator, so that she is able to approve purchase orders but the Mayor has refused to. The Comptroller?s Of?ce advised all City Departments not to process purchase order through the MUNIS system as her approval ability was breached. (Exhibit 1) A large bulk paper order was processed in September. 12. Failure to ?le TAX FORMS 30. Although the prior Comptroller, Maureen Walker, failed to timely ?le the Tax Limit Form for the 2017 budget year with Albany, Deborah Reynolds, remedied the ?ling and the Tax Limit Form was ?led with Albany many months ago. (Exhibit J) 31.. All Tax Cap Forms have been properly ?led in Albany many months ago. (Exhibit 1) 13. Failure to place liens from WATER BOARD 32. The Comptroller?s Of?ce received from the Board of Water supply on October 9, 2018 a voluminous list of residents who purportedly did not pay water bills and a request to place the arrears as liens against the parcels in the city?s computer system. The Comptroller needs to verify the list and input the data in an orderly and proper fashion. The Comptroller never ?rejected? the request nor ?refused? to place liens. She did mention that these were from prior years and that the separate Board of Water Supply owes the City $3 million dollars from those same prior years: 2015. 2016 and 2017 14. Failure to pay for Civil Service examinations and overtime 33. The Mayor?s Of?ce is attempting to transfer money to fund police department pre-employment medical and examinations for recruitment of future police candidates. The budget account line for these examinations is insuf?cient. Rather than transferring funds from within the Police Department or even from within the Mayor?s budget, the Mayor is attempting to transfer the city?s "rainy day" contingency fund within the Comptroller ?3 Of?ce to pay for these examinations which is totally improper and ?scally unwise. This fund exists for true emergency expenses not for routine budgeting errors. 34. The Comptroller warned the Department of Public Works that its overtime budget was nearly completely expended and that in order for overtime to be incurred in the future, the Mayor and the DPW Commissioner needed to ?nd available funds from within the Mayor?s budget to transfer into the overtime account for continued use. The Mayor failed to initiate or complete a budget transfer into the DPW overtime account and consequently the Comptroller cannot approve any expenditures from a line without suf?cient funding. (See paragraph 13 supra and Section 91 of the City Charter.) (Exhibit DPW overtime (103) Budget lines in negative) 10 15. PERSONNEL PROCESS 35. The Mayor and his administration do not follow the proper procedure set forth in the City Charter, the City Code or the directions of the Comptroller (See paragraph 9 supra and Charter Section 91?a) for the submission and processing of vouchers and claims, nor for payroll. There is no Personnel Department nor Department of Human Resources. The Mayor removed the prior HR Director and never replaced the her. The Mayor therefore acts as his own HR Director. 36. Before a person is hired and starts to work for the city, there needs to be signed approvals on a ?round robin? basis on a RPC Form (Report of Personnel Change) by (1) the appointing of?cer; (2) Payroll (Comptroller) and (3) Civil Service. Without a Personnel or HR Department, there is no smooth oversight of this process. Unfortunately, the Mayor hires someone, and only then starts the RFC round robin process. This process sometimes takes 1-3 weeks depending upon the position, the person?s quali?cations, the moneys available, etc. Jennifer Mastrogiorgio is a perfect example. Without any paperwork or approvals, she simply packed up her belongings in the Finance Of?ce and began working in DPW. (She was related to the then DPW Commissioner Nigro who has since been ?red by the Mayor.) It took several weeks for the paper work to catch up to her. Although, technically she should not have started in DPW before approvals were obtained and therefore should not have been paid, she was in fact placed on the DPW payroll on September 18, 2018 and paid retroactively. In actuality, no person should commence work nor be paid until after all approvals have been obtained. 37. No person who has been terminated by the city continues to receive compensation, unless it is termination pay. The speci?c person mentioned in the Charges, former DPW Commissioner, Nigro, illustrates how the Mayor operates. The Mayor submitted an RPC 11 Form stating that Nigro verbally resigned. When questioned, Nigro told the Comptroller?s Of?ce that he did NOT resign. (He was asked by the Comptroller?s Of?ce for a letter of resignation for his ?le) Sometime later, the Mayor sent a new RPC form stating that he was terminated. Consequently, the ?rst RPC form was defective and could not be processed. (Exhibit L) 38. The Comptroller complies with all Civil Service laws. Susan Valentin, who was the former Second Deputy, was promoted provisionally from Senior Account Clerk to Chief Accountant, in accordance with all the rules and requirements of both Civil Service and the City. (Exhibit M) 39. The City has been attempting to implement the KRONOS time keeping payroll system in accordance with Governor Cuomo?s initiative. The City Council authorized its implementation in November, 2017. The Mayor and his Corporation Counsel, Lawrence Porcari, Esq., have prevented its implementation, ostensibly seeking union consent, but in actuality, to allow misuse and abuse of time and attendance. (Exhibit N) 16. Grievances by VETERAN SERVICES 40. The Director of Veterans Services, who is currently paid $60,000 per year wants a 50% raise to $90,000. But the budget does not so provide. Consequently there is some hostility. All departments receive expense reports and printouts to track their expenses and budget lines. Veterans Services is treated similarly to all other departments and can contact the Comptroller?s Of?ce at any time for updates and for information. The Comptroller?s Of?ce does not accept vouchers through interof?ce mail because vouchers need to be date stamped and tracked separately from other mail. 12 41. Mayor Thomas and his Corporation Counsel have created chaos in municipal government. It is a rogue administration. The Mayor hires and ?res staff and engages ?rms unilaterally without following legal procedures. He has no Human Resources Department to curb his excesses. The Mayor refuses to cooperate with the Comptroller and work with her jointly to solve these issues. Instead, he ?les lawsuit after lawsuit using expensive Long Island and other law ?rms. (Over a dozen outside law ?rms and attorneys assist the Mayor and his Corporation Counsel costing Mount Vernon taxpayers over $1 million dollars for the cash strapped City.) It is so bad, the Corporation Counsel has refused to allow his of?ce to notarize documents for the Comptroller?s Of?ce, directed staff to not allow the Of?ce postage and not to cooperate with the Of?ce. 42. By reason of the aforementioned facts and law, the Comptroller has been diligently performing her duties and responsibilities since taking of?ce. Notwithstanding the onslaught of litigation commenced by the Mayor against her and others, which adversely interferes with her time to do her job, she has nevertheless successfully acted as a watchdog of the city?s ?nances. She has successfully defended all of her actions in two of the pending lawsuits, and will continue to do so. 43. The Mayor, under criminal indictment charged with six felonies with a trial scheduled in January before the Hon. Barry Warhit, Supervising Criminal Judge in Westchester County, is getting more and more desperate.* His political grandstanding and maneuvering has no bounds. He has hired and paid well over One Million Dollars to various law forms and attorneys to represent him and the city who are doing the Corporation Counsel?s job. According to Newle Westchester on October 30, 2018, the Mayor is replacing his current team of lawyers with a new team oflawyers, some from Florida. (Exhibit 0) l3 This is an excessive amount for a city the size of Mount Vernon. But worse, his antics have compelled other elected of?cials, including the Comptroller and the City Council, to also hire outside counsel to battle his lawyers which further injure the taxpayers. This proceeding, which the City of Mount Vernon must pay for, is another example of the further waste of taxpayer money by the Mayor. It is actually the Mayor who should be removed from of?ce for malfeasance. The criminal justice system or the voters will have the ?nal say. Dated: White Plains, New York October 30, 2018 Yours, etc., Bank, Sheer, Seymour Hashmall By: Jay B. Hashmall, Esq. Attorneys for City Comptroller Reynolds 399 Knollwood Road, Suite 220 White Plains, NY 10603 (914) 761-9111 14 VERIFICATION STATE OF NEW YORK ss.: COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER DEBORAH REYNOLDS, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That deponent is the Plaintiff named in the within action; that she has read the foregoing ANSWER AND RESPONSE OF HON. REYNOLDS and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true to deponent?s own knowledge, except as to the matters therein stated to be alleged upon information and belief, and as to those matter 5 lieve it to be true. Sworn to before me this day of October, 2018 . \u (f ?ung} I li\c. I 1' Ki'x?xn?l? Q) NOTARY- PUBLIC B. HEW lint-ML Notarw'tml c. 3w York i i i. ii - J_-i 11le 14