By Dan Murphy
Last week, Yonkers Rising detailed a report from Inspector General Brendan McGrath concerning improper and criminal activities in the Department of Housing and Buildings. The report claims that documents were forged, reports altered, and inspections approved in exchange for bribes. One DHB employee who allegedly took bribes, was terminated, but questions remain about two other employees and the former DHB Commissioner who stepped down before the report was released but reportedly made conflicting statements to the IG.
The second part of the report concerns accusations that DHB inspector Patrick Losco was “double dipping,” by working for the city while also working as a security supervisor at St. John’s Riverside Hospital. Losco has worked for 20 years at City Hall and 30 years at St. John’s, which are both basically two full-time positions.
The IG’s report stated that Losco’s two jobs overlapped between 3 and 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and that he couldn’t be at both jobs at the same time. Losco said he used comp time and sick time with the DHB to leave early for his security job, which is not permitted, nor was it approved by his supervisors.
“Our comparison of the sign-in sheets from DHB and the computer print-out attendance report from St. John’s during the period of January 2016 through April 2018 indicate that there were at least 71 occasions where Mr. Losco was signed out from DHB at 4:30 p.m. while having begun his 3 p.m. shift at the hospital. This resulted in (hundreds of) hours of unrequested and unapproved leave from the City of Yonkers… We found that Mr. Losco basically kept his own hours and that no one in his supervisory chain ever questioned his attendance,” states the IG report, which also accuses Losco of working overtime under the Heat Program for the city while working security at St. John’s.
“Losco also inspected building department matters and permits at St. John’s, which the IG correctly identifies in the report as a ‘classic definition of conflict of interest. If the only reason to prohibit this practice was to avoid the appearance of impropriety, that should have been enough.’”
Most of the DHB staff that were interviewed denied ever taking a bribe. The IG also provided a list of recommended changes in the department. His full report is available at www.yonkersny.gov.
We also confirmed with the IG, after hearing reports that there may be additional information that would vindicate Losco, that “there are no additional reports or information that rebut anything in the report,” said McGrath.
Another front page story from last week, on an attempted petition drive to get a term limits extension on the ballot that failed, resulted in letters and emails to us. We remind our readers of our policy on not printing any letters that do not have a name and address in the email. Some of our readers continue to mail through the post office letters that have no name or address on them. Based on our new policy, we cannot print those letters.
We will include part of one of these letters because it raises a question emailed by many:
“The public was disenfranchised from this process from the onset. The City Council boasted that they held their own public hearing but it was held in the City Hall Ceremonial Courtroom and was not on City Hall TV.
“This is all about the pension. There were two ‘no’ City Council votes that evening, one from Councilwoman Pineda-Isaac, who already has been assured of being vested in the retirement system since she was given a job by the county executive.
“The other ‘no’ vote was by Council President Mike Khader. It will be interesting to see if he runs for a third term, if he seeks and wins a second term. But he already seems to have higher aspirations. It’s all about the next election.
“Voters still have the option of voting these two incumbent council members out of office in 2019, if they find that this change to term limits is offensive. But I am sure they will be given government jobs if they lose. It’s all about the pension, folks, not public service.”
Let us address the comments in this letter, which are similar to about a dozen emails we received questioning the petition process. Much of these emails seek to place blame on everyone but those opposed to extending term limits.
Pineda doesn’t need to have term limits extended if she decides to challenge Virginia Perez for County Board, as many democrats have told Yonkers Rising. And to speculate on whether Khader will run for a third term, after only completing one year of his first term, is way too premature.
Pineda-Isaac and Khader voted “no” on extending term limits not to pad their future pensions, in our view.
