Will Taxpayers Bail Out Illegal Westhelp Deal?

 

Can school districts levy a tax on residents to pay for the illegal actions of private individuals? The courts have ruled that the Valhalla school district must return $1.9 million illegally appropriated “Westhelp Partnership” funds to the Town of Greenburgh.

While the purpose of this partnership was to compensate the well-to-do residents of Mayfair Knollwood for the “burden” of living near a homeless shelter, taxpayer dollars could not be gifted directly to a private homeowners’ association. Instead, a scheme was crafted which gave effective control of $6 million to Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association, which was headed by President Ned McCormack.

As chairman of Greenburgh’s Valhalla Schools Committee, Mr. McCormack had more authority than any school board member or district employee, effectively creating positions on Valhalla’s payroll, hiring employees, and purchasing goods and services.

Ned McCormack’s committee, and not the taxpayers of Valhalla, controlled this money. In 2003 the Valhalla school district newsletter stated “Dr. Kelly (superintendent of schools) said it is important to note that legally the funds are actually Greenburgh’s and will not be turned over to the district for use at its discretion.”

Accordingly, the revenue and expense of the “Westhelp Partnership” were never included in a school budget and never approved by residents of the district. This partnership was entirely a private undertaking which the school board illegally fostered for the benefit of private individuals. It’s time for those individuals and board members to be held accountable and not at the expense of school district taxpayers.

John F. Fitzgerald

Valhalla

The writer is a former member of the Valhalla Board of Education.

Are Taxpayers on the Hook for Illegal Actions of Elected Officials?

Can a Board of Education levy a tax on residents to pay for their illegal actions and those of unelected private individuals when the illegal action is unrelated to the operation of a school district under New York State education law?  Are taxpayers of the Valhalla School District responsible to bail out an illegal deal created by a local private homeowners association and a corrupt politician?

The courts have ruled that the Valhalla School District must return $1.9 million illegally appropriated “Westhelp Partnerhship” funds to the Town of Greenburgh.

While the purpose of this partnership was always to compensate the well to do residents of Mayfair Knollwood for the supposed “burden” of living near a homeless shelter, taxpayer dollars could not be gifted directly to a private homeowners association. Instead a scheme was crafted which gave effective control of $6 million to Ned McCormack, president of the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association.  As chairman of Greenburgh’s Valhalla Schools Committee, Mr. McCormack had more authority than any school board member or district employee, creating positions on Valhalla’s payroll, hiring employees, and purchasing goods and services.  Ned McCormack’s committee, and not the taxpayers of Valhalla, controlled this money.  In 2003 the Valhalla School District newsletter stated “Dr. Kelly [superintendent of schools] said it is important to note that legally the funds are actually Greenburgh’s and will not be turned over to the District for use at its discretion”. 

Accordingly, the revenue and expense of the “Westhelp Partnership” were never included in a school budget and never approved by residents of the district. This partnership was entirely a private undertaking which the school board illegally fostered for the benefit of private individuals. It’s time for those individuals and board members to be held accountable and not at the expense of school district taxpayers.

Maybe They Should Just Enforce The Laws Already on The Books

The brilliance of Andio: A politician, appointed by a politician to head a panel of politicians who will "scrutinize" politicians who act unethically, as politicians always do. Just how hard is it to find government officials acting beyond their constitutional limits? How about all the fill for fields deals illegally entered into by a half dozen local school districts in Westchester County for the benefit of disreputable carting companies dumping fill from who knows where, post 9-11. Just consider the sudden need for places to dump after September 11, 2001 and no record of origin, no certificates of insurance just an unending line of unrecorded trucks dumping night and day on children's playgrounds. The comptroller's department has said these deals were illegal and have cost taxpayers millions already, but no prosecutions.  


Or how about the $6 million drop of manna from heaven known as the Westhelp Partnership. Let's see you had a bribe by a town supervisor, illegally laundering taxpayer funds through the bank accounts of a local school district to be spent at the direction of the president of a private homeowners association.  Money earmarked for a homeless shelter ends up sending Westchester's well-to-do "Children of All Ages", to the opera, Caramoor, Oktoberfests, the Grand Canyon and even on a booze cruise. By the time the state comptroller put an end to it,  $1.8 million spent off budget and reported no where on a tax form or audited report. Will that rise to the level of Andio's ersatz scrutiny?  

With all the local unconstitutional, corrupt and unethical behaviors from the school boards to the state house, you would think that a local district attorney would already have her hands full PROSECUTING said politicians. Hmmm... but apparently not. Why?

Reprinted from the Yonker's Tribune:

Governor Cuomo Designates Westchester County D.A. DiFiore to Joint Commission on Public Ethics

ALBANY, NY and YONKERS, NY -- December 13, 2011 -- Governor Andrew Cuomo has designated Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore to chair the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The  commission will be entrusted to scrutinize New York State’s lobbying industry and their interaction with elected officials. By accepting this new role, DiFiore is saddled with the formidable challenges and responsibility of the Office of Westchester Country District Attorney and the Joint Commission of Public Ethics.


DiFiore is a person competent and able to balance the responsibilities both efforts will demand and exact.

As chair of the newly formed Joint Commission on Public Ethics, DiFiore and 13 colleagues will have purview of New York State’s entire lobbying industry and elected officials, including the governor himself.

“You can’t do better in terms of credentials than a sitting district attorney who is sworn to enforce the law and has an impeccable track record in doing so,” advised Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto

Valhalla School Board's Lawsuit Backfires

Despite being told by legal counsel that their action could result in a $1.9 million judgment against the district, ignoring the fact that Valhalla already indemnified the Town for legal cost and then guaranteed repayment of the $1.9 million if the Town was sued, Valhalla went ahead and sued the Town. Will the taxpayers of Valhalla actually be on the hook for the foolish and reckless actions of School Board members and private individuals who ran an illegal operation with taxpayer money through the bank accounts of a public school district? Can taxes be levied to pay for illegal activities that were never part of the budgets approved by voters? Are board members indeminfied for their illegal actions?

The article below explains just how foolish their actions were.

Reprinted from the Pleasantville Examiner

Judge Rules Valhalla Schools



Must Cough Up $1.9M

Smith ‘Reckless’ for His Role, Opposing Lawyer Says

By Sam Barron

In the same week that he claimed victory, County Legislator-elect Michael Smith (R-Greenburgh) saw a legal battle he helped initiate on behalf of the Valhalla School District dismissed. In a Nov. 18 ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella determined that the school district must repay the Town of Greenburgh close to $1.9 million as part of a countersuit filed by the town against the district. The funds represented the district’s share of money derived from a contract originally negotiated between Greenburgh and Westchester County to pay the town $1.2 million a year to continue hosting WestHelp, a county-operated homeless shelter.

District officials have 30 days to decide whether to appeal Colabella’s ruling. If it pursues and loses an appeal, legal fees and interest would be tacked on.

Smith, who served on the Valhalla Board of Education for six years through June 30—the last three years as president—led the district’s push to sue the Town of Greenburgh for breach of contract after the town board voted to discontinue the arrangement with the schools. The Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association, whose jurisdiction the shelter was located in, and the town negotiated a deal that saw the Valhalla School District obtain up to $650,000 a year in educational grants from the county contract. However, the state comptroller’s office issued a 2007 audit determining that the town’s deal with the school district violated state law.

After the audit, the Greenburgh Town Board voted 4-1, with Supervisor Paul Feiner dissenting, to end the agreement with the schools.

Attorney Robert Bernstein, one of two Greenburgh residents who intervened in the lawsuit on the town’s behalf, said last week the ruling was the proper decision. We have been telling Feiner for years that what he did here was morally wrong and legally wrong,” Bernstein said. “He had no right to give away town revenue to a school district to pay off citizens who didn’t like having a homeless shelter. It was incredibly irresponsible.”

Bernstein, a frequent critic of Feiner, and another resident, Herbert Rosenberg, were allowed by the judge to intervene in the litigation on behalf of the town, since Feiner negotiated and supported the contract, even after the auditor’s report.

While the town erred, Bernstein said Smith’s “actions were reckless to the extreme” for putting taxpayers at risk by pursuing litigation to keep the contract intact. The district should have complied with the comptroller’s audit to end the arrangement between the town and the schools, he said.

“I was there when Michael Smith essentially bullied the town board and demanded they honor the agreement, even though the comptroller said it was illegal,” Bernstein said. “He should’ve known better. I don’t know whether he put his ego ahead of common sense or what.” Phone messages left for Smith during the week were not returned.

In his ruling, Colabella cited state law requiring a school district to levy a tax to raise money for educational purposes. He wrote that there was no basis to find Greenburgh in breach of contract for refusing to continue the payments because the town “intruded on a state function by making educational programs for students of the school district ... subject to the approval of the town.”

“The school district should’ve known that it had no right to obtain public funds from Greenburgh to support education of children in its district,” Bernstein said. “They did a disservice to the taxpayers of the Valhalla School District when they did so. They should’ve refused the money. The school district was not innocent in this.”

Feiner and former Mayfair-Knollwood Civic Association President Ned McCormack, who currently is director of communications for County Executive Rob Astorino, negotiated the agreement with the school district before Smith joined the board.

Feiner and McCormack have said that the contract was vetted by outside counsel who believed the contract to be fair and legal. Feiner said he stands by the contract that was signed, though he respects the judge’s ruling.

“The law should be changed,” Feiner said. “Neighborhoods that do something for the common good should be rewarded. It makes it easier in the long run to get things accomplished if you could turn something into a win-win situation. That’s really the whole concept.”

McCormack said it was an innovative agreement and that the neighborhood was trying to be cooperative. “We wanted to work with various elected officials to create a situation that benefits people and wouldn’t impact the taxpayers,” McCormack said.

Bernstein contended there were racial overtones. He charged that Feiner was compensating a predominantly white neighborhood, which feared that its property values would sink by having a homeless shelter.

“I find it offensive because it’s immoral and illegal,” Bernstein said. “The racial aspects of this cannot be ignored. I find it appalling.” McCormack denied Bernstein’s allegations. “The neighborhood overwhelmingly decided to keep the shelter,” McCormack said. “This is one of the few instances where a neighborhood said yes to a shelter. We said yes and worked out an equitable deal. Otherwise, it would’ve closed 10 years ago.”

WestHelp was originally slated to be shuttered in 2001 after operating for 10 years, but the county maintained the shelter until its closure on Sept. 30, 2011.

The judge’s ruling was made available on Nov. 21, less than two weeks after Election Day. Outgoing Legislator John Nonna (D-Pleasantville), who was narrowly defeated by Smith in a bid for a third term, said he found the timing to be curious.

“It was an important issue,” said Nonna. “I raised it in the election campaign. It shows his poor judgment. I don’t think he had the fiduciary duty to bring a lawsuit without merit.”

With absentee ballots counted last week, Smith outlasted Nonna 5,341-5,212.

Uh oh......

I recommend the Valhalla Method of Remediation. Keep a mayonnaise jar from every truckload in the board office.  Get a second company to retest at different levels and if it passes, ignore the first really bad tests and pretend the first test doesn't count.  It's like taking the SAT over and over and picking the best scores.  Everyone will live happily ever after. Oh and don't look under the artificial turf, that might be a problem.

Reprinted from the Journal News 11/26/2011

BRIARCLIFF MANOR — It could cost Briarcliff Manor schools as much as $18 million to completely clean up and restore two playing fields where contaminated soil was dumped nearly a decade ago.

The least costly remediation of the practice and softball fields on the middle school-high school campus on Pleasantville Road would be roughly a combined $1.2 million to cap both. The scenarios for how to deal with the tainted dirt dumped for free by now-defunct Whitney Contracting were laid out in a Nov. 17 public presentation.

"We assembled a talented group of environmental experts," Board of Education President Guy Rotondo said at the meeting. "We will review, discuss and move ahead. It's been long enough."

The district signed a consent order with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in June 2003 to remediate the site, but neither party followed through. The fields were shut down in January 2010 and it could be spring 2013 before they are back in playing condition.

Superintendent Neal Miller, who took his post in July, said the goal is to keep the community informed and to re-open the fields.

"There are a lot of moving parts here. I would love to see a conservative sequence of events and timeline," said parent Michael Valenti. "Our kids have been off the fields for a couple of years, and it seems they might be off the fields for a few more."

While the health risks are considered minimal, district consultants agreed there is no doubt that the soil contains low levels of toxins, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which at high levels are considered carcinogenic, and barium and sodium.

"The bottom line is that the factors are variable and somewhat uncertain," said Dr. Robert Laumbach, a physician and an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. "The risk to any particular person is very, very low ... but it could be a public health concern."

Said district-hired attorney Michael Bogin: "There are (chemical levels that exceed permissible amounts) here and you have to fix it."

One option calls for the district to first cap or bury the contaminated soil and then restore the fields with natural grass or two types of synthetic turf. Grass is the least expensive option at $851,000 for the practice field and $311,000 for the softball field. But that would take the longest to be ready while the new grass grows in and has the highest costs for ongoing maintenance. The next option would be to cover the fields with asphalt for another school use and would cost nearly $3 million.

The most expensive option would be to remove all the original fill and restore the fields with grass at a cost of $13.5 million for the practice field and $4.2 million for the softball field.

Stuart Mattey, assistant superintendent for business and technology, said the district would be eligible for state aid. And though it would be outside the 2 percent tax cap levy, it would need voter approval through a bond or budget referendum. The district won a $500,000 judgment against the contractor in 2008 but was never able to collect.

District taxpayers urged school officials to include them and decide wisely.

"Will the public have input as this goes along?" asked Walter Murray.

And Louis Linder recommended officials investigate the choices of natural grass and turf and which contractors it hires very carefully.

"If we make another mistake," he said, "we could be in the hole for more money."

Valhalla Board Members Lacked Imagination

The following article from the Daily Greenburgh is so typically Valhalla. Our transparent school board is in lockdown and  Mike Smith our newly elected County Legislator, (who was not board president for all those years but he was the only CPA on the board) claims that "Everyone imaginable in the process approved it". 

I would point out that Paul Feiner's consigliere on the Westhelp fiasco, Chase Caro later went to prison so he won't be around for any more legal opinions, but who else?  Valhalla has a history of legal opinion shopping when they are caught in illegal activity and in nearly every case those paid-for opinions prove to be unsound.  What lawyer's opinion do they have?  Surely those lawyers have insurance.

So who was not imaginable? From the moment I heard Ned McCormack's folksy tale of raking leaves and Supervisor Feiner biking up to say hi, have I got a deal for you, I knew that deal was illegal.  But somehow thinking taxpayers could not possibly understand the wonders of graft and greed that Westchester's Well-to-Do had in store.

Heck, I couldn't even understand why Westchester County was paying off the Town of Greenburgh for a shelter that had been in operation for 10 years and had cost Greenburgh nothing. So when I said there was no way a town could gift money to a school district and no way a president of a homeowners association could control $6 million in School District accounts I guess I did not even register as imaginable. But it seems that even before the first check was cut others, including reputable lawyers living in the Town of Greenburgh were on the same page. Certainly they were imaginable.

Then there was the State Comptroller who in two audits said the same thing and still Valhalla desperately sought to get every penny and spend it just as Ned McCormack directed.  Even going as far as guarantying repayment of the entire $1.9 million in order to get the last drop of illegal funds.

So now the question is, is it legal to tax residents in the Towns of Mt Pleasant and North Castle, who had no control of of illegally obtained funds, because their representatives were too stupid to understand a basic principal of constitutional law, even though those representative took an oath to uphold that constitution. Is there no personal responsibility for government officials once they commit a crime? Or is that unimaginable too?             

Here is the article Reprinted from The Daily Greenburgh

Fingerpointing Follows Valhalla-Greenburgh Ruling

by Natalia Baage-Lord

GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Now that the State Supreme Court ruled that the Valhalla school district has to repay $1.86 million of illegally-funded money to the town of Greenburgh, some are wondering who is really at fault and others are worrying how the district will come up with the funds.

"It's unfortunate that the Valhalla schools got the end of the line on this one," said Michael Smith, former president of the Valhalla School Board of Education and incoming county legislator. "Nobody at the time said that this was illegal."

State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella ruled Friday that Greenburgh's 2004 agreement to give the Valhalla schools $650,000 a year for 10 years in exchange for hosting a homeless shelter within its borders, was illegal. In court, the district said that they were given nearly $1,865,000. The money came from rent paid by to the town by WestHelp, the homeless shelter in Greenburgh.

William Rosenberg, current president of the Valhalla School Board, denied comment, and firmly stated that none of the board members or the superintendent wants to speak about the case. 

However, Smith, who was the board president from 2005 to 2011, said that the Greenburgh Town Board, county legislators and county executive gave their approval with no indication that there would be any future repercussions. Now, years later, the courts are saying the opposite.

"It will be extraordinarily difficult [for the district to pay the money back]," said Smith, adding that the tax cap and other state-mandated regulations might make it hard for the district to repay the town. "It doesn't appear that the school district really did anything wrong. Everyone imaginable in the process approved it."

While it is a victory for Greenburgh to be receiving nearly $2 million, some place the blame on Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who reportedly ignored claims from local residents and civic associations in 2003. Feiner's opposition said at the time that the grant was illegal.

"This agreement should never have happened," said Bob Bernstein, a lawyer, Edgemont resident and intervenor on the case. "It was a cynical attempt to pay off a neighborhood. It was blatantly political, and it should have no place in public policy. It was wrong. And, for years, Feiner would not listen to those of us who were telling him that it was wrong, both morally and legally. It's gratifying to get a court to rule that the agreement was indeed illegal and unenforceable."

Nevertheless, Feiner still defends his decision. He said that he awarded the money to the Valhalla schools to compensate the community for keeping WestHelp in Greenburgh. Members of the Knollwood Civic Association argued that the nearby homeless shelter caused their property values to decrease. Bernstein, however, said that he found no proof of decreased property values at the hands of the shelter.

Hooray for us!

Another Banner Day for the Valhalla School District, compliments of Ned McCormack and the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association.  

Journal News November 22, 2011

GREENBURGH — A state justice has ruled that an agreement by the town to fund educational programs in the Valhalla school district is illegal — a decision that could see at least $1.9 million returned to Greenburgh taxpayers.

In an eight-page ruling, state Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella said the 2004 agreement, which called for Greenburgh to pay the school district $6.5 million over 10 years, was an improper gift that did not benefit the majority of town residents.

"This money should never have left the town," said Bob Bernstein, an Edgemont resident and attorney whom the court allowed to help the town defend the lawsuit. "The taxpayers of Greenburgh are entitled to get their money back."

Valhalla sued Greenburgh for breach of contract after a 2007 state audit determined the agreement was illegal and the town stopped making payments. David Shaw, whose law firm represents the district, said school officials would consider an appeal of the ruling, which requires it to repay $1.9 million to Greenburgh.

Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who negotiated the original agreement with the district, said the goal was to compensate the community for the operation of a homeless shelter on the Westchester Community College campus in Valhalla. In 2001, the town assumed the lease for the property through a deal with Westchester County and agreed to sublease it to WestHELP, which operated a shelter for homeless single mothers and preschool-age children.

The grant to the school district was meant to shore up community support for the town's plans to keep the shelter open an additional 10 years. The county closed it in September.

"I think anytime the government imposes something on a neighborhood that could impact property values that the government should do something for the neighborhood," Feiner said. "Our intentions were good. The concept was good, but we can't do it, so we're not going to do it."

Bernstein and Herbert Rosenberg, a former village justice in Dobbs Ferry, were given permission to join the town as "intervenor defendants" because Feiner supported the agreement, creating a conflict of interest, Bernstein said.

Bernstein said residents in the Mayfair Knollwood section of Valhalla, a largely white area, protested the shelter because many of its residents were black. He said the grant was essentially a payoff.

"Giving money to a neighborhood to compensate them for having to live near a homeless shelter is offensive morally, and illegal," Bernstein said.

Ned McCormack, who lives in the Mayfair Knollwood area and is the former president of the civic association that helped develop the agreement, denied race played a role. He said the original deal for the shelter, which opened in 1991, was for it to operate for 10 years and then be moved.

When the town and county sought in 2001 to keep the shelter open, residents wanted a deal that benefited the school district, fire district and town, said McCormack, who now serves as communications director and senior adviser to County Executive Rob Astorino. The deal called for the town to divvy up the $1.2 million in rent it received from WestHELP, keeping $473,000 and giving just over half to the school district and $100,000 to the Fairview Fire District.

"Everybody was in agreement that this was a good, fair and equitable deal," McCormack said, noting outside counsel for the town signed off on the deal.

But Terry Williams, president of the Greenburgh Board of Education, said he was among many who questioned the agreement.

"This wasn't rocket science," he said. "The way that they came to this agreement was illegal and the fact that they gave money away was ridiculous."