Do-nothing officials flex their power to obstruct City business

The Mount Vernon Board of Estimate and Contract met Tuesday morning without acting on 17 out of 31 agenda items.

For various reasons, Councilman Marcus Griffith and Comptroller Deborah Reynolds asked to delay most of the city’s business.

Unattended matters included resolutions on settlements over lawsuits and property-tax challenges, salaries in the Planning Department and attorney fees for cases ranging from the Clean Water Act to the Urban Renewal Agency.

One positive action was the Board of Estimate and Contract’s adoption of a resolution declaring an emergency at the City courthouse, which for years has been plagued with maintenance issues. Yet despite the well-publicized maintenance and health issues at the courthouse that date back to at least 2013 — a time when both Councilman Griffith and Comptroller Reynolds served on the City Council — they feigned ignorance of any problem at the courthouse until recently.

“The first time the Council heard of this major issue in the courthouse, we took immediate action,” Councilman Griffith said on Tuesday.

“The first time I heard was when City Clerk George Brown brought it to my attention,” said Comptroller Reynolds.

In fact, in a May 31 letter to the City from Lawrence K. Marks of the New York Unified Court System, the chief administrative judge noted that “as early as September 2013, OCA representatives inspected the courthouse and observed sub-standard cleanliness and hygiene conditions, area of water damage due to roof and façade leaks and evidence of possible mold growth. Numerous additional reports on these conditions were made to the City in the years that followed.”

Despite their years in public office, Comptroller Reynolds and Councilman Griffith turned deaf ears on the court system’s complaints.

Only Mayor Richard Thomas heeded the court’s warnings. Two years ago he procured a $13 million New York Power Authority grant to change all the windows, heating and air conditioners in City Hall and the courthouse, but the City Council has not acted on the grant.

Instead, Comptroller Reynolds suggested that the City’s public works employees should slap some spackle and paint on walls in the courthouse. The reality is that the courthouse needs millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades that could be funded through the NYPA grant.