Failing Comptroller won’t pay son of woman struck by City vehicle

Mount Vernon’s employees strive for delivering the best service possible, but sometimes they fail.

That’s what happened in 2015 when a Department of Recreation bus accidentally struck Michael Garrett’s mother. Compounding this tragedy, Comptroller Deborah Reynolds’ refusal to pay the City’s debts is prolonging the Garrett family’s pain.

The sorry details of Comptroller Reynolds’ multiple failures to do her job came up at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Estimate and Contract.

The Comptroller’s first failure was her absence from that meeting.

Though BOE meetings are always held at 9:30 am, Comptroller Reynolds told Clerk Brown that she thought the meeting was at 7 p.m. She claimed that she could not attend because she had a conference call.

She could have sent a deputy in her place as previous Comptrollers have done so, but she didn’t. A second failure.

Mr. Garrett attended the BOE meeting and spoke about the Comptroller. The City settled the Garrett case, awarding $90,000 in damages back in February of 2018. Since then, Comptroller Reynolds has refused to process the payment to Mr. Garrett, claiming there’s no money in the Budget for his settlement. A third failure.

The Comptroller had almost unilateral control over crafting the 2019 budget, so why didn’t she include money in her budget to compensate the Garrett family? A fourth failure.

The BOE had no consoling answers for the Garrett family, and despite the Comptroller’s absence, Mayor Richard Thomas conducted the people’s business with City Council President Andre Wallace.

The agenda contained 14 items, consisting of resolutions approving ordinances, settlements, and compensation rates.

Item number seven, setting the compensation rate for Spolzino, Smith, Buss, and Jacobs, LLP, was moved and while on the question, Corporation Counsel Larry Porcari stated that there are very few firms who are still willing to take on case for The City of Mount Vernon on a promise to pay at some later date since the Comptroller has not processed the payments for outside counsel. Yet another failure.

Item number 10 on the agenda was setting the rate for the law firm Barnes and Thornburg. After the Clerk read the item, Council President Wallace was silent, refusing to move on the item. Barnes and Thornburg is counsel for the City in the Clean Water Act lawsuit from the Department of Justice and not acting on this matter only increases the risk to the taxpayers. Again, a failure.

Mount Vernon’s residents deserve excellence from their public officials. Those who fail to act or do their jobs should be held accountable.