NYC Comptroller Releases Build It Back Audit
In a coffee shop following the press conference to announce his office’s audit of the Build It Back program, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer sat down with The Wave for a chat.
His audit of the Build It Back program had just been announced at a press conference behind bus driver Darrell Mitchell’s house on Beach 67th Street and we were meeting to discussRockaway’s present and future.
However, before he began that conversation, he wanted to talk about the process of his audit, not just the results.
Last year, he was quoted by the Daily News as saying the BIB program was in shambles.
“It disturbs me greatly there are 20,000 people on a waiting list and six homes have been rebuilt,” Stringer said. “This has gone on way too long.”
He knew conditions were bad in the coastal communities he would be visiting, so to prepare thoroughly for the meetings, he sent an advance team a few weeks before each, to get a true sense of what he could expect.
“They wanted someone in government to really listen, not just come to the community to talk the talk, but to actually listen. and that’s what we did’” he said.
He personally attended town hall meetings in Rockaway, Coney Island, Staten Island and lower Manhattan to take testimony from frustrated homeowners.
On the peninsula, though he had prior knowledge of some of the details he would be getting, he was still incredulous that night.
“If I wasn’t here myself, I wouldn’t believe what I have been hearing,” he said on May 20, 2014, at theMount Carmel Baptist Church.
As that meeting drew to a close, Stringer thanked the crowd for coming out in such numbers.
“A lot of you spoke for yourselves, but you also spoke for the Rockaways,” he said. “You came for those who couldn’t.”
On Wednesday, he told The Wave those meetings were extremely helpful in the process of auditing BIB, which he characterized as a “case study in dysfunction.”
He said the audit, which is 42 pages long, was a team effort and turned out to be exactly what his office intended.
“When we were finished (with the town hall meetings), we said we’d be back with an audit that laid out what went wrong, what we can do to make things better,” Stringer said.
When asked about his responsibility of being the administration official that people are looking to keep everyone else honest, he said it’s a job he accepts fully.
“The tax dollar is precious,” Stringer said. “People work really hard to get their kids an education, put food on the table, and the financial crunch people have felt since Hurricane Sandy, this gives me real purpose to fight for folks.”
- Photos by Dan GuarinoMany of the alarming elements of the BIB audit are centered on payouts to consultants to the tune of $17 million, while many homeowners were devastated by the storm.
As the audit states, the city entered into a $50 million contract with Public Financial Management to oversee and manage Build It Back subcontractors, including URS Corporation and Solix Inc.
The result was a mangled process of incomplete paperwork, double-billing and delays that forced homeowners to wait months, and in many cases, years to get their lives back.
“The sad fact is that these contractors got paid every step of the way,” Stringer said at the press conference. “If an application was incomplete, they still got their $250. They all kept getting paid. Meanwhile, everyone in the impacted areas languished.”
About a year ago, the city took over the oversight of the contracts from PFM, and since that time, according to the mayor’s office, there are only about 10,000 BIB applicants left. They say 3,100 have received reimbursement checks and more than 1,100 have started construction.
However, in Rockaway, The Wave gets calls from people every day about their dissatisfaction with BIB. Even more alarming, Solix and URS are still working – albeit informally – as BIB subcontractors.
“Incredible as it may seem, the subcontractors who failed to deliver adequate services are continuing to operate the program today,” said Stringer.
That criticism is being levied at the current administration, as Stringer believes the city has to take the lead role in disaster recovery.
“We can’t simply outsource all aspects of such critical work,” Stringer said. “The city must take responsibility when disaster strikes our shores. Contracting out our most crucial tasks to consultants means that profit can be put before people, which is exactly what happened after Sandy.”
The mayor’s office wasn’t overly pleased with the audit findings, calling some of them “skewed,” but as Stringer said at the coffee shop later, popularity isn’t his concern.
“The Comptroller’s office is the people’s office,” he said. “It’s where you go when you think you’re being treated unfairly, when you feel City Hall isn’t doing the right thing or when you think a city agency is taking advantage of you.”
The interview finished, Stringer was ready to taste the new brew of the Rockaway Roasters barista.
“Wow, wow” he said. “This is strong, powerful… it’s definitely Destination City.”
As summer grows near, everyone in Rockaway hopes the Comptroller is right.
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On Friday at 10 a.m., you can hear the full interview with Stringer on the “Riding The Wave” podcast. You can reach the podcast on the front page of The Wave’s website at rockawave.com, or by going to the show’s home page at www.blogtalkradio.com /ridingthewavewithmarkhealey.
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