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WPCNR Parking Meter Monitor. By John F. Bailey. May 13, 2004, UPDATED 9:30 A.M. E.D.T.: Four members of the White Plains Parking Authority Board met Wednesday evening at Authority Headquarters at 7-11 Broadway with Councilperson Rita Malmud observing. They voted unanimously to hire a law firm to guide them through the legal issues involved in the city effort to dissolve its relationship with the Parking Authority. Within a fast-moving 2 to 3 hours, City Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy offered the opinion this action was not allowed by the City Charter.
In a further development, Timothy Sheehan, Chair of the Parking Authority Board, whom WPCNR attempted to speak with Wednesday evening at approximately 10 P.M., and no answering machine picked up at his home, told Susan Elan, Journal News Reporter that “The actions they took are legally questionable and most disrespectful to the Mayor, the Common Council, and the city’s Corporation Counsel.” Sheehan reportedly told Elan, that the four Board Members “have taken some extraordinary steps that have put the city’s bond rating in jeopardy.”
Sheehan, however could have vetoed the action by attending the meeting.
A GRAVE CAROYLYN ABRAMOWITZ, leads rebel WPPA Board in defiance of Mayor’s Office. Clockwise from lower left: Mike Amodio, William Holzel, Ms. Abramowitz, Executive Director of the Parking Authority, Al Moronie, and back to camera, Paul Zaferiou. Observing was Rick Ammirato from the Mayor’s Office. Photo by WPCNR News
Ms. Abramowitz and Mr. Amodio, and the other two Board Members voting said they had never been told any details of the Draft Plan or the conditions under which the parking operation would be conducted once the city took it over, and that is why they decided to hire independent counsel to highlight issues involving the transfer. Ms. Abramowitz and Mr. Amodio said they had not received the copy of the Draft Plan given the media and the Common Council last Thursday until Wednesday night’s meeting.
Vice Chairman Carol Abramowitz, Michael Amodio, William Holzel, and Paul Zaferiou, (a quorum) , voted unanimously for the hire. Board ChairmanTim Sheehan, and members Carl Perri, and Frank Cantatori were not present. Had Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Perri or Mr. Cantatori been there and disagreed with the action any one could have vetoed it.
Dunphy Claims Charter Violation.
Within about three hours of the decision, authorizing Board Member Carol Abramowitz to sign a $7,500 retainer with Steven Silverberg of the law firm Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, (the law firm employing Parking Authority Chairman Timothy Sheehan) to provide legal services to the Board of Directors, City Corporation Counsel Edward Dunphy flagged them for a violation of the City Charter.
CITY CORPORATION COUNSEL SAYS NOT SO FAST: Edward Dunphy, City Corporation Counsel. Photo From WPCNR News Archive.
Gretsas Monitors Situation From Gold Coast.
The Dunphy Edict was reported to WPCNR by George Gretsas by phone from Florida. Gretsas said Dunphy issued an opinion stating that the White Plains Parking Authority Board had violated the City Charter because no city agency, or department according to the Charter has the right to hire independent counsel.
Only the City Corporation Counsel is authorized to represent the city, Dunphy contends. The hour being close to 11:15 PM, WPCNR did not contact Mr. Dunphy for comment.
CITY EXECUTIVE OFFICER BREAKS NEWS OF RULING: The Dunphy ruling was announced to WPCNR by Executive Officer George Gretsas by cellphone from Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he is in the interview process for the post of City Manager of this Florida Gold Coast gem city. Mr. Gretsas reported that Mr. Dunphy also opined that the hire of the Wilson Elser firm was “possibly” a Code of Ethics violation, in that the Chairman of the Parking Authority Board, Timothy Sheehan is employed by that law firm. Photo from WPCNR News Archive
Ethics Violation has to be Brought Before Ethics Board.
Carol Abramowitz and Michael Amodio were asked why they would hire a law firm where Mr. Sheehan their Board Chairman was employed after the action was taken. Mr. Amodio said that Mr. Sheehan would, as part of the large law firm would be prevented by what Amodio described as a “Chinese Wall Practice” which is a legal field term for the practice of preventing lawyers at large law firms from knowing what cases colleagues were working on, and preventing other lawyers viewing or accessing cases other colleagues are handling.
Sheehan has often alluded to this “Chinese Wall Practice” on the Common Council chamber floor of the ability of his law firm to handle New York Presbyterian Hospital business, without his influencing other lawyers in the firm working on New York Hospital business. (Sheehan long supported a hospital plan to give land to the city in exchange for the proton acclerator cancer treatment. Opponents of the plan had frequently chided Sheehan for a conflict of interest being that he worked for a firm that handled New York Presbyterian Hospital as a client.)
Mr. Gretsas said Mr. Dunphy was careful to say the anticipated retention of Wilson-Elser was a “possible” ethics violation, and that it would have to be brought to the Ethics Board for a ruling by someone or some independent body.
He did not say whether the city would do so. WPCNR asked if the ruling the Authority could not hire a law firm could be tested in court, Gretsas said “anyone can test anything in court, but I don’t know where they are going to get the money unless they pay for it themselves.”
How Independent Is the Parking Authority Anyway?
WPCNR asked Mr. Gretsas whether the Parking Authority, being an independent authority legally chartered by the New York State legislature was subject to City Charter jurisdiction and rules and restrictions.
Mr. Gretsas said that the draft report written on the advantages and reasons why the city should take over the Parking Authority filed by Ted Peluso and Eileen Earl one week ago had made the case that the Parking Authority did not act like a typical independent parking authority, and that it served purely at whim of the city as long as the city continued the operating agreement.
WPCNR asked if this operating agreement between the city and the Parking Authority spelled out specifically that the Parking Authority, charted by the state legislature, could not hire its own legal representation. Mr. Gretsas said he did not have the paperwork of the agreement with him in Fort Lauderdale, and he would have to check into that.
Sheehan, Perri, Cantatore Boycott Under Protest.
WPCNR asked Mr. Gretsas why the other three members of the Board, Timothy Sheehan, Carl Perri and Frank Cantatore did not arrive and veto the proposal.
Gretsas said the three absentees did not agree with the decision to hold the early meeting. Carol Abramowitz told WPCNR Messrs. Sheehan, Perri and Cantatore had been notified and knew about the meeting.
Gretsas said he had urged Abramowitz, Amodio, Holzel, an Zaferiou not to have the meeting. WPCNR has learned that Mr. Gretsas made a series of telephone calls to members of the Board strongly urging them not to hold the meeting.
WPCNR asked Gretsas if he had discussed the Draft Report with the Parking Authority Board.
Gretsas said the city had promised the Board members full details on the plan at next Monday evening’s Parking Authority scheduled meeting, and said he could not see why the Parking Authority Board members chose to act in this manner to attempt to delay the process, which was needed to help the city out.
Dunphy Expressed Reservations About the Propriety of Transferring Parking Authority Money in 2002
During the 15-minute meeting at which the vote was taken, Mike Amodio said the Board’s concern had arisen out of Edward Dunphy’s own concerns about the propriety of the Parking Authority transferring millions to the city in 2002 to help balance the budget, as the main reason why the Board wanted to retain legal counsel to “guide the Board” through the process of moving the Parking management the Parking Authority does now under city control.
Amodio said tonight there is no resolution or proposal yet defining exactly how parking authority funds and revenues would be handled once it became a city department. He said in a phone interview with WPCNR tonight, that the Board felt it needed guidance from a legal expert on whatever transfer legislation or resolution was created.
Mr. Gretsas, in an interview Wednesday in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, talking about his Parking Authority proposal, indicated to that reporter that the Parking Authority funds could be used as part of the general fund, indicating by inference they would not necessarily be devoted to paying off the expenses of the parking operation.
The Sun-Sentinel report reads: Gretsas said he thinks Moody’s concerns will be eased, now that the city has taken over a parking fund that had been accounted for separately. Its reserves now can by used by the city for general purposes, he said.
WPCNR asked Mr. Gretsas if a resolution dictating the terms of the transfer had been drafted yet, and he said no it had not.
Time of Essence to Get the Parking Authority into the Fold.
One issue WPCNR brought up was how long it would take any legal expert to pull together legal opinions on the ramifications of the Parking Authority transfer. Ms. Abramowitz said she did not know since she had not signed the retainer yet.
A CONCERNED TRIO: Common Council President Tom Roach, left; Councilperson Rita Malmud, center, and Carolyn Abramowitz wanted more information on the Parking Authority transfer. Ms. Malmud and Mr. Roach stopped short of telling WPCNR they wanted to put restrictions on the use of parking authority revenues, but Ms. Malmud said the Peluso-Earl Draft Report just a start. Photo by WPCNR News.
WPCNR cornered Rita Malmud who was digesting the goings-on with a colleague, Common Council President Tom Roach, who just happened to drop by at Parking Authority Headquarters after the meeting. WPCNR asked Ms. Malmud if the Council did not absorb the Parking Authority into the City Government by June 30, whether the Parking Authority funds would not officially transfer to the Comprehensive Annual Fiscal Report (CAFR) submitted to the bond agencies until 2006-07. Ms. Malmud said she did not know.
WPCNR asked Ms. Malmud if she thought the Draft Report on the Parking Authority transfer was vague and not detailed enough in how the funds would be handled. Ms. Malmud said “It’s a starting point.”
Turning to Mr. Roach, WPCNR asked him if he would push for restrictions on how all parking authority revenues and funds could be used in the final “transfer resolution,” Mr. Roach said he did not feel that was necessary at this time, and he was waiting for the proposal.
Gretsas: If Parking Authority Isn’t Moved by June 30, Funds Not
There Until 2006-07.
In our telephone interview with Mr. Gretsas, WPCNR asked if the bond rating services would consider the phantom transfer of funds if the city was unable to pass the Parking Authority transfer until July, past the June 30 deadline of the present fiscal year. Gretsas said the city would be at the mercy of the bond agencies, and he hoped the agencies would choose to consider that the city would have those funds available in 2006-07, instead of 2005-06.
The strategy in transferring the Parking Authority to be under city control was to shore up the city fund balance for 2005-06, to prevent a possible impending lowering of the city’s bond rating. The Bond agencies feel cities should have a fund balance amounting to 25% of the city’s budget.
The White Plains fund balance now is sitting on $16.5 Million, according to the 2004-05 budget. Transfer of the Parking Authority under the city control would add $10 Million to that bringing it up to $26.5 Million for 2005-2006, $10 Million of which would be undesignated, and usable for meeting deficits. If the transfer is not made by June 30, though, that money is not officially on the books to be considered by bond service auditors until fiscal year 2006-2007, though it would “be there.”
Gretsas said he could not understand why four Parking Authority Board members would seek “to delay” this by seeking legal advice when they were told they would be given the details in a meeting Monday. He said the resolution and charter change was very simple and felt it could be executed by the 30th of June with no problem, and would require a public hearing. No resolution has been drafted as yet, he said.
Details of Parking Authority Transfer Raise Issues
WPCNR has learned that the issue of how many hours Parking Authority workers will work has already surfaced as an issue, according to union sources. Parking Authority workers work 35 hours a week. City employees work 40. There is already talk, WPCNR has heard about either Parking Authority workers being raised to 40 hours, or all city workers reduced to 35 hours. This is just one issue to be worked out.
Another is the $14 Million in expenses of the Parking Authority, this would actually raise the city budget to a total of $128.5 Million, not $114.5 million, as presently envisioned by the Common Council and the Mayor’s Office. In such a scenario, parking revenues would have to be dedicated to parking operation expenses to cover it in the budget, according to a source familiar with budget ops. If you take Mr. Gretsas’ own analysis that a $10 Million infusion of Parking Authority fund balance would save the city credit rating and the bond agencies require a 25% of expenses fund balance, then the city would require a fund balance of $32 Million to satisfy the bond raters, not $25 Million.
