North Hempstead Building Department Audited: Report

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — A one year audit is set to begin some time this week of the North Hempstead Building Department by the Nassau County Comptroller's Office, according to Newsday.

The news comes a month after North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena requested an “impartial assessment” of the department she described as “deeply flawed," according to the Newsday report.

JoAnn Greene, director of field audit for the Comptroller’s Office, said the review will include “an examination of the building department’s operations and procedures (including the online portal), the internal control environment, performance monitoring, and regulatory compliance," in an Aug. 8 letter, which was released town officials, said Newsday.

Town officials confirmed that a meeting with staff from Comptroller Elaine Phillips’ Office will happen this week and that the discussion will include the audit process; objectives of the audit; a list of information the town will have to provide and a start date for field work, the outlet added.

“Since my first day in office, I have made rehabilitating the building department my number one priority, and this independent and impartial assessment will undoubtedly cut to the core of the problems that have been plaguing the building department for years,” DeSena, who was elected last November, said Tuesday in a statement reported Newsday.

A monthslong backlog and a “scandal-plagued” department were cited as reasons for the audit. The department, led by Commissioner John Niewender, has 51 employees and in 2022 a budget of over $4.5 million, Newsday said.

Niewender said Tuesday that he welcomes an outside assessment, according to the outlet.

“The audit’s going to show the volume, the movement, the constant flow; and it’s also going to show, based on that volume, how little number of people handle these things and how they handle it,” Niewender said in the report.

In 2007, a 16-month investigation into allegations of corruption led to the arrest and convictions of several building department employees, including the indictment of ex-commissioner David Wasserman, said Newsday.

Wasserman pleaded guilty to several charges, including grand larceny, and was sentenced to a year in jail. Others pleaded guilty to charges such as accepting cash bribes for permits and scheme to defraud. Niewender told the outlet he was not aware of any recent department scandals and noted that such allegations have hurt staff morale.

He also said he hopes the audit will exonerate the department and show that not enough funds have been allotted to properly staff it, Newsday added.

“It took a long time to clear the sins of the past,” Niewender said, but “we’ve come a long way and we’re going to continue to go further.”