1 1 2 STATE OF NEW YORK : ONONDAGA COUNTY LEGISLATURE 3 COUNTY OF ONONDAGA ------------------------------------------- 4 In the Matter of 5 Proposed BUDGET MEETING 2017 6 ------------------------------------------- 7 PUBLIC HEARING in the above matter, conducted 8 at the Onondaga County Court House Legislative Chambers, 401 Montgomery Street, 4th Floor, 9 Syracuse, New York before JOHN F. DRURY, CSR & RPR, Notary Public in and for the State of New 10 York, on October 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. 11 ONONDAGA COUNTY LEGISLATORS PRESENT: 12 DIST. NAME 13 1st BRIAN F. MAY 2nd JOHN C. DOUGHERTY 14 3rd TIM BURTIS 4th JUDITH A. TASSONE 15 5th KATHLEEN A. RAPP (not present) 16 6th MICHAEL E. PLOCHOCKI 7th DANNY J. LIEDKA 17 8th CHRISTOPHER J. RYAN 9th PEGGY CHASE 18 10th KEVIN A. HOLMQUIST 19 11th PATRICK KILMARTIN 12th DAVID KNAPP, Chairman Ways & Means 20 13th DEREK SHEPARD JR. 14th CASEY JORDAN 21 15th J. RYAN McMAHON, II (Not present) 22 16th MONICA WILLIAMS (Not present) 17th LINDA R. ERVIN 23 Clerk of Legislature: Deborah T. Maturo 24 Reported By: 25 John F. Drury, CSR, RPR Court Reporter 471-7397 2 1 2 INDEX TO SPEAKERS SPEAKERS PAGES 3 4 ERICA O'BRIEN Comptroller's Office 5 5 ARLEEN FORDOCK Constituent 8 6 FRANK MALFITANO Jazz Fest 12 7 LINDA GEARIETY NYS Nurses Assoc. 19 8 BILL CUDDY Jail Ministry 29 9 BILL FISHER County of Onondaga 31 10 BOB ANTONACCI County Comptroller 42 11 JIM MATURO Deputy Cnty Comptroller 50 12 JASON ZEIGLER Ond Cnty Gideon Society 55 13 PHILIP BRITT County of Onondaga 65 14 IRENE AURORA FLORES Assigned Counsel 68 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 Chairman Knapp 2 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Good evening. Like 3 to call the meeting to order please, for 4 the public hearing for the proposed 2017 5 budget, including the capital 6 improvement plan, the schedule of rates 7 to be charged for water and water 8 service, and the report of the Ways and 9 Means Committee. 10 Like to point out the exits please. 11 One in the back, and two in the front, 12 just in case. Also I would like to 13 remind everyone to silence your cell 14 phones, please. 15 Right now we have nine speakers 16 signed up to speak, and I have your 17 names here. If there is anyone else 18 that would like to speak, please come up 19 and sign back in the corner here with 20 Jamie, and she will get you on the 21 speakers list. So please do that. 22 As has been tradition, and we've 23 done it in the past, we'd like to limit 24 it to three minutes, the comments. We 25 find that everybody can usually get 4 1 Chairman Knapp 2 their point across in three minutes. 3 And if we have nine, it will be a few 4 more coming up, we'd like to keep the 5 evening moving along. So if you could 6 please help me keep track of the time 7 and I'll remind you if we're getting 8 close. 9 So just before we get started a few 10 comments by me. As Ways and Means 11 Chairman I preside over the public 12 hearing tonight. This has been a very 13 unique year so far, and we still have a 14 little ways to go. With the retirement 15 incentive that's in place, which does 16 not have an end date, it goes until the 17 21st of this month and we still have 18 folks deciding whether they want to take 19 advantage of the retirement incentive or 20 not. Which obviously greatly impacts 21 our budget. And so there will be lots 22 of changes I'm afraid to the Ways and 23 Means report. And potentially to the 24 budget that we pass next week, so we may 25 have an additional meeting in November 5 1 O'Brien 2 to amend the budget. 3 So with that in mind, before we ask 4 if there is -- before I get to the list 5 are there any Legislator who would like 6 to say a few words at the beginning? 7 Okay, being none, we will start with the 8 speakers who have signed in. You can 9 come up and speak right here at the 10 podium, just make sure the green light 11 is on, looks like it's on right now for 12 the microphone to be on. And I will 13 announce the name and I'll also announce 14 who's on deck, so you know you're next, 15 so you can be ready to go. 16 So we will start off with Erica 17 O'Brien from Jordan, New York. And as 18 they're coming up, Arlene Fordock is on 19 deck. 20 ERICA O'BRIEN: Thank you, my name 21 is Erica O'Brien. I work in the 22 Comptroller's office in Onondaga County, 23 I know Mr. McMahon isn't here tonight, 24 but I would like to thank him. He came 25 by this week to our office, and he took 6 1 O'Brien 2 the time to sit down with me for a 3 little while to find out and get a 4 little better understanding of what we 5 do in the payroll audit section of the 6 Comptroller's. 7 Mr. McMahon, who I was a little bit 8 nervous, I was a little bit tongue tied, 9 but did his best to make me feel 10 comfortable. As I told Mr. McMahon 11 earlier this week, as the counselors in 12 the Comptroller's office we spend the 13 majority of our time working on both 14 pre-auditing payroll and then, when it 15 is all set and employees are ready to be 16 paid, we also do an audit. And we do 17 this for over 3,000 County employees. 18 We get paperwork from all County 19 departments as well as Personnel. We 20 get paperwork from Employee Benefits in 21 the New York State Retirement System. 22 And it all has to be checked for 23 accuracy. We get four sets of reports 24 for each biweekly payroll. They need to 25 be looked over in great detail in order 7 1 O'Brien 2 to ensure payroll is correct. We not 3 only look for human error on data entry, 4 but there are system errors as well. We 5 don't do tests of the payroll or an 6 occasional check for an employee here 7 and there, each employee's entry must be 8 looked at to verify they're paid 9 correctly. 10 We work very closely with all 11 departments, payroll clerk, Personnel, 12 supervisors, sometimes department heads. 13 We do feel that regardless of which 14 computer system, computer program 15 generates the payroll, that there will 16 still need to be oversight. And we 17 strongly feel that the job of oversight 18 over the county biweekly payroll of over 19 $7 million, belongs as the function of 20 the Comptroller's office. Thank you 21 very much for your time. 22 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Thank you. Next we 23 have Arlene Fordock, Syracuse. 24 Granville Street, Syracuse, New York. 25 And Frank Malfitano on deck. 8 1 Fordock 2 ARLENE FORDOCK: Hello. Several 3 comments. Find the money needed for the 4 County budget, that nobody seems to know 5 where to find the money in the budget, 6 except the taxpayers always have to pay 7 for the bonds that are aren't 8 accessible. Which next year maybe we 9 will get a bill to raise the property 10 tax. I'm foreseeing it this is my 11 crystal ball. 12 Next is the found money I'm talking 13 about. Our County Executive gets an 14 allowance for her room, her office per se 15 of at least $38,000 per year which will 16 not ever see an article in the newspaper 17 because the budget is not line by line 18 in the newspaper. If she wants to find 19 money, she can give up some of the 20 redecorating in her office. How many 21 Persian rugs do you need? I am guessing 22 that's in her office because the public 23 never sees her office. And for that 24 kind of money I can buy a house in a 25 nice area in the Town of Salina, where 9 1 Fordock 2 the taxes are low and the water is low. 3 We have a problem here in Onondaga 4 County, that a lot of people cannot come 5 downtown. You can see by the response 6 here in the pews, so to speak. Nobody 7 feels like coming downtown at night. 8 Why not a Saturday? Anybody objecting 9 to Saturday for the public? Public 10 referendums could be done as well, 11 amongst yourselves you can't figure out 12 what to do with the lack of money or 13 with the excess money in the contingency 14 fund, or in the rainy day fund God 15 forbid. The public doesn't even know 16 there's money used in the rainy day fund 17 for whatever it's going to be used for. 18 And tonight there is no agenda. If 19 Mr. Knapp hadn't told me some 20 information about a particular item, I 21 never would have known. Because we 22 don't get an agenda. If we're gutsy at 23 the Onondaga County office and we ask 24 for an agenda to be sent to us e-mail, 25 if we're gutsy, how many people in this 10 1 Fordock 2 audience has ever asked for the agenda 3 for the meeting to be sent to you by 4 e-mail every month, so that you know 5 what's going on in the County? I would 6 suggest that you call 435-2070, and get 7 your name on the list. I am on the 8 list, I'm a senior, I don't drive, I 9 can't always come to the meetings 10 anyway. But I sure do watch what's 11 going on. 12 And what's going on with the 13 veterans? The grapevine told me that 14 the decreased funding for veterans is 15 occurring in this budget. I would like 16 to know why. What could be done to find 17 some money so that the veterans are not 18 penalized this year in the budget. Can 19 anybody tackle this and make common 20 sense? I would say maybe this is the 21 year that our County Executive does not 22 get $38,000 to whatever it is and she 23 can donate it to the veterans pot for a 24 very useful population that we have, 25 that deserves whatever we can give them. 11 1 Fordock 2 I would like to see the veterans get 3 six county tickets to the baseball 4 stadium. I would like to see the 5 veterans get discounted tickets to the 6 Crunch game. Because Number 1, the 7 Crunch game occupies the War Memorial. 8 And the War Memorial is not given over 9 to veterans uses until November of every 10 year for a nice little get-together in a 11 very narrow honor hall, for which the 12 handicapped could not come because there 13 is not room enough for wheelchairs and 14 for which the school children are not 15 invited anymore, because there is not 16 room for them to come in and look at 17 historical events. 18 Now somehow, some way, some common 19 sense has to be dealt with here. And I 20 hope to God it doesn't take an executive 21 order to make the common sense occur. 22 Because I don't see much common sense 23 with the executive orders. Thank you, 24 very much. 25 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Next we have Frank 12 1 Malfitano 2 Malfitano, Syracuse, New York, with 3 Linda Geariety on deck. Thank you. 4 FRANK MALFITANO: Firstly, I can't 5 do anything in three minutes and 6 secondly, I got a speeding ticket on the 7 Parkway on the way down here, if you can 8 help me out. 9 I thought I was coming here with an 10 entirely different message, but I really 11 came here to thank you, each and every 12 one of you. Over the past three months 13 we sat down together. You've been very 14 gracious with your time and your counsel 15 and your wisdom. You've schooled me in 16 the ways of your world. And I tried to 17 share my concerns about Jazz Fest. 18 Funny thing happened on Jazz Fest on 19 its historic march to its 36 anniversary 20 edition next year. You built this 21 amazing entertainment complex, which has 22 completely changed the game and changed 23 the landscape. And I've sort of, I hope 24 I didn't come across like the little old 25 lady out at Atlantic City who had the 13 1 Malfitano 2 house on the boardwalk and wouldn't move 3 and had to build the giant casino around 4 her. 5 I think you recognize that Jazz Fest 6 is a unique cultural tradition, one that 7 for 35 years has served a lot of 8 under-served populations to this 9 community. And I think you really heard 10 me when I said that it might prove 11 disruptive and premature to relocate, 12 and that it might have a negative impact 13 on the small businesses that rely on 14 Jazz Fest each year and on the 15 communities we serve. 16 I can't thank you enough for being 17 attentive, respectful and for being such 18 good listeners. I really feel like I've 19 developed a fast friendship with each 20 and every one of you. Some of you I 21 have known for many many years, but I've 22 always respected each one of you. 23 I'm going to try to cut this as 24 short as I can. We're one of top five 25 free Jazz Festivals in America. We're 14 1 Malfitano 2 the largest free Jazz Festival in the 3 northeast. We are one of a half a dozen 4 Jazz Festivals that's reached the 35th 5 anniversary. That's an incredible 6 achievement. It could have only 7 happened because of you and our 8 partnership with the private sector, 9 folks like M&T Bank and National Grid 10 and Price Chopper and C&S companies. 11 You are a major stakeholder in the 12 public sector. You're the only ones 13 that have stood tall for Jazz Fest. 14 You're the only ones that cared about 15 the people we serve. 16 I'm proud to say we're scandal 17 free/controversy free. We had an 18 incredible track record. When we look 19 at the racial polarization that's 20 happening in America, and it's divided 21 our country and blowing up in flames all 22 over the streets of America, I'm really 23 proud that we have come together as a 24 community, black and white, even 25 democrat and republican. Together, in 15 1 Malfitano 2 harmony and peace. So I hope that 3 symbolizes something. 4 I think what this partnership with 5 Jazz Fest and the arts community and the 6 public sector and the private sector, I 7 hope it symbolizes something larger. 8 That we can work together conjointly for 9 the greater good of this community that 10 we all love and serve. 11 I just want to share one little 12 story. By the way, we just got voted 13 yesterday, the Best Music Festival in 14 the Syracuse New Times, best of Syracuse 15 Polls. So I share this award with you 16 and I want to present a copy to the 17 chair. And I also have a copy for the 18 County Executive, who has also given me 19 a lot of time and consideration, and I 20 think realizes that jazz lives matter. 21 So David, I would like to present this 22 to you by way of Casey. And Margie, if 23 you want to come up, I would like to 24 give you this for the County Executive, 25 if I might. 16 1 Malfitano 2 Because together is the only way 3 we're going to achieve anything. I 4 realize that a bit of a social media 5 fire storm erupted when news of the 6 budget came out. I want to thank the 7 democratic minority members, and I 8 especially want to thank David Knapp and 9 Chair Ryan McMahon, who couldn't be with 10 us tonight. 11 I want to thank everybody associated 12 with the Legislature: Debbie Maturo, 13 Sue Stanczyk. I certainly want to thank 14 the republican super majority and Kevin 15 in particular for being extremely 16 articulate in the voice of the loyal 17 opposition. I think together we all 18 realize this is an important tradition, 19 and I so appreciate the consideration 20 you've given me. It means a lot to the 21 people who love Jazz Fest, it means a 22 lot to the people of this community. 23 Thanks for recognizing that. 24 One last story. If I might 25 Mr. Chair, I know I've already gone over 17 1 Malfitano 2 my three minutes. 3 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: I'll grant you 4 Legislator Holmquist's time. 5 FRANK MALFITANO: I didn't know 6 there were separate rules. 7 LEGISLATOR HOLMQUIST: You've got 8 until midnight. 9 FRANK MALFITANO: There is a great 10 movie about a great American composer by 11 the name of George M. Cohan. And he's 12 played by the great Jimmy Cagney. And 13 the movie is called Yankee Doodle Dandy. 14 And George M. Cohan was a composer, who 15 became the toast of Broadway, he was the 16 most celebrated composer of his time. 17 He wrote things like Grand Old Flag, 18 and Over There, and Yankee Doodle Dandy 19 that supported our troops during World 20 War I. So this final scene in the movie 21 where Jimmy Cagney sits down, in the 22 person of George M. Cohan, sits down 23 with FDR. 24 And FDR says, you know, he's handing 25 him the Congressional Medal of Honor, 18 1 Malfitano 2 the first ever awarded to an arts 3 person. And he says, you know, 4 Mr. Cohan, we're on the verge of World 5 War II here, and a big global conflict, 6 and your music is going to inspire our 7 troops and our nation. And he said we 8 want to recognize you with this 9 Congressional Medal of Honor. 10 Well, I am certainly no Jimmy Cagney, 11 and to be in the same company of George 12 M. Cohan, to be in the music industry is 13 a great great honor. To present great 14 American music for the past 45 years, 35 15 with Jazz Fest, and to be in community 16 service for 50 years of my 70 years, 17 this is a great great privilege and 18 honor and blessing for me. 19 And I don't quite know what to say, 20 but one final sentence. At the end of 21 the movie, Jimmy Cagney says to FDR: 22 Mr. President, the country is going to 23 be okay. Because I know when a little 24 guy like me can talk to the top man, 25 America is in good hands. 19 1 Geariety 2 So I think America is in good hands 3 on your watch, I think Syracuse and 4 Onondaga County are in great hands on 5 your watch. It's been an honor getting 6 to know each and every one of you in all 7 of your dedication to this community. 8 Thanks for recognizing mine. 9 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Next we have Linda 10 Geariety of Chittenango, New York. And 11 on deck is Bill Cuddy. 12 LINDA GEARIETY: Hi, I'm a little 13 nervous, just a little. My name is 14 Linda Geariety, I have been a nurse here 15 at the County for 12 years. My position 16 here at the Health Department is a case 17 manager for the Cancer Services Program. 18 This program offers free screening for 19 breast, cervical and colorectal cancer 20 for the uninsured or the underinsured 21 here of this County. 22 I find my work extremely rewarding, 23 although there are not so joyous moments 24 as when a person has learned that they've 25 been diagnosed with cancer. I have 20 1 Geariety 2 laughed and I have cried with my 3 patients. I am with them every step of 4 the way through the screening process 5 until they get a yea or nay for the 6 diagnosis. 7 Recently I assisted a woman who had 8 been complaining of rectal bleeding with 9 her provider, to get screened by the way 10 of a colonoscopy. I know this isn't the 11 best topic in the word, I apologize, 12 because you all had dinner already. But 13 she was found to have a cancerous polyp. 14 Through the blessing of early screening 15 this polyp was found, and the cancer was 16 contained within this polyp. The 17 treatment, such as radiation and 18 chemotherapy were not necessary for this 19 woman, because we found the polyp and it 20 was removed. Thank God for that. This 21 woman is a colorectal cancer survivor, 22 and I am proud of the work that I have 23 done to assist her in being able to say 24 that she is a survivor today. 25 There have also been many moving 21 1 Geariety 2 memorable breast cancer detection 3 stories that will forever stay with me. 4 Although sad that breast cancer has been 5 found in the majority of the cases that 6 I have worked with, it has been found 7 while it is still localized. The 8 survival rate for these women is greatly 9 enhanced because we were able to assist 10 them in getting screened and finding it 11 while it's still localized. 12 With me today are a bunch of my 13 fellow nurses. We are the nurses that 14 come into your constituents homes. The 15 women that may be teenage pregnant or 16 older women who are pregnant, that need 17 guidance and the teaching and the 18 promotion of the nurses to he help them 19 deliver healthy babies within their 20 homes. And if they, sadly, if the child 21 has developmental delays or there are 22 issues, they are the nurses that are 23 doing the intervention up until the age 24 of two to help these babies to develop 25 up to the proper developmental. 22 1 Geariety 2 Tim, somebody calls you in your 3 District: My mom keeps falling, I don't 4 know if she's taking her medications. I 5 work full time, how can I go and watch 6 my mom all the time to make sure she's 7 taking her medication and that she is 8 not falling? What can I do? Who do I 9 call? 10 The nurses back there. We have long 11 term care nurses that can help you and 12 guide you and your constituents in 13 helping to find safe ways to help 14 monitor these folks. 15 We have TB in this County. Just a 16 little. Currently our TB nurses screen 17 approximately a hundred people every two 18 weeks through the refugee population 19 coming into this County, okay? But 20 there are other members of the County 21 that also get screened, whether it be 22 for work or school or for some other 23 reason, okay? TB can be sleeping in the 24 body, we call it latent TB, okay, or it 25 can be active TB. 23 1 Geariety 2 We oversee and manage the treatment 3 for those folks taking the medications. 4 Typical treatment for TB is anywhere 5 between six and nine months. And you 6 want to make sure those people are 7 taking their medicine, because if 8 they're not, we get resistance, and 9 we've all heard about those stories in 10 the news. 11 We've all seen the news of County 12 alerts coming from time to time about 13 possible rabid fox, or kids playing with 14 a bat and possibly gotten bit. A stray 15 dog in the neighborhood with no tags on 16 it, bit somebody. My fellow nurses are 17 the people that you're calling to report 18 this. So that investigation can be done 19 and we can determine if treatment is 20 needed for those folks. 21 We are the nurses you call at the 22 Bureau of Disease Control for that. We 23 are the nurses to call if your doctor 24 calls your doctor -- I'm sorry, we are 25 the nurses that your doctors call if 24 1 Geariety 2 there is concerns about a foodborne 3 illness. I know I'm going long, I 4 didn't time this, I'm sorry. 5 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: I'm giving you 6 Mr. Ryan's time. 7 LINDA GEARIETY: From time to time 8 the news report is about a possible 9 hepatitis outbreak. We've all heard 10 from doctors. It is your County nurses 11 that are investigating these reports to 12 make sure that other fellows, other 13 folks in the County aren't getting sick 14 or if they are, they're getting the 15 appropriate treatment. 16 Do you all remember when we had the 17 flu outbreak in our community a few 18 years back? It was us, going to your 19 schools, and giving those flu shots to 20 make sure that we can try and get rid of 21 this flu. Yesterday, was the first 22 responders flu clinic out at the Fair 23 Grounds. Latest and greatest 24 information folks, we gave 670 flu shots 25 yesterday to all of our first responders. 25 1 Geariety 2 Monica is not here I see, but I had 3 a story, I wasn't picking just on you 4 Tim, I was going to pick on Monica too. 5 A mom in her area called her: My 6 landlord, he's not doing anything about 7 the fact that I've got chipped and 8 peeling paint in my house. And oh my 9 God, I found my kid eating that paint 10 chip the other day. We're concerned 11 about lead now. We're the nurses that 12 you call. We have the Lead Control 13 Program in our Nursing Department, and 14 we work to take care of that. 15 Just a little bit more. We do many 16 many things, as you folks can tell. 17 STD. We have an STD clinic here in the 18 County. We give five STD clinics a week 19 that the nurses are running. Some of 20 you might have heard of the news about 21 the syphilis outbreak at one of the 22 colleges, okay. The rising rates a 23 couple years ago of gonorrhea. We do 24 the screening, we do the treatment for 25 all the STDs in this County, okay? Your 26 1 Geariety 2 providers, your doctors around town, if 3 they're not sure how to treat it, they 4 don't have the proper medication, they 5 would be calling us -- not Ghost 6 Busters. 7 WIC, I'm sure you all have heard of 8 WIC, Women and Infant Child Program. 9 The nurses back there are the ones that 10 are manning it. Folks are getting 11 monthly assessments to make sure that 12 they're getting the proper nutritional 13 and developmental milestones stuff, in 14 exchange for healthy food vouchers, so 15 that they get the milk, dairy, eggs, 16 cheese, peanut butter, food items, so 17 that they can grow and develop well. 18 I'm sorry, I'm really trying. 19 Immunization clinic. Our schools have 20 been in session about a month now, 21 especially the city school district, 22 okay? It is required that our kids have 23 all their appropriate immunizations and 24 vaccines to be in school. The line for 25 the Immunization clinic earlier this 27 1 Geariety 2 week, across the street, next door, 3 filled the waiting room, down the hall. 4 And if you're all familiar with the 5 Civic Center's basement, out to the 6 Banner Room. That's how long the line 7 was, because school nurses give about a 8 month's grace period and say, you got to 9 get these shots done. And if you don't 10 have those shots done by a certain 11 deadline, your child is not allowed to 12 come back to school until those shots 13 are done. Those nurses were doing those 14 shots this week, okay? 15 We are nurses without a contract. 16 We have not had a contract since 2013. 17 We are still out there every day helping 18 you, helping your neighbors, helping the 19 members in our community. As Registered 20 Nurses we are sought after as 21 professionals. We could make more by 22 working in the private sector, however 23 we believe in the work that we do, in 24 the mission of the County. And we work 25 for those who desperately need it within 28 1 Geariety 2 the Health Department. 3 See, last page, folks. But the 4 ability to attract and retain nursing 5 professionals will be greatly hindered 6 if the Health Department continues on 7 with its plan to dramatically cut our 8 benefits, causing great hardship for the 9 nurses. We are nurses, we make 10 sacrifices, have made sacrifices and 11 will continue to make sacrifices. It is 12 very difficult for us to accept cuts 13 that are unnecessary, that will provide 14 unsubstantial -- that will not provide 15 substantial savings, but that do create 16 a significant impact upon the nurses. I 17 along with my fellow colleagues, urge 18 you to reconsider this and settle a fair 19 contract that preserves quality, 20 affordable health insurance and wages 21 for the nurses. Maybe five minutes did 22 I take? 23 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Actually a little 24 bit more than that. Maybe double that. 25 But you did a nice job. 29 1 Cuddy 2 LINDA GEARIETY: Thank you all, very 3 much. 4 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Next we have Bill 5 Cuddy, with Bill Fisher on deck. 6 BILL CUDDY: Good evening. 7 Chairperson David Knapp, County 8 Legislators and fellow citizens. Thank 9 you for this opportunity to speak about 10 the quality of legal defense for the 11 indigent of Onondaga County. In 12 particular, for those who are 13 incarcerated, waiting for the 14 disposition of their criminal charges. 15 My name is Bill Cuddy, I'm a member 16 of Jail Ministry. For the past 40 years 17 we have been involved with the inmate 18 population of the Onondaga County Jail, 19 first in the Public Safety Building, and 20 now in the Justice Center. 21 Presently there are 45 people in 22 Jail Ministry who have passes to enter 23 the Justice Center where we do worship, 24 Bible study, offer a multitude of 25 services, and engage in relationships 30 1 Cuddy 2 with inmates and be their advocates. 3 In addition, we have an office where 4 there are four dedicated phone lines to 5 receive free phone calls from inmates. 6 One for the real expedited program, and 7 three for all the other inmate calls. 8 So as to this vantage point do we serve 9 as a sounding board for inmates concerns. 10 In recent years there have been a 11 critical mass of complaints about the 12 legal representation, with the 13 statements like: My lawyer waived my 14 preliminary hearing without consulting 15 me; my lawyer waived my grand jury 16 hearing without consulting me; I have 17 been here for a month, and my lawyer has 18 never visited me, please contact my 19 lawyer to visit me; and for several 20 weeks I need to talk about my innocence 21 or just I need to talk about my case. 22 We are heartened with the Hurrell- 23 Harring lawsuit that is issued into new 24 eligibility rules that will now make 25 legal counsel available for hundreds of 31 1 Cuddy 2 the working poor in Onondaga County, and 3 the presence of a lawyer at the 4 arraignment in the criminal courts of 5 the County. 6 And we are still hopeful, with New 7 York State and Onondaga County working 8 together, that they will find the 9 necessary resources for the legal 10 counsel to seek more bail reductions, 11 hire more investigators, and provide 12 quality legal defense for the 13 incarcerated indigents of Onondaga 14 County. We look forward to the future 15 and that the quality of defense for the 16 indigent will be markedly improved here 17 in this County. Thank you. 18 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Thank you. Next we 19 have Bill Fisher, with Comptroller Bob 20 Antonacci on deck. 21 BILL FISHER: I figure we would be 22 noticing -- my name is Bill Fisher. My 23 family and I reside in the great town of 24 Onondaga, where we are represented 25 exceedingly by Legislator Kilmartin. 32 1 Fisher 2 As the Deputy County Executive, I 3 exercise general administrative 4 responsibility on behalf of the County 5 Executive, subject to her direction over 6 all financial and administrative units 7 of the executive branch of County 8 government, including Personnel, 9 Information Technology, the Comptroller 10 and the Chief Fiscal Officer. I mention 11 these four units of County government 12 because they will be equally impacted by 13 the proposed transfer of six account 14 clerks from the Comptroller's office to 15 the Personnel and Finance Department. 16 That we have an established 17 dedicated Payroll Department separating 18 payroll management responsibility from 19 the Comptroller's office to the 20 Personnel and Finance Departments began 21 with an expert named Tony Townsend. 22 Mr. Townsend is the HCM practice 23 director for the leading consultant firm 24 SpearMC, has written a memorandum to 25 this Legislature identifying four 33 1 Fisher 2 concerns that he recommended that the 3 County address before we go live with 4 people's payroll and the other 5 components of people HCM applications. 6 And that memorandum has been filed with 7 the Department of Records and the County 8 Legislature can certainly have an 9 electronic copy if you would rather have 10 that than the paper copy. 11 Tony started discussing his concerns 12 with me last April, long before the 13 Comptroller's Executive Secretary 14 learned though the use of people's 15 paychecks, and roughly a year before any 16 lawsuits were even filed. 17 Tony also spoke with many others 18 about why it might make sense to the 19 County to separate payroll auditors from 20 payroll managers, including senior 21 managers such as TFO Steve Morgan, 22 Personnel Commissioner Peter Troiano, 23 Carl Hummel also from the Personnel 24 Department, as well as the Auditor of 25 Payroll in the Comptroller's office. 34 1 Fisher 2 I know for a fact that this 3 possibility was brought to the 4 Comptroller's attention this spring. 5 What Mr. Townsend recommended is that we 6 look at starting a payroll operations 7 group in one or two places, where 8 payroll is typically done in local and 9 state government, within the finance 10 treasury function or as part of HR 11 personnel. 12 If you ask around town, those are 13 people that process payroll or view 14 audits on payroll or audit books of 15 large companies, anybody with 300 or 16 more paychecks, anybody that's involved 17 in that, if you ask them, they're going 18 to say: We can't even understand why 19 your Auditor would be entering things 20 into the payroll system. Why are you 21 putting garnishments in there? Why are 22 they managing and processing payroll and 23 also auditing it? Segregating those 24 functions is just something that anyone 25 if you talk to in this town would be 35 1 Fisher 2 able to steer you towards the people I 3 personally talked to, will tell you. 4 We also started last year to look at 5 what other counties do. Out of 62 6 counties in New York State, we could 7 find only three where the department 8 responsible for auditing is also 9 responsible for managing and processing 10 payroll, of which Onondaga County is the 11 largest by far. The other two counties 12 where the chief auditing officer is also 13 responsible for payroll are Oneida 14 County, with a population of 232,871, 15 and Columbia County, 139,257. 16 In Albany County, payroll is not in 17 HR personnel. In Broome County it's 18 done in finance treasury. In Cortland 19 County, Erie County and Monroe County, 20 very much comparable to our County, 21 payroll is managed and processed in HR 22 Personnel. And in fact, moving payroll 23 management and processing to Personnel 24 is not a new idea in Onondaga County. 25 I'm told that in 1986 when Onondaga 36 1 Fisher 2 County Personnel Department licensed the 3 Genesys HR Payroll Product, and that's 4 County Personnel Contract 15487. So for 5 those who believe that this is his 6 system, here's the contract under which 7 Personnel Department contracted for it 8 in the first place. 9 There was a lot of debate apparently 10 30 years ago by the team that evaluated 11 the different options for replacing the 12 internally built payroll program. And 13 that team was led by Ray Ptac, who was a 14 member of the data processing -- I'm 15 sorry, the Personnel Department, and 16 Mike Clary, who was a member of the Data 17 Processing Department at that time. And 18 Mike continues to work for the County as 19 a retiree, because he's one of the only 20 people we can find with any 21 understanding of how the Genesys system 22 works. 23 So at that time the Deputy 24 Comptroller, at that time was named, 25 AC Smith, and he wrote a memo to the 37 1 Fisher 2 Committee: This is to advise you that I 3 cannot concur with or against the 4 Committee selection of the Genesys 5 system. Only to my deep involvement in 6 the online pay mess of county system 7 development, I have not been able to 8 adequately participate in the payroll 9 system review and selection process. 10 Accordingly, I cannot express a 11 responsible opinion. This is not to 12 infer any disagreement with the 13 selection process that you conducted. 14 While appearances results of the 15 selection process were, for the most 16 part, adequate for the purpose intended, 17 I sincerely regret not being able to 18 participate in a greater degree in the 19 review and selection process. 20 So the irony is, that he was unable 21 to express a responsible opinion in a 22 system that the Comptroller believes is 23 his, and that only he should be able to 24 manage. So if the Personnel Department 25 purchased the system, then collaborated 38 1 Fisher 2 closely with Data Processing Department 3 to implement the system, why didn't they 4 just go to the logical next step, and 5 move Payroll Management and Processing 6 to Personnel where it clearly belongs? 7 Well, I can't answer that question 8 because I wasn't there. But I think I 9 can explain why the Comptroller became 10 so interested in the Genesys payroll 11 system that he claims is his. I think 12 we all know that the answer has nothing 13 to do with where payroll should be 14 managed and processed. The answer is 15 right before us. Once he filed his 16 lawsuit claiming that the Genesys 17 payroll system was his system, it became 18 impossible for Comptroller Antonacci to 19 do anything other than claim some sort 20 of divine right and to manage and 21 process payroll. 22 Our proposed budget preserves the 23 jobs of the six account clerks who are 24 processing payroll today. It leaves two 25 positions within the payroll pre-audit 39 1 Fisher 2 section, which is more than enough once 3 we move from a manual process, featuring 4 mountains of paper, to an electronic 5 process to a modern, resonate user 6 interface. 7 These account clerks are fully 8 trained in the use of Genesys, which 9 will continue to be used to process 10 payroll and HR transactions until the 11 County team is fully trained in the use 12 of the PeopleSoft system to manage HR, 13 payroll benefits and positions. If they 14 need to continue using the Genesys 15 system for a period of time, even after 16 January 1st, then of course they would 17 be able to do so from their new job in 18 County government. 19 The Comptroller's other complaint 20 seems to be that his Department has been 21 singled out among other elected 22 officials. That's simply not true. The 23 budget for salary in the District 24 Attorney's office has been reduced 25 $417,000. The Clerk's office salary has 40 1 Fisher 2 been reduced by $129,000. The Sheriff's 3 office by over a million dollars. They 4 are all County-wide elected officials, 5 as is the Comptroller. 6 Misleading the public by pretending 7 this is all about him. He would also 8 like you to believe that his account 9 clerks are the first to be assigned to a 10 shared services center. In the past 11 every single department had its own 12 personnel, finance and often times 13 facilities law and key staff. We've 14 been moving these positions into shared 15 services center, where we can put them 16 in one place under unified management, 17 where they work with other people. 18 And in the Personnel Department 19 already, we moved in a number of payroll 20 clerks. We want the person supervising 21 payroll to have authority over those 22 payroll clerks that are processing 23 things from the department. And right 24 now we have divided management 25 authority, it's not run as cleanly as it 41 1 Fisher 2 could be. 3 He also would like you to reach the 4 conclusion, that people thought payroll 5 was too big and complicated for Onondaga 6 County. In the memorandum there is a 7 list of the six or eight of the clients 8 that Tony Townsend has worked with. One 9 of them in a Village with a thousand 10 paychecks. There is also several 11 customers that he has with 1,500, 2,000. 12 So 3,000 payroll is right within the 13 sweet spot of this product. 14 We have every confidence that the 15 people in the Comptroller's Department, 16 the people in the Personnel Department, 17 and the other Departments that have been 18 learning about this system, have 19 completely adequate training. And once 20 they have had completely adequate 21 training they will be able to handle 22 this product just as well as over 5,000 23 customers using PeopleSoft world wide. 24 So I don't know if I went beyond my five 25 or so minutes, but thank you for your 42 1 Antonacci 2 time. 3 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Thank you. Next we 4 have Bob Antonacci, Comptroller. 5 BOB ANTONACCI: Thank you Chairman, 6 and Honorable members of the Onondaga 7 County Legislature. The County 8 Executive proposed her tentative budget 9 on September 15th and eliminated six 10 payroll auditors from the office of the 11 County Comptroller. Along with other 12 cuts the County Executive's tentative 13 budget slashes the County Comptroller 14 payroll line by 29 percent. 15 Mr. Fisher in his letter to the 16 editor indicated a numerical amount. He 17 didn't indicate a percentage amount. 18 The Sheriff's budget was cut 4 percent; 19 the DA and Clerk 8 percent. No other 20 elected official or department for that 21 matter had the salary line slashed by 22 that amount or percentage. 23 In addition, no other elected 24 official had positions removed from 25 their office. It is incredulous to me 43 1 Antonacci 2 such a serious matter would be dropped 3 on your desks, a mere three weeks ago. 4 But that is the County budget process. 5 And now we all must address the 6 tentative budget proposed by the County 7 Executive. 8 First, let's address the elephant in 9 the room. There is no doubt relations 10 have been strained between the office of 11 County Comptroller and the Onondaga 12 County Legislature and the County 13 Executive. And that strain, while it 14 may have had many different beginnings, 15 there is no doubt the filing of the 16 lawsuit by my office has led to the 17 events today. I refer to the County 18 Executive's budget as a revenge budget. 19 I believe that to be the case as I stand 20 here tonight and listen to the comments 21 of Mr. Fisher. 22 The County Comptroller is charged 23 with oversight of County finances and 24 must certify all claims, including 25 payroll. That is our job, and it does 44 1 Antonacci 2 not change with the implementation of 3 any system, PeopleSoft or otherwise. 4 You can write payroll on the back of a 5 napkin and we would still have the 6 audit. That is what the charter 7 requires us to do and that is what I was 8 elected to do. 9 With a 29 percent reduction in 10 payroll and the elimination of six 11 positions, I can only conclude the 12 County Executive budget is political 13 retribution, because clearly my office 14 is being eviscerated, and will have an 15 impossible task of performing our 16 duties. 17 What are our duties? 18 Accountability, oversight, audit, checks 19 and balances. Whatever you want to call 20 it, to eliminate or prevent our office 21 from performing these duties is not in 22 the best interests of the taxpayers of 23 Onondaga County. 24 In light of the very serious 25 allegations concerning real estate 45 1 Antonacci 2 developer COR, along with other 3 headlines we see on a daily basis, I 4 would think the last thing we want to do 5 is eliminate oversight and 6 accountability within County government. 7 My payroll auditors audit payroll. 8 It is their chief function and consumes 9 virtually their entire time. To be 10 sure, there might be what some call 11 processing in my department. But don't 12 forget that I am also the Chief 13 Accounting Officer, and my office is 14 charged with accounting and reporting 15 all transactions in Onondaga County. My 16 office is also responsible for recording 17 all encumbrances and appropriations, and 18 obviously payroll is one of our largest 19 expenditures. 20 To confuse my audit function with 21 that of an outside independent auditor, 22 apparently that's the rumor around town, 23 is simply not a reliable way to evaluate 24 the County Executive's tentative budget. 25 Besides what hasn't work? For 50 years 46 1 Antonacci 2 the Onondaga County Comptroller has 3 provided oversight and accountability in 4 County government. And only this year, 5 subsequent to a lawsuit being filed by 6 my office, has there been any question 7 as to the office's duties concerning 8 payroll. What hasn't worked? What's 9 broken? More importantly what will be 10 broken or won't work if this oversight 11 is taken out of my office. 12 I mentioned in my letter to the 13 editor National Grid, and the problem 14 they had when they switched pre-maturely 15 to another payroll software program. I 16 don't think anybody wants those 17 headlines involving Onondaga County. 18 In the aftermath of the allegations 19 involving the developer COR in the SUNY 20 system, Albany lawmakers have already 21 begun to question, why contract 22 oversight was taken away from the state 23 Comptroller in 2011. As stated in a 24 recent news article, "Five years ago, in 25 the name of streamlining, Cuomo 47 1 Antonacci 2 convinced state lawmakers to curtail 3 Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's oversight 4 authority on contracts and spending by 5 SUNY non-profits." I am sure no one 6 would like to see similar headlines 7 involving any allegations of fraud or 8 mismanagement involving Onondaga County 9 payroll. 10 Even if you allow new positions to 11 be created in the County administration, 12 my office still needs returned the six 13 employees being cut, which are now 14 within my office to audit and certify 15 payroll. The tentative budget leaves my 16 office one payroll auditor, not two. 17 And one person cannot keep an eye on a 18 half a billion dollar expenditure in 19 over 3,200 payroll payments every two 20 weeks in County government. 21 Good government and accountability 22 demand these individuals remain under 23 the auspices of the independently 24 elected County Comptroller. This back 25 and forth of what other counties and 48 1 Antonacci 2 auditors do is of little consequence. 3 To be sure, I have no problem taking a 4 look at the eight other County 5 Comptroller governments in New York 6 State. Again, there is only eight other 7 elected County Comptrollers, as well as 8 the New York State Comptroller. 9 The County Comptrollers of Nassau, 10 Oneida, Ulster and Suffolk, along with 11 the New York State Comptroller perform 12 essentially the same, and in some cases 13 more duties than my office performs in 14 payroll. How can they all be wrong? 15 The remaining three have some form of 16 audit oversight. But I ask, where do we 17 draw the line in looking at other 18 counties. 19 The Erie County Comptroller sells 20 the bonds of his County. That's not a 21 function within my office. Should it 22 be? To go one step further, not every 23 County has a County Executive form of 24 government. With the consensus 25 discussion, is that something we should 49 1 Antonacci 2 now consider? And not every County has 3 the full time County Legislature. Many 4 legislative bodies only warrant a half 5 time benefit with the New York State 6 Retirement System. 7 My point is this, that exercise is a 8 rabbit hole, not worthy of further 9 comparison, because we do it right, here 10 in Onondaga County. 11 I leave you with a quote from Preet 12 Bharara, US Attorney of the Southern 13 District of New York, who at a recent 14 conference said, "You do the right thing 15 in the right way for the right reasons. 16 Always. That's it." 17 What's the right thing for Onondaga 18 County? I proffer we leave payroll 19 auditors right where they should be. 20 What's the right way? Certainly making 21 a decision of this magnitude with a 22 little more than three weeks of review, 23 cannot in any way be the right way to 24 evaluate these proposed cuts. 25 And is it being done for the right 50 1 Maturo 2 reasons? You will have to look 3 yourselves in the mirror and ask, are we 4 eliminating these positions for the 5 right reasons? My staff came here 6 tonight, they believe in what we do. 7 You've been encouraged to speak to them, 8 you're welcome to come over to the 9 office. But I leave you with this, no 10 matter your disdain for me, are you 11 eliminating these payroll positions for 12 the right reasons? Thank you, very much. 13 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Jim Maturo, with 14 Jason Zeigler on deck. 15 JIM MATURO: Thank you, Chairman. 16 For those who don't know me, I'm Jim 17 Maturo, I'm Deputy County Comptroller. 18 I've been with the Comptroller's office 19 for 33 years. And for the last 20 years 20 I've overseen the payroll unit. So you 21 can imagine my surprise when I was 22 sitting in the Ways and Means review, I 23 heard the Administration try to tell you 24 that the six account clerks in the 25 payroll units process payroll. 51 1 Maturo 2 When pressed as to the current 3 function and duties of these payroll 4 employees, they didn't seem to know what 5 they did on a daily basis. Well, I know 6 what they do. They pre-audit the 7 payroll entries and payroll data that is 8 inputted into the payroll system by 9 County departments, including the 10 payments of 3,200 County employees every 11 two weeks. This unit has done that for 12 years before I came to the County, and 13 they've done that every day for the 33 14 years I've been in the Comptroller's 15 office. 16 Now, the reason why payroll wasn't 17 taken out of the Comptroller's office, 18 the payroll pre-audit, wasn't taken out 19 of the Comptroller office in '86, was 20 because that's where it belonged. There 21 was no -- there was no deciding, well, 22 should we take it out, should we not 23 take it out? It remained there, because 24 that is a Comptroller's function. 25 Now we were asked by Chairman Knapp 52 1 Maturo 2 to provide a flow of payroll process and 3 a detailed list of what our payroll 4 people do. We provided those two 5 documents, and we also provided a 6 write-up produced by Bonadio & Company, 7 our outside audit firm, detailing their 8 understanding of what the County's 9 payroll process is. 10 I would like anyone in the 11 Administration to read those three 12 documents and show me where these six 13 individuals process payroll. It's clear 14 to me, and it's clear to Bonadio, that 15 this individuals pre-audit the payroll. 16 Now, you've been told at budget 17 hearings in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 18 again this year, in 2016, that we're 19 going live with PeopleSoft payroll next 20 year. I heard a rumor that apparently 21 the consultant said, that the payroll 22 system was 95 percent complete. Not 23 sure how the payroll can be 95 percent 24 complete when the system, and I use that 25 term loosely, has no current ability to 53 1 Maturo 2 track employee paid leave accruals, or 3 produce a file for us to report our 4 payroll to the New York State Retirement 5 System. There is no import of the 6 payroll transactions into the accounting 7 system. And there is no import of the 8 payroll distribution to the accounts 9 payable module. And as well, we have 10 never seen the required year-end 11 reporting and processing of payroll. 12 This is a pretty big 5 percent that 13 we're talking about here. 14 I would add that this same 15 consultant, said in a meeting in May of 16 2015, that September 1st, 2015 was an 17 achievable goal live date for payroll. 18 September 1st, 2015. Apparently it 19 wasn't. 20 I've been involved with this project 21 from the very start of 2010. It was 22 sold to us, it was sold to you, and it 23 was sold to the taxpayers. As a three 24 year implementation of 18 modules at a 25 fixed price of $6 million. To date we 54 1 Maturo 2 have installed 5 modules. We have 3 doubled the fixed price contract, and 4 we're still going. And we are four 5 years past due, and still counting. 6 I ask you, how confident are you that 7 we're not going to be here a year from 8 now having this very same conversation? 9 Now, the payroll unit of the 10 Comptroller's office is doing its job 11 and doing it well for 40 years. 12 Mr. Fisher has been in the County all of 13 seven years. He is a person who's 14 saddled us with an inefficient software 15 package. He has led the most 16 inefficient and ineffective project that 17 I have witnessed in my 33 years with the 18 County. And he wants you to believe 19 that he knows how to make payroll more 20 efficient. He has no system, and no 21 idea what we do in the Comptroller's 22 office. That's amazing. 23 I would like to make one last point. 24 The payroll process for the County will 25 be the same on January 1st, 2017 as it 55 1 Zeigler 2 has been for the last 30 years. There 3 is no change. So why would we make any 4 personnel changes at this point? The 5 accountability doesn't improve, the 6 pre-audit assurances certainly don't 7 improve, the process doesn't improve, 8 and there is no efficiency to be had 9 here, regardless of what you're being 10 told. The only thing that is taking 11 personnel from the Comptroller's office 12 will do at this point, is put the 13 biweekly paychecks from 3,200 County 14 employees at-risk. I find that 15 incredibly hard to believe that anybody 16 would want to do that. Thank you. 17 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Jason Zeigler, 18 Z-E-I-G-L-E-R, with Phil Britt on deck. 19 JASON ZEIGLER: I feel like at this 20 time going to be hard to follow-up. 21 Before I get started I want to let you 22 know, the woman talking about veteran 23 benefits that the County gives. And as 24 a veteran, speaking for myself, I more 25 than have received benefits for free, 56 1 Zeigler 2 thanks. Before I get into this. 3 So I'm an attorney on the Assigned 4 Counsel Panel, also a member of the 5 Onondaga County Gideon Society, which is 6 comprised of attorneys and investigators, 7 interpreters, expert witnesses, that 8 provide services to indigent defendants 9 in this County. And people also from 10 Hiscock Legal Aid Society, now the 11 Gideon Society. All those advocate for 12 the people that do this on a 13 professional basis. 14 Recently the County issued a Request 15 for Proposal to Services that are 16 currently being provided through the 17 County Assigned Counsel Program. From 18 what I understand there were three bids. 19 One from the current Assigned Counsel 20 Program, one from Legal Aid and one from 21 I think defense attorney Cognetti, 22 essentially an Alternative Plan. 23 When I told the Gideon Society I was 24 coming to speak tonight, I wasn't going 25 to speak for one plan or another, given 57 1 Zeigler 2 that we have people in the different 3 entities in our organization, which is 4 really going to address some of the 5 issues. 6 I came to watch the budget 7 presentation with Hiscock Legal Aid and 8 the Assigned Counsel Program. One 9 things surprising me, was word going 10 about, the Assigned Counsel was going to 11 get the bid. The Legislature was told 12 that a decision hadn't been made and 13 that the Committee had not even met. 14 Yesterday an article appeared in 15 Syracuse.com, saying that the Assigned 16 Counsel Program is getting the contract. 17 And I know Mr. Cognetti, and his group 18 is pending, haven't been informed. I'm 19 not quite sure of the specifics of the 20 process or whether the Legislature would 21 have to sign off on any kind of 22 decision. 23 So we're really coming here tonight, 24 was when I was watching the discussion 25 between some of the Legislators, kind of 58 1 Zeigler 2 started coming down to the strengths and 3 weaknesses of the various programs. And 4 wanted to focus on I think some of the 5 complaints that, you know, their 6 complaints about bills not being 7 processed as quickly as they could be. 8 That's a very small piece of the problem. 9 You know, when these nurses go out 10 to a school and they're giving flu 11 shots, the County pays them for the work 12 they did. We do the work and then 13 submit a bill. None of us are getting 14 paid for all the time that we put in. 15 None of us are getting assigned the way 16 we're supposed to. 17 You end up with a system that 18 Mr. Cuddy spoke about, where the quality 19 defense, despite the quality of 20 attorneys, investigators and everybody 21 else working, it's sub par. Under the 22 system we're in, its almost impossible. 23 The County Comptroller's office 24 performed an audit of the Assigned 25 Counsel program a number of years ago. 59 1 Zeigler 2 I think this was already known, 20 3 percent of the cases a signed never paid 4 out. When you take a case, you're going 5 to get paid on your time, somewhere 6 between the next six months and 24 7 months, depending on how long the case 8 takes. This is despite a state law 9 saying we're supposed to be able to 10 submit interim bills, the Fourth 11 Department said the County can't refuse 12 to do this. And years later the 13 Assigned Counsel Program continues to 14 ignore it. Out of the time we put in 15 every day you're not going to get paid 8 16 hours, get paid 2, 4, hopefully 6. I do 17 some attorney for children work. No 18 problem submitting the bill, the things 19 that I would need to do. Always be 20 questioned by our County's Assigned 21 Counsel Program. Why did you file 22 motions? The first time, I'm currently 23 suing a Judge over their recommendation 24 they're not paying, even though I showed 25 up to court, I filed the motions, my 60 1 Zeigler 2 client didn't want to take the offer. 3 It was his decision. For that one month 4 period all these bills went out, they 5 asked every single Judge not to pay me 6 as retaliation. Every single Judge but 7 one basically told them to stick it in 8 their ear. The other one just got sued, 9 and I really blame the Assigned Counsel 10 Program. 11 So I think about things like 12 retaliation instead of doing the right 13 thing. Some of what Mr. Antonacci said 14 resonated. If there is some kind of 15 spat, I think as a taxpayer, I'm going a 16 little off on what I planned on saying, 17 just as a taxpayer, you need people to 18 run payroll or check things, it's 19 probably a good idea to keep them there, 20 however you feel about somebody. 21 And that's how I feel I'm being 22 treated with our Assigned Counsel 23 Program, and many of my colleagues are 24 in the same boat. If we go out and do 25 our job, we're retaliated against. 61 1 Zeigler 2 Over the years the County has been 3 sued multiple times. The County is now 4 part of a settlement with the New York 5 Civil Liberties Union. Which is also 6 mentioned in yesterday's article. I 7 would caution you from getting your 8 information solely from the Assigned 9 Counsel Program as to what's going on 10 and whether you're in compliance with 11 that settlement. 12 As part of my role in getting my 13 colleagues organized, spent a lot of 14 time talking to my colleagues, the 15 NYCLU, ILS, anybody that will listen. 16 What's going on in this County is beyond 17 the pale. And it's being lied about all 18 the time. So, you know, I know we met 19 with some of you, and I appreciate that. 20 Not much has changed. And at this point 21 deadlines are coming up in that 22 settlement agreement. The County has a 23 good chance of being dragged back to 24 court for not complying with the 25 settlement. Because the culture of the 62 1 Zeigler 2 program has not changed. 3 I'm not a believer that an 4 institutional provider or a bar 5 association that one is essentially 6 better than the other. There's good 7 attorneys in both entities. When you 8 tell an attorney, you spend too much 9 time with your client, or you tell an 10 attorney, you shouldn't have asked for 11 an adjournment when you got a case 12 dismissed. What are you telling that 13 person? You're telling them don't go to 14 the jail. You're telling them, don't 15 talk to your client. 16 And when you signed off on the 17 settlement, that says you're going to 18 make sure that the attorneys go to the 19 jail, you're going to make sure the 20 attorneys do the work they do. You 21 can't have a program that continues to 22 tell people they're doing too much work. 23 You can't continue to have a system that 24 penalizes attorneys by withholding 25 assignments for doing good work. 63 1 Zeigler 2 What we do is not popular. A lot of 3 our clients are accused of doing bad 4 things. Unless it's Family Court, they 5 all are. They're not all guilty. My 6 job doesn't change whether my client is 7 innocent or guilty. The guilt is not 8 proven at arrest. There is a process 9 and there is a reason for it. We have 10 an adversarial system. And that system 11 is supposed to flush out guilt or 12 innocence. 13 And when you hamstring it you have 14 too many instances of innocent people 15 going to jail. You have too many 16 instances of people who maybe shouldn't 17 be sitting in jail, sitting there in 18 jail. There is too much of a focus on a 19 very short term, right in front of your 20 face, you're doing this, you're doing 21 too much of that, because we don't want 22 to pay. Because the program doesn't 23 want to come to the Legislature and say 24 how much money they really need. 25 And there are definitely long term 64 1 Zeigler 2 consequences for individuals, there is 3 consequences to the County, if you have 4 people sitting in the jail longer than 5 they need to be. Given what I see, 6 you're not in compliance with the 7 settlement, despite the very well 8 intentions of many of you to be. I 9 think nobody thinks that anybody should 10 be just locked up and put away without 11 any kind of fair trial or adequate 12 representation. 13 So given the implements that you do 14 have, I would ask that you take a look 15 at what's going on, take a look at the 16 RFP, and find out why the RFP is being 17 issued in the first place, and whether 18 whatever decision you come to is really 19 going to address the issues that led to 20 the issuance of the RFP in the first 21 place. Because I think a lot of smoke 22 and mirrors isn't really going to cut 23 it. Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Next we have Philip 25 Britt, with Irene Aurora Flores on deck. 65 1 Britt 2 PHILIP BRITT: As someone who served 3 this County as Deputy Comptroller/ 4 Auditor and Chief Government Accountant, 5 I hope I can offer some useful input to 6 this Legislature about the proposed 7 transfer of the account clerks between 8 departments. 9 Within the Division of Financial 10 Operations, which is a relatively new 11 group within County government, we 12 employ many account clerks and 13 accountants, previously worked in other 14 departments. This Division was 15 established several years ago with the 16 approval of the Legislature, and I'm 17 proud to lead these dedicated County 18 employees as the Director of Financial 19 Operations. 20 When the County first implemented 21 PeopleSoft Financials, which went live 22 in 2012, it did so with the same 23 organizational structure that was in 24 place for FAMIS and BuySpeed, the 25 financial and procurement system that 66 1 Britt 2 the County has used for many years. 3 What we learned after going live is that 4 our existing organization of fiscal 5 officers and others working with 6 requisitions, purchase orders, 7 contracts, receipt and vouchers, the raw 8 ingredients of Financial Operations 9 Division, was not a good fit for the way 10 that PeopleSoft Financials works. The 11 creation of the Financial Operations 12 Division was designed to achieve a 13 better fit between our new system and 14 the organization's needs. 15 When an account clerk in Financial 16 Operations enters a requisition, an 17 employee in the Claims Pre-Audit section 18 of the Comptroller's office reviews and 19 approves the transaction. By separating 20 the entry of the requisition from the 21 audit and certification of the 22 transaction, we properly segregated 23 duties in accordance with our internal 24 control framework. 25 If this Legislature approves the 67 1 Britt 2 transfer of account clerks to the 3 Personnel department, the resulting 4 operation will work in much the same 5 way. In account clerk in the Personnel 6 department will enter a garnishment or 7 another payroll deduction that applies 8 to an employee paycheck. 9 That garnishment or payroll 10 deduction will then be reviewed by an 11 auditor working in the Payroll Pre-Audit 12 section of the Comptroller's office, 13 thereby accomplishing the proper 14 segregation of duties for payroll 15 transactions. 16 By creating a Director of Payroll 17 Operations position in the Personnel 18 department, this Legislature will be 19 creating a position that is similar in 20 many ways to the position I hold. The 21 Director of Payroll Operations will lead 22 a team that is focused entirely on 23 managing and processing the payroll, 24 without having to focus any attention or 25 energy or payroll pre-auditing. 68 1 Flores 2 The result will be a payroll 3 operation that delivers accurate 4 paychecks to County employees with 5 efficiency and economy, while also 6 ensuring that the audit and 7 certification of payrolls can be 8 performed by a team dedicated to payroll 9 auditing. Thank you. 10 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Our last speaker 11 who has signed in is Irene Aurora 12 Flores. Once again, last call for 13 anyone else who would like to speak 14 while Ms. Flores is here, please come up 15 and sign in. 16 IRENE AURORA FLORES: Good evening 17 everyone, my name is Irene Aurora 18 Flores, I'm a criminal defense lawyer. 19 I've been in trial, felony jury trials 20 since June. I've been scheduled for 21 nine, six actually went. And I have not 22 taken a single vacation all summer. And 23 capital cases are assigned counsel 24 cases. 25 I do know that the current budget, 69 1 Flores 2 the way it is, is not nearly enough to 3 adequately service my clients. I need 4 an investigator. I have to scrape for 5 an investigator. I can find none who, 6 except maybe one who is overworked, to 7 take an Assigned Counsel case. 8 So I read in the paper, I guess on 9 Syracuse.com that the County is sticking 10 with the original program. All I'm 11 saying is, I'm certainly hoping that 12 there are changes being made by the 13 people in the original program that 14 would comply with the Hurrell-Harring 15 settlement. 16 I still go to court sometimes, and 17 in the local courts will see attorneys 18 standing beside a defendant who is being 19 arraigned. It's very critical that bail 20 arguments be made for the Judge so the 21 person can get released either on their 22 own recognizance or get Pretrial Release 23 or some other creative bail arrangement 24 that I sometimes have to argue when I 25 get to the point I'm in front of a 70 1 Flores 2 County Court Judge, trying to get a 3 better bail situation. 4 So I don't know if anyone was given 5 the opportunity to comment on what 6 provider would actually be running the 7 Assigned Counsel Program. All I know is 8 that no matter how much work I do, I 9 don't bill the Assigned Counsel Program 10 for nearly half of the services that I 11 provide. I took this week off because a 12 case settled, on Friday. I was supposed 13 to be in trial this week. 14 Then I get a call from one of my 15 clients, my young client, saying that 16 he's being surrounded by cops for a 17 stupid traffic infraction. So I drove 18 all the way from Manlius, where I live. 19 I can hear him telling the Officer that 20 I was on my way. And by the time I get 21 there the Police are gone and my client 22 was too. So I don't bill for all of 23 that. 24 So there has to be a change in 25 perception that criminal defense lawyers 71 1 Flores 2 aren't doing what they need to do for 3 their clients. Granted, there are some 4 who don't. Some don't. But there are a 5 lot of us do. And the Assigned Counsel 6 Program deserves an increase in their 7 budget so that we at least achieve 8 parity with the DA's office. 9 And I'll add a note, that I'm often 10 double teamed at trial; two prosecutors 11 against me at trial. And I still win 12 about half of them. So I'm asking that 13 our budget be increased to achieve 14 parity. And also if we are indeed going 15 to stick with the original provider of 16 the Assigned Counsel, that the changes 17 that are necessary that Hurrell-Harring 18 are requiring be implemented. Thank you. 19 CHAIRMAN KNAPP: Okay, that was our 20 last speaker who signed in. Last call 21 for any other speakers from the 22 audience. No. Okay, I now declare the 23 comment period closed. Are there any 24 remarks from any Legislators? 25 I'll just add a couple very quick 72 1 Knapp 2 ones. Just from a personal note, when 3 my son was born we had to take advantage 4 of the County's veteran intervention 5 program. And just from a personal 6 standpoint they were tremendous. And 7 really made a huge difference in his 8 life. So thank you, I'm sorry some of 9 you left but please pass the word along 10 to the other folks what a great job they 11 did. 12 And also, unfortunately Ms. Fordock 13 left, but I can unequivocally say, as a 14 veteran, the only veteran on the 15 Legislature, that there is in the Ways 16 and Means Report, there is absolutely no 17 cuts in funding for our veterans 18 programs in Onondaga County. So I 19 wanted to make sure I set the record 20 straight on that. So we still have to 21 approve about the final budget, but as 22 of right now the support we give to our 23 local organizations has not gone down. 24 Those are the only comments I have. 25 I would like to briefly thank our 73 1 Knapp 2 Clerk, Debbie Maturo and her entire 3 staff, because for a three week period 4 really is a gauntlet, lots of long hours 5 and incredible information to be 6 processed, and lots of questions from 7 Legislators to be answered. 8 So want to just thank Debbie Maturo 9 again; Sue Stanczyk, our Director of 10 Legislative Budget Review; and Darcie 11 Lesniak, our Legislative analyst, along 12 with Katherine French, our Deputy Clerk, 13 Jamie McNamara, Assistant Clerk; Debbie 14 Cominsky, our Secretary, who celebrated 15 her birthday during our budget time, as 16 did Sue; Bill Kinne, and Legislative 17 Aide Nicholas Paro. So I just wanted to 18 thank them for all of their work and the 19 work we still have left to do in 20 advance. 21 With that, I declare our public 22 hearing ended. Thank you, very much. 23 * * * * 24 25 74 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T E 3 This is to certify that I am a 4 Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary 5 Public in and for the State of New York, 6 that I attended and reported the above 7 entitled proceedings, that I have 8 compared the foregoing with my original 9 minutes taken therein and that it is a 10 true and correct transcript thereof and 11 all of the proceedings had therein. 12 13 _______________________ 14 John F. Drury, CSR 15 16 Dated: October 17, 2016 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25