Selected items posted on the Internet during the week ending July 11, 2025

Puerto Rico Reboots Ethics Rules: Tech Innovation Required - Rochester, New York attorney Nichole Block's recent Daily Record column notes that "The times they are a-changin" and State Bars are struggling to keep up. Read the whole entry 

AI training for teachers - A group of leading tech companies is teaming up with two teachers’ unions to train 400,000 kindergarten through 12th grade teachers in artificial intelligence over the next five years. Read More HERE

Rethinking the Government Workplace - Agencies can use a combination of emerging technologies, data-informed design and cross-functional collaboration to transform traditional office space. This paper explains multiple factors government leaders should consider in return-to-office strategies. DOWNLOAD

A Mosquito Abatement Success Story - This California mosquito abatement district slashed chemical costs by 50% and reduced complaints tenfold—using connected field devices, GPS mapping, and mobile data management. Read how public health meets public tech. DOWNLOAD

Massachusetts Drafts New Rules for How Cops Interact With Youth Proposed statewide standards would cover everything from transporting young people to arresting their caregivers. READ MORE

Strategic Procurement to Navigate Fiscal Constraints in Local Government Faced with inflation, labor shortages and mounting infrastructure needs, local governments must find smarter ways to manage costs without compromising service delivery. READ MORE

AI in State and Local Government: Everything You Need to Know - A go-to guide, Artificial Intelligence, shares everything you need to know to quickly begin implementing AI and developing the appropriate policy for the technology. DOWNLOAD 

New York State municipal and school audits issued

On July 9, 2025, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following local government and school audits were issued.

Click on the text highlighted in color to access the audit posted on the Internet.

Vertus Charter School – Information Technology (IT) Asset Management (Monroe County) School officials did not appropriately track, inventory and safeguard IT assets acquired or in use during the audit period. Although the board-adopted financial policies and procedures manual required the chief operating officer to ensure accurate inventory records were maintained to safeguard all assets, it did not provide detailed guidance for maintaining inventory records for most IT assets because the dollar amount of most IT assets do not individually meet the policy’s inventory record-required threshold of $1,500 for fixed assets. In addition, the IT asset inventory was decentralized with multiple individuals and a service provider maintaining inventory records, which resulted in the records containing inconsistent information.

Port Washington Union Free School District – Payroll (Nassau County) Auditors examined compensation totaling $449,510 that was paid to 40 of the district’s clerical, custodial, maintenance, security and transportation employees and found district officials designed and implemented policies and procedures that ensured the compensation paid was accurate. Therefore, the report does not contain recommendations.

Town of Cohocton – Procurement (Steuben County) Town officials did not always solicit competition in accordance with the town’s procurement policy, statutory requirements or good business practices and stated it was an inconvenience for them to adhere to the town’s procurement policy. This resulted in procurements that were not made in the most prudent and economical manner. For example, of the $3.7 million in goods and services purchased between Jan. 1, 2023 and August 6, 2024, almost $2 million were procured without competition. The audit identified instances where officials and employees responsible for purchasing did not solicit competitive bids for purchases of goods totaling approximately $1.3 million from 10 vendors, for which auditors identified potential cost savings of $23,000 for vehicle and energy purchases. Officials also did not issue RFPs or use any other form of competitive process before procuring professional services from 15 providers totaling approximately $540,000. In addition, officials did not obtain the minimum number of quotes required by the town’s procurement policy for purchases totaling approximately $131,000 or the minimum number of required quotes for credit card purchases totaling approximately $21,000.

Germantown Central School District – Lead Testing and Reporting (Columbia County) District officials did not properly identify, report or implement needed remediation to reduce lead exposure in all potable water outlets as required by state law and Department of Health regulations. Auditors determined 63 of the 146 water outlets identified that students, staff and the public may have access to and could consume water from, were not sampled or properly exempted by district officials. District officials also did not have a remedial action plan that detailed which water outlets they exempted from sampling and how they would be secured, and what remedial actions were planned or enacted for water outlets identified as exceeding the lead action level.

City of Yonkers – Budget Review (Westchester County) The city’s 2025-26 adopted budget totals $1.55 billion, which includes operating and debt service funding of $809.2 million for the Yonkers Public Schools and $739.8 million for the city. The 2025-26 budget is $35.8 million more than the city’s budget for 2024-25, an increase of 2.4%. The 2025-26 budget relies on nonrecurring funding sources of $114.4 million, such as appropriated fund balance, one-time state and Federal funding and sale of property, to balance its budget. The city plans to borrow up to $15 million for tax certiorari settlements in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Overtime costs could potentially be underestimated for police by as much as $341,000. Employee retirement costs are likely underestimated by as much as $5.3 million. The city should be mindful to ensure appropriations are sufficient for any potential liabilities when contract agreements for collective bargaining agreements are reached. The city’s contingency reserve is 1.5% of the city’s general fund budgeted appropriations, leaving a limited flexibility to cover any other unforeseen or unexpected costs. Since 2017, the city’s debt service payments have risen 6.2% and the city will need $90.4 million to service its debt obligations during 2025-26.

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Administrative Law Judge denies a request to take judicial notice of testimony given by the witness in an earlier hearing in the instant hearing

New York City's Office of Trials and Hearings [OATH] Administrative Law Judge [ALJ] Joycelyn McGeachy-Kuls denied the Respondent’s application asking the ALJ to take judicial notice of, or admit as evidence, transcripts from a prior OATH administrative hearing proceeding.

The New York City's Department of Sanitation [Petitioner] had charged Respondent with certain time and leave violations. Although Respondent appeared at the first day of the instant administrative hearing, he failed to appear at subsequent hearings scheduled in the instant proceeding and authorized his counsel to proceed in his absence.

In addition, Respondent failed to call any witnesses or present any evidence in the instant administrative hearing but after the conclusion of the hearing Respondent’s attorney submitted an application seeking to have the ALJ "take judicial notice of the transcripts of testimony taken at an earlier concluded 11-day OATH hearing involving Respondent." Plaintiff's attorney also reported that Respondent was unavailable “despite reasonable efforts to locate him.” 

The ALJ denied Respondent's judicial notice request noting that the transcript of the prior proceeding contained contested information and information that was "not common and general knowledge". 

In addition, Judge McGeachy-Kuls rejected Plaintiff's attorney's argument that the transcripts were admissible as prior judicial admissions. The ALJ explained that such admissions are offered to establish an inconsistency between a witnesses' testimony in an earlier proceeding and the witnesses' former and current testimony.

The ALJ further noted that Respondent had refused to testify in the instant proceeding and reject Plaintiff's attorney's argument that the transcripts were admissible as prior testimony hearsay because there was no evidence in the record that Respondent was unavailable to testify at the instant hearing.

Click HERE to access the decision and recommendation of Judge McGeachy-Kuls posted on the Internet.