School District audits released during the week ending October, 16, 2020

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following school district audits have been issued during the week ending October 16, 2020

Broadalbin-Perth Central School District – Cash Management (Fulton County, Saratoga County and Montgomery County) - District officials did not develop and manage a comprehensive investment program. As a result, officials did not maximize interest earnings for the district. In addition, officials did not formally solicit interest rate quotes or prepare cash flow forecasts to estimate the amount of funds available for investment. Officials earned interest totaling $40,652 during the audit period. However, auditors determined they could have earned another $159,100 had officials used other available investment options.

Mahopac Central School District – Non-instructional Payroll (Putnam County) - The transportation department’s payroll was not adequately approved, supported and documented. In addition, a staff person received overtime pay that was not properly supported by documentation.

Minerva Central School District – Financial Condition Management (Essex County and Warren County) - District officials overestimated appropriations by a total of more than $2.1 million from 2016-17 through 2018-19 and annually appropriated fund balance that was not used to finance operations. Unrestricted fund balance ranged between 18.5 and 31.1 percent of ensuing years’ appropriations, exceeding the 4 percent statutory limit. In addition, district officials did not develop a comprehensive multiyear financial plan.

New York Mills Union Free School District – Procurement (Oneida County) - District officials did not always seek competition for purchases that are not subject to competitive bidding. Officials also did not comply with the district’s procurement policy. Auditors determined the purchasing agent did not effectively perform her procurement duties. In addition, officials did not always seek competition for professional services. No competition was sought for the services procured from five professional service providers totaling $89,421. No written or verbal quotes were obtained for the purchase of goods and services from 13 vendors who were paid $73,032.

 

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10 RBG Takeaways from 2 Lawyers

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing has spurred great memories from across all demographics. She paved the way for women’s equality—from the right to sign a mortgage without a man to the right to have a bank account without a male co-signer, and even the right to have a job without being discriminated against based on gender.   

 

What did the accomplishments of Ruth Bader Ginsburg mean to generations of women in the workforce?  Here, Erica Baird and Karen Wagner, two successful lawyers now retired—and the cofounders of Lustre.net, an online community whose mission is to redefine retirement for modern career women by confronting outdated concepts and defying stereotypes—talk lawyer-to-lawyer as they reflect on 10 RBG Takeaways that can inspire every woman [Ed. Note: " and man"] … young and old: 

 

1. Find a job you love. RBG was rejected, again and again, including by New York law firms. But just think—if she had been employed in a law firm, she likely never would have ascended to the Supreme Court. And that was her dream job.

 

2. Be strategic. Figure out where you want to go, and then, before you start, figure out how best to get there. RBG did that with her litigation strategy. Showing how men were hurt by sex discrimination was a more effective strategy than having only women plaintiffs. 

 

3. Be human. Separate your advocacy from your relationships. And do have relationships. RBG's best friend was her fellow justice Antonin Scalia. She disagreed with him, fiercely, about pretty much every legal point. But they loved each other, and bonded over music, and over dinners prepared by RBG's husband. It was not a transactional relationship; it was a human relationship.

 

4. Work hard. You must earn your victories. RBG started working hard when she was a new lawyer, and she never stopped. Look at the honor guard at the Supreme Court for her memorial, composed of people who worked as her clerks, responding to 2 a.m. faxes and constant demands for more precise analysis, as long as she lived. They undoubtedly loved her for her humanity, but they also surely loved her because she made them better lawyers.

 

5. Be precise. Words matter. The practice of law is a combination of analysis and communication. Communication is more effective when it is spare and clear. RBG's writing was crisp and muscular. Any reader got her point.

 

6. Presence matters. Justice Ginsburg always looked professional and elegant in her Armani suits and her long black robes. She was all brilliant lawyer and all powerful woman. And, like Barbara Bush with her faux pearls, RBG sent signals with her decorative collars.

 

7. Find a good partner. Her “Marty” was legendary—an attorney in his own right, not threatened by a strong woman.

 

8. Advocate with humor. As she did when becoming a little deaf, or remarking that the Supreme Court will have a sufficient number of women only when there are nine.

 

9. Find something outside of your job to love. She found opera, and lost herself in music.

 

10. Work out. RBG, the documentary, showed RBG working out very strenuously. Like everything else she did, she went all out. If you do the same your lives will be richer for it.

 

About Lustre.net
Lustre.net is an online forum founded by Erica Baird and Karen Wagner, two New York City retired attorneys. Together, Baird and Wagner are on a mission to redefine retirement for modern career women by confronting outdated concepts, defying stereotypes and raising our collective voices to ensure that retirement for all of us is shaped by women, for women. Baird and Wagner want women to “tap into our experiences and passions, forge new identities and find new purpose—and pass on what we know to the next generation.” 

 

Posted by NYPPL with the permission of Mouth Digital PR [Justin.loeber@mouthdigitalpr.com].

 

Retiring upon attaining the mandatory age of retirement bars claim for line of duty sick leave benefits

General Municipal Law §92-d provides for sick leave benefits to certain employees with qualifying World Trade Center conditions as defined by §2 of the Retirement and Social Security Law. 

A former fire chief [Chief] commenced this CPLR Article 78 proceeding against his former employer [City] in an effort to have the City's determination denying his application for line-of-duty sick leave pursuant to General Municipal Law §92-d annulled. Supreme Court granted the City's motion to dismiss the Chief's petition, agreeing with the City that the Chief's Article 78 action was moot. The Chief appealed.

The Appellate Division affirmed the Supreme Court's ruling, observing that after the Chief filed his Article 78 petition in this case he attained "the mandatory retirement age pursuant to Retirement and Social Security Law §370 (b) and retired with the maximum amount of accrued sick leave."

The court explained that it is "a fundamental principle of our jurisprudence that the power of a court to declare the law only arises out of, and is limited to, determining the rights of persons which are actually controverted in a particular case pending before the tribunal," referencing Matter of Hearst Corp. v Clyne, 50 NY2d 707, at page 713.

Opining that "[u]nder the circumstances here, Supreme Court properly dismissed the petition as moot," the Appellate Division held that this proceeding is "not of the class that should be preserved as an exception to the mootness doctrine."

The decision is posted on the Internet at http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2020/2020_05665.htm

 

 

OATH launches citywide text-messaging reminder system for all civil summonses

On September 4, 2020, the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings [OATH] announced a citywide launch of a text-messaging reminder system to remind respondents about their Hearings Division hearing dates. Respondents can register by simply texting "OATH reminder" to 474747, and then responding to the prompt with their summons number. 

"Every person who receives a summons should know that OATH's goal is to make it as convenient as possible for them to respond to that summons and direct text messages that explain our hearing process, the consequences for not responding to summonses, and remind people of important deadlines is just one way OATH is doing that," said Commissioner and Chief Administrative Judge Joni Kletter. 

For more information, read OATH's press release.

Salaries of undercover police officers not subject to disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law

§89[3][a] of the New York State (Public Officers Law)*, The Freedom of Information Law [FOIL], provides that "[n]othing in [the statute] shall be construed to require any entity to prepare any record not possessed or maintained by such entity."

In this CPLR Article 78 action the Empire Center for Public Policy [Empire] challenged the denial of its FOIL request seeking the aggregate gross salary of all individuals not included in the NYC Open Data Citywide Payroll Database for fiscal year 2017.

The Supreme Court's decision indicating that the information sought by Empire would include the salaries of "undercover police officers, whether aggregated or individualized," denied Empire's petition request for individualized salary information as to such individuals and Empire appealed.

The Appellate Division unanimously modified, on the law, part of the Supreme Court's order, vacating that part of the order requiring the disclose aggregate salary information, and otherwise affirmed the Supreme Court's ruling, indicating that:

1. Such information is exempt from disclosure under FOIL's public safety exemption;

2. The respondent, the New York City Office of Payroll Administration, met its burden of making a particularized showing that publicly releasing this information would create "a possibility of endangerment" to the public's safety; and

3. The New York City Office of Payroll Administration is not obligated to compile "aggregate data" "from the documents or records in its possession"** (See Matter of Reubens v Murray, 194 AD2d 492).

The Appellate Division opined that in the analysis of Empire's request not only the instant FOIL request for information as to fiscal year 2017 is to be considered but also future requests which could be made for equivalent information as to other years. Citing Matter of Grabell v New York City Police Dept., 139 AD3d 477, the court said that such information would allow members of the public to estimate the increases or decreases in the overall number of undercover officers, which could "undermine their deterrent effect, hamper NYPD's counterterrorism operations, and increase the likelihood of another terrorist attack." The New York City Office of Payroll Administration's past disclosure of salary and other information as to certain public employees not employed by NYPD is not dispositive.

* Public Officers Law §89[3][a], with exceptions not raised in this action.

** See Matter of Reubens v Murray, 194 AD2d 492.

The decision is posted on the Internet at: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2020/2020_05449.htm