Video Shows New Rochelle School District and City Repeatedly Ignored New York State Civil Service Commission

Written By: Robert Cox

You want boring? Try watching hours of New York State Civil Service Commission video tapes looking for mentions of New Rochelle. We watch so you don’t have to! What we found so far is that the New York State Civil Service Commission discussed three items regarding New Rochelle at their meeting on September 15, 2010.

Two short clips and one longer one — the first shows how the District ignored the State on direction to pick from the eligibility list, the second shows how the City’s Civil Service Commission flat out ignored the State. The last is on Daniele but we left in the whole 4 minutes because it also helps explain a key part of the NYS Civil Service law.

1. Rolf Koehler (1:00) — the Commission staff reported that the City School District of New Rochelle informed the Commission that they did not “canvass” (call people on the eligibility list) for the position of School Security Officer because the people on the eligibility list did not meet criteria that were not part of the official minimum qualifications (emphasis added). The Commission accepted staff recommendations that the City School District of New Rochelle be given six weeks to make an appointment to a permanent position from the eligibility list. The deadline was October 31, 2010. During that time they were expected to discuss the matter with the New Rochelle Civil Service Commission which, it appears, did not happen and has still not happened. The Commission point of saying that their decision was a determination on the appropriateness of Koehler continuing to collect pension benefits and a salary as a retired person.

The City School District of New Rochelle ignored the directive from the New York State Civil Service Commission and continues to ignore it this day.

2. The City of New Rochelle Municipal Service Commission (1:30) — In November 2009, after Talk of the Sound broke the Domenic Procopio story, the City of the New Rochelle submitted a resolution amending the appendices of their rules but failed to provide required justification for the change. The NYS CSC responded by requesting that the City of New Rochelle provide justification for their requested change. The NYS CSC received no response. Another request for justification was sent to the City of New Rochelle in April 2010. The NYS CSC received no response. Another request for justification was sent to the City of New Rochelle in July 2010 as a “Final Follow Up”. A response was received the day before the deadline but the response was just a reiteration of the original request. As a result, the CSC ruled that the request was denied.

The City of New Rochelle Municipal Service Commission ignored repeated requests from the New York State Civil Service Commission and continues to ignore it this day.

3. Bruce Daniele — Daniele was given an extension until the end of the current school year pending an open, competitive civil service exam for the position of Director of Security.

New York State Civil Service Commission staff appears to have included Daniele in a list of civil service employees covered under the pre-October 7, 2008 statute (i.e., he had an existing 211 waiver) when, by all accounts, Danielle never obtained a waiver from the State to take his full salary, additional pay and full pension.

If we have any civil service experts out there who can offer some insight into the proceedings of the New York State Civil Service Commission please use add a comment.

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