Legislating Bullies, Homeless Sex-Offenders and Political Appointees

Suffolk County Legislative Majority Leader Jon Cooper, D-Lloyd Harbor,  introduced a bill Thursday that would give the legislature the ability to remove appointed commissioners and department heads when there is just cause to do so.

The law would apply to all appointed officials whose initial hiring was subject to legislative approval, Cooper said, regardless of whether they are appointed for a fixed term or serve at the pleasure of the county executive.  The bill also covers the numerous individuals appointed to Suffolk County's more than 50-plus boards, commissions and agencies, all of whom are also initially subject to legislative approval.

Cooper had previously sponsored a resolution to create fixed five-year terms for public safety appointments but tabled it at the county legislature's monthly meeting Tuesday. 

Cooper said he felt that a five-year term would give the police commissioner, currently Richard Dormer, the director of probation, currently John Desmond, and the commissioner of fire, rescue and emergency personnel, currently John Williams the kind of job security that would allow them to make decisions not based on political considerations.

"Right now [County Executive Steve] Levy could fire them at will," Cooper said. "If Levy doesn't like the color of their tie, he can fire them. If they dare to disagree with him publicly he could fire them. If they had a fixed term they could give them more autonomy and stand up to the county executive if they believe public safety warrants an action."

At this month's meeting, however, he said the public hearings for three other bills that Cooper is sponsoring to combat bullying lasted much longer than expected with a series of heartbreaking stories. That led him to remove the fixed-term resolution from the table. He said there were some "technical" issues with his resolution, as well.

"It was a long meeting we had public hearings so by the time we got to the vote on my bill [to create the five-year fixed terms], it was like 9:30 at night so I was just exhausted so I asked to table the bill until next month's meeting," he said. "Also I wanted to have some more time to build support for the bill. I need 12 votes to override a veto and I don't have that yet and Levy will veto it. So I wanted to take more time to get another couple of legislators to commit to support the bill."

He said he crafted his new bill in such a way as to ward off potential political "witch hunts." His proposal requires that any appointees facing dismissal be given notice of the charges brought against them and necessitates that the cause behind those allegations be articulated in a formal resolution to allow the appointee an opportunity to understand, respond and defend themselves against those charges.

This resolution must go through the legislature's Ways and Means Committee before being offered as a resolution. (May 16, Editor's note: Patch originally said it would go through the public safety committee. Patch regrets the error.)

He said the response to the bullying and stalking laws was "amazing," which led to the hearing being recessed also until next month's meeting to give more people a chance to share their stories.

"So many people came to testify," he said. "It was amazing. I have never introduced legislation that has resulted in such an outpouring. I have has strangers stopping me on the street to thank me for introducing this and recounting their own stories. I have received dozens of e-mails from people, as well. One mother from Southampton e-mailed me and said she happened to catch me on the news following the public hearing. She said she has a 14-year-old daughter attending 8th grade – I won't say the name of the school – and she has been harassed daily, threatened and pushed."

The mom wrote that she went to school officials who said they could do nothing. Her daughter, formerly an "A" student now stabs herself with scissors and won't go to school, refusing to finish out the school year.

"These are the types of e-mails I am getting," he said. " It's something everyone seems to identify with because either their kids have been bullied or their grandchildren and it's heartbreaking."

One of Cooper's proposed resolutions would hold school administrators responsible for tracking incidents of bullying in their schools and punishing children who bully. The other two would ban cyber bullying and, aimed at adults, cyber-stalking.

Approved, 14-4, at Tuesday's meeting was legislation ending the voucher system for homeless sex offenders, an issue that the East End towns have been grappling with for over a year.

"That was complicated because right now, none of the options we are presented with are good," Cooper said. "One was to keep the sex offenders – and note these are homeless sex offenders, currently there are about 16 or 17 of them. There are sex offenders who are not homeless who could be anywhere except for areas banned by my residency restriction law, which prohibits them from living within a quarter of a mile of a day-care center or school. But these homeless sex offenders are currently living in these two trailers on the East End, but the state has made it clear they want those trailers shut down."

The homeless sex offender housing trailers in Southampton Town have been a bone of contention between the East End community the county since they were placed in Westhampton and at the Suffolk County Jail facility in Riverhead three years ago. The county at first promised that the trailers would be rotated through the county, but that didn't happen, prompting a firestorm of criticism from the East End community, according to an article on 27East.com. County legislators Lou D'Amaro, D-Huntington Station, and Steve Stern, D-Huntington, introduced a resolution in March to keep the trailers open. It was sent to committee – as is customary with new bills — with no discussion.

The alternative system the county came up with was a voucher system, by which the homeless sex-offenders receive a $90 housing per diem administrated by the county's Department of Social Services.

"They can use that money to check in to a motel or a hotel anywhere, and since they are only staying for one night, it doesn't conflict with my residency restriction law which only kicks in after 10 days, so they could be renting a room anywhere. So there were some that were unhappy with the voucher system," he said.

"New York State said we can't keep the trailers open so this bill directs the DSS to go back to the drawing board and the thought is to disperse them throughout the county so they're not just in one community," he said. "Also, they have to find a place for them to live that would not be in a residential area. It has to be commercial or industrial."

He said a resolution to require the homeless sex offenders approved by the county legislature in February was deemed illegal, also by New York State.

"So New York State is not making this easier for us," he said. "Everyone agreed if we do GPS monitoring it would make things easier for everyone."

He said another issue is the cost of transporting the homeless sex offenders to jobs or to visit family members. "The county has been spending $1.4 million on taxi fares from the trailers in Riverhead to wherever they go during the day," he said. "There's got to be a better way."