Spring Valley mayor wants building inspections back, saying county is ineffective
SPRING VALLEY - Mayor Alan Simon said Thursday that he wants the village restored as property inspectors and enforcers of state fire and safety codes.
The mayor argued the village can better protect residents than the Rockland County government, which was assigned the task in 2021 when the state determined the village was not sufficiently enforcing state fire and building codes.
Simon said the county government program was deficient, illegal, and fails to adequately protect residents and get building problems corrected. Simon was bombastic and defensive at times during a news conference he called, accusing questioners of providing false information and bull.
Simon said a big difference is the village would issue violations and follow up with additional inspections to ensure the problems were cured, while taking the cases for fines to Justice Court. He said he doesn't believe the county does follow ups.
"We are dedicated to the people of Spring Valley and we strongly believe we are a better source to help and protect the people of Spring Valley," Simon said. "I don't believe the county has a system that speedily deals with the problems."
Rockland counters Simon lacks 'credibility'
Rockland County Executive Ed Day responded that Simon "has zero credibility on the issue."
"Rather than ranting, Mayor Alan Simon should take ownership for destroying his own village to the point where the State of New York for the first time ever removed the Village’s authority to enforce State Building and Fire codes," Day said. "The horrendous conditions the Department of State unprecedentedly tasked us with cleaning up all developed under Mayor Alan Simon’s watch."
The state deputized the county government in November 2021 to inspect, prosecute, and fine code violators after several decades of village dysfunction. The county created the Office of Building & Codes and began enforcement in February 2022. The Rockland Codes Initiative enforces Health Department regulations under the sanitary codes.
In making a case against the county, Simon noted five people died in May during the fire to a two-family house on Lake Street on the county's watch.
Simon wrongly stated the county under its jurisdiction could inspect a two-family house like the one on Lake Street, said Edward Markunas, the director of Rockland Office of Building & Codes. Markunas said the county's mandate was single-family homes but after the fatal fire, inspectors got permission to inspect the multiple Spring Valley properties of the landlord, citing him with hundreds of violations.
Simon also dismissed questions about multiple housing violations which existed across the village prior to the county takeover in February 2021, when records indicated thousands of buildings had not been inspected for years.
However, Simon said the two deaths at the Evergreen Court Home of Adults in March 2021 were not the fault of the Spring Valley Building Department. The fire, he said, sparked the takeover. He noted two village inspectors were acquitted by a judge for providing false reports to the state, though the cases were not linked criminally to the fatal fire.
Simon said the village is wrongly blamed for the fatal fire on March 23 at the Evergreen Court in which 35-year-old firefighter Jared Lloyd and a 79-year-old resident, Oliver Hueston died. The fire started after two rabbis - Nathaniel Sommer and son Aaron - finished cleansing the facility's ovens for Passover. Six people were indicted and the Sommers' pleas were the only convictions. Their lack of promised jail time has led to calls by firefighters and Lloyd's mother for District Attorney Thomas Walsh to resign and a write-in candidate to challenge him. Walsh is running unopposed for another four-year term on the Republican and Democratic party lines in November.
Simon argued on Tuesday that Adam McCarey, a former inspector in Orange County, is reforming the department, which has two full-timers and a part-time fire inspector. Simon said the village would hire more inspectors if it got the responsibility back. Before the county took over, the Building Department was behind in thousands of properties.
New York State has the power to return building department functions to the village. When Simon was asked if that was being requested, he said an effort was in motion.
The state had warned the village for years about its lack of inspections, enforcement of codes and documentation. The state assigned monitors to oversee the building department about five years ago, instead of ordering a takeover.
The Building Department has been short-staffed for years by the financially strapped village long before Simon took office nearly five years ago. Firefighters and some inspectors have urged the village to increase inspection fees and fines to finance more inspectors and equipment. Despite support from Simon and the previous mayor, Demeza Delhomme, the Board of Trustees has been reluctant to boost the inspection ranks
Jared Lloyd's mom criticizes Simon
Lloyd's mother, Sabrail Davenport, denounced Simon's contention of serious remorse for her son's death. She said he spoke to her once. She called Simon a hypocrite who hasn't spoken out against the non-jail sentences promised to the two people who pleaded guilty to causing the fire. He's mostly declined comment on the investigation.
"He's using Jared to make himself look good, not for justice for Jared," Davenport said, adding, "It's a lie" about his advocacy for the families.
George Cich, the chair of the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force, said despite Simon's insistence, the mayor has not visited the Columbians firehouse now named for Lloyd on West Street. Cich's son was seriously injured in the fire, needing weeks of hospitalization, and Lloyd's "mayday" call saved his life
"We've never seen him or any village board member express their condolences at the firehouse," Cich said.
Cich suggested the village and county combine forces to clean up slum and violation-laden housing in Spring Valley. He said the slum housing, including overcrowded houses with 20-plus tenants crammed inside and people living in attics and basements, extends across Ramapo and the county.
"We used to say nothing would happen until we started bringing out people in body bags," Cich said. "We hoped it would never happen. The slum housing is a cancer that keeps growing."
Rockland cites numbers of violations
Rockland government contends the Office of Buildings & Codes is digging into the problem though critics have said not enough is being done to punish and discourage slum landlords from making money and exploiting tenants.
Since February 2022, the Office of Building and Codes has uncovered more than 10,000 violations during 1,500 inspections. issuing thousands of dollars in fines, as well as agreements to clean up violation-ladened houses. The office operates with 13 inspectors among 33 staffers.
Operating in conjunction, the Rockland Code Initiative can charge $2,000 per violation, per day, under the sanitary health code. Since inception, the RCI has conducted over 46,000 inspections; issued nearly 60,000 violations countywide; and levied $4 million in fines.
As for the Spring Valley enforcement, Day said the "numbers speak for themselves."
Despite Simon's criticism, Day said the New York State Department of State ... expressed we were doing a “terrific job.”
"We will not be deterred by the ramblings of a village mayor who has clearly failed residents and first responders in every way possible.," Day said.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mayor Alan Simon wants inspections run by Spring Valley again
