Proper Oversight and Transparency

The tragic fire at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults, which took the life of Firefighter Jared Lloyd and a resident of the facility, has once again called into question the efforts of all levels of government which are tasked with inspecting and ensuring the safety of buildings and facilities in our community.

With the cause of the fire and all the related factors still under investigation I am not going to speculate about what led to this tragedy, and I urge everyone involved to wait for the findings of the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Office of Fire Prevention and Control and the District Attorney’s Office investigations.

I can say to you, with certainty, that the professionals involved will get to the bottom of what happened at this facility. They are working to bring understanding and closure to the families and friends of those that died, and it is a responsibility that is taken extremely seriously. I can also say to you as a former first responder that I will ensure that no stone goes unturned in getting to the bottom of exactly what occurred. We owe that to Jared, his family and the fire service.

But as we await the conclusion of these investigations, it is important to note that the primary responsibility for inspections and enforcement of New York State Building and Fire Codes lay with either a Town or Village and, in this case, lays with the Village of Spring Valley.

However, ultimately the New York State Department of State has the oversight and responsibility of making sure these inspections are taking place and being done properly. Counties do not have the authority to enforce these laws and any change to this jurisdictional authority would have to originate at the state-level.

We have long seen the need to augment the effort or lack of effort by Towns and Villages here in Rockland. And in 2015, we worked closely with our fire services and the Rockland County Illegal Housing Task Force to create a “first of its kind” program called the Rockland Codes Initiative (RCI) to correct the dangerous and disgusting conditions that, at that time, were often found in housing all across our County.

We utilized New York State Public Health Law as well as the Rockland County Sanitary Code in a never before considered approach to fight back against slumlords; we hit them where it hurts, the wallet. Violations of the Sanitary Code are punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 per day per violation. To date more than $2 million in fines have been issued and we have been highly successful in improving the safety of our housing stock and turning slumlords into landlords.

The program itself is simple. Residents can make complaints through our confidential website, linked here: http://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/housing/rockland-codes-initiative/rci_form/ or by calling 845-364-2585. Once a complaint is made, inspectors from the Department of Health visit the location. They look for conditions that violate the Sanitary Code, conditions like unsafe and overcrowded housing.

State Senator James Skoufis highlighted our efforts in his 2019 Investigative Report on Code Enforcement in New York State urging, “those counties who wish to become more involved in the protection of their residents and first responders to follow the lead of Rockland County… to protect the health, property, and quality of life for all county residents through the enforcement of health and sanitary codes.”

So, while we are somewhat limited as County government in what we have jurisdiction to address, we are taking action in the areas allowable under the law.

And when it comes to the investigation into the Evergreen fire, we have provided information about the Food Service Establishment and Rooming House permits this facility holds through the County Department of Health to those investigating. We have also shared summaries of this information with local media as transparency is one of the most critical issues we collectively face.

We will continue to use all the options available to counties to fight for the safety of our residents and first responders. But we need other levels of government to act, to do their jobs with transparency and to finally correct these long-standing issues.