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Election Legal Notices - July 2008

Officials Address County Audit at Community Meeting - October 2007

Response to Nassau's Special Tax District Hype - February 2006

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Water-Gram Newsletter - Spring 2008

Water-Gram Newsletter - January 2008

Water-Gram Newsletter - Summer 2007

Water-Gram Newsletter - Spring 2007

Officials Address County Audit at Community Meeting

In October of 2007, Hicksville Water District Commissioners Richard Humann, Nick Brigandi and Karl Schweitzer enthusiastically accepted an invitation from the Citizens for Informed Hicksville (CIH) to attend an open forum to review the recent audit performed by the Nassau County comptroller’s office and to answer questions from the audience. 

Commissioner Richard Humann, who serves as chairman, opened the presentation with assurances that, first and foremost, the county audit found no evidence of violations of laws or regulations, nor did it uncover fraud or abuse of taxpayer funds. The commissioners pointed out that an effective audit should ultimately be used as a learning tool and also expressed their disappointment that the county audit did not provide an independent, fair and objective appraisal of the district’s effectiveness of financial systems and operational performance in accordance applicable laws and financial controls.

The commissioners stated that, to the contrary, the Hicksville Water District has provided both internal and external audits of its finances as a normal course of business practice for many years.

Throughout the community meeting, which was hosted by CIH, audience members demonstrated their support of the commissioners, who were each elected by the public to serve a three-year term. Those in attendance expressed a clear vote of confidence in the commissioners’ abilities to operate Hicksville’s public water utility. In fact, some residents specifically asked CIH to send letters to the local paper and the county reiterating the community's support and sentiments.

The commissioners noted that, although the three-month audit began in March of 2006, it took the county comptroller’s office more than 14 months to release the draft findings to the district. Although the district provided responses to several revised versions of the audit, only some adjustments were made to the final version, despite objections by the Hicksville Water District.

District officials explained that since the completion of the audit, they have applied the county's recommendations to daily operations to assist in the management of one of the largest districts in Nassau County. The commissioners assured the public that they will continue to work with the water district’s internal staff to improve financial procedures and practices, based on the suggestions of the audit, as every local government should seek to continuously improve its practices.

Although there were several questions from the audience during the meeting related to the county audit, additional questions were asked regarding the county's consolidation efforts as well as the possibility of a single voting day being established.

The commissioners emphasized that they pride themselves on maintaining consumers' confidence in their ability to manage the district and will continue to make themselves available to the public by attending the meetings of Hicksville’s many community groups and willingly answer any questions that may arise.

Q & A - Several of the key points made during the question-and-answer period are paraphrased below in that same form, and are intended solely for the purpose of providing residents an overview of the meeting.
 
Q. During the two-year period of the audit, were Hicksville Commissioners paid the $100 per diem stipend mentioned?
A. While the law allowed water districts to pay elected officials $100 per diem, Hicksville chose to keep their pay at the 1997 rate of $80 per diem. Furthermore, contrary to the press release issued by the county comptroller, the commissioners documented every single meeting they were paid for. The disparity here is the difference between suggesting a better-practices method for documenting time worked by elected officials and an attempt to create the impression that pay was received without performing the work. In Hicksville, the commissioners have performed sufficient work on behalf of the district for every per diem paid. Additionally, prior to the audit being released, the district revised its policy on meeting attendance to ensure that meetings are not viewed as nominal, unsubstantial, trivial, excessive or inappreciable.

Q. Why was there $3.5 million in cash on-hand at the end of 2005?
A. About $2.1 million was earmarked in the district's capital reserve fund for projects that have been identified as necessary to improve the district's infrastructure, such as the rehabilitations to Plant 3 and the tower at Plant 1. Additionally, $800,000 was used to reduce the budget and $100,000 was placed in reserve for retirement payout while the additional $500,000 was kept in the budget to run the district, which is a normal function of operating a business.  

Q. With the same professional engineer being used by the district for over 35 years, is Hicksville getting the best price for consumers?
A. The board believes that procurement of professional service, which the district does not require  be put out to competitive bidding, is an effort where selection should be based upon a level of skills, knowledge and training, as well as a firm's ability to deliver the professional services needed. Additionally, by networking with the 21 commissioner-run districts in Nassau-Suffolk, the board is able to compare other firms. The current engineering firm was selected for its experience and knowledge in the science of water supply and environmental issues and because of its intricate knowledge of the Hicksville Water District’s plants, distribution system and support facilities. Although the board is confident in its choice, the district is currently preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for engineering services in anticipation of the completion of a project by January 2008.

Q. How will the RFP process be sought?
A. The RFP is under consideration to be split. A qualification RFP will enable the district to seek an engineering firm based on experience and knowledge; the second half of the RFP will be the cost. This will enable the board to make a decision that is not based solely on low bid, but the qualifications of the engineering firm as well.

Q. Fire commissioners and school board members are not paid for the many hours of public service they provide. Is it wrong for elected water district commissioners to be paid for their services?
A. Such a historical mistake should not be compounded by adding more special district commissioners to the rolls of unpaid public officials. There seems to be a natural progression within the fire service as some volunteer firefighters become officers and chiefs naturally progress into fire commissioners. In the schools, some parents that take an active roll in the children’s school activities by becoming volunteer PTA members naturally progress into becoming school board members. Water commissioners manage a product and service dealing with public health and safety along with a sophisticated infrastructure. Decades prior to the county audit, the New York State Legislature obviously felt that there was a need to pay commissioners and created legislation as such.
The same can be said about the other elected and appointed government officials, who are paid for the public service they provide. Perhaps the county comptroller, for example, might be motivated by some higher public purpose and be willing to serve his constituents for free.

Q. What position do the Hicksville commissioners have regarding a single, general election voting day in November?
A. A single election day in November, which is the preference of some residents, is not recommended as it would require that many complicated logistical concerns be addressed. Since state legislation dictates that the Hicksville Water District election take place on a designated day in August, new legislation would be needed to make a change. Hicksville's water commissioners, however, favor a single voting day for special districts and would be agreeable to moving theirs to the December election day when fire districts hold their general elections.

Q. One audience member suggested that the county could consolidate the water supply rather easily by shutting down contaminated wells in Hicksville and opening the interconnections from other districts, thus allowing a county-run system to control water flow into all communities. Is this possible?
A. It was explained that this may sound easy, but is rather complicated and cannot be done for a variety of reasons, including fire protection, homeland security, geology, infrastructure concerns and other complicated reasons that would take more than a single meeting to address.  However, the board may want to consider the subject of consolidation as a topic for the next public forum, which is scheduled for May 2008.

Q. Please clarify the Costco membership, which was not fully explained in the county audit.
A. The wholesale club membership was purchased in 2004 so the district would be able to purchase large quantities of bottled water for district supplies in the event of a local or regional emergency. Unfortunately, the comptroller and our local daily newspaper sought to make a joke over this expenditure, suggesting that the membership was for drinking bottled water in district facilities. Interestingly, under the Emergency Preparedness section of the Office of Emergency Management and the Department of Health, it is actually the county that requires public water suppliers to have the ability to purchase bottled water in bulk, in the event of an emergency.

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Response to Nassau's Special Tax District Hype

In December of 2005, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman released a lengthy "white paper" as part of a county study of special tax districts. Additionally, the county is conducting financial reviews and audits of nine water districts, one of which is Hicksville.

After reviewing the points outlined in the white paper, district officials concluded that the utility meets the comptroller's recommendations while, at the same time, continues to provide consumers with a safe and sufficient supply of drinking water.

As a follow up, Water District Commissioner Karl Schweitzer was quoted in the Hicksville Illustrated News on December 23, 2005. The following provides two excerpts from the news article:

"We are striving to meet service quality standards while keeping costs down. We believe that the people we serve benefit from a community based and administrated water supply," Schweitzer said. "The concept behind permitting local governments to provide essential services is to permit the local community and its voters control over how these services are provided." He added, "in Hicksville, we pride ourselves on our level of responsiveness to the community. We never forget that it is our neighbors that we are servicing."

Schweitzer added that "while Weitzman's whole purpose of the audit is to eliminate duplicate services, conducting an audit of Nassau County's water districts is a duplication in and of itself, particularly since the Hicksville Water District was audited by the state three years ago. We are absolutely on the up and up and have always gotten favorable remarks," Schweitzer said.

Nassau White Paper (Adobe Reader required to view this document)

Water District Response (Adobe Reader required to view this document)

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