Markets 
Weather 
Union leaders blasted Suffolk County for scrapping a nearly 20-year contract with a unionized construction firm in favor of a politically connected contractor.
The Suffolk County Department of Public Works abruptly axed its longtime contract with union-backed, Bohemia-based Austin Drywall Corp., last month — then moved to award the work to Renu Contracting & Restoration, owned by Michael VanDenburg, who was appointed last year to the county Planning Commission by Republican Suffolk Executive Ed Romaine.
Union leaders bashed the move Friday as political favoritism.
“[Austin Drywall Corp.] was praised by the County Executive, praised by Majority Leader [Nick Caracappa,] and had a good record — there are questions that must be answered,” Democratic Suffolk Legislator Greg Doroski told reporters alongside an army of union workers outside of the county Public Works building in Yaphank.
Union leaders and Democratic officials both demanded the county’s GOP-led administration immediately reverse course, calling the deal a “conflict of interest” due to VanDenburg’s position in county government and his frequent donations to Republican committees in Suffolk, according to campaign finance records.
Labor officials also pointed to Suffolk’s own labor laws, claiming the contract is being awarded to an “ineligible” company.
Suffolk County’s Apprenticeship Law requires contractors awarded public projects topping $250,000 to participate in state-registered apprenticeship programs, which is meant to train local workers and save taxpayers money, since apprentices can legally be paid less while learning on the job.
“The county appears to have waived that law,” union labor leader Vincent Alu said. “If we are a nation of laws, those who enforce the law must follow the law, and the county must explain how and why it may have violated its own law.”
The new contract also raised red flags for union leaders over the prevailing wage, the state-mandated minimum pay contractors must offer workers on public jobs to prevent companies from undercutting wages.
Officials said the Austin Drywall deal was a massive “on-call” contract worth millions that let the county quickly deploy union workers for repairs, and accused officials of giving Renu “preferential treatment” by allowing a bid they believe fell below prevailing wage while enforcing labor standards unevenly, although the contract amount has not been publicly disclosed.
“We have questions,” Democratic Suffolk Legislator Jason Richberg said.
“At a time where we are seeing record numbers of people at food pantries, we don’t want to see our local men and women not in work, we want to see local work done with local people,” Richberg added.
County officials, however, vehemently deny any wrongdoing and rejected claims of side stepping the law or playing politics — but did not say why they terminated Austin Drywall Corp.’s contract despite the administration’s past praise of the contractor.
“This contract was put out to bid in accordance with the provisions of New York State and Suffolk County law,” said Charles Bartha, commissioner of the Suffolk Department of Public Works.
“The bids were carefully scrutinized, and the contract was awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, as the law requires,” Bartha added, stressing that the decision “should not be construed as a negative as to the quality of any other bidder.”
Republican sources close to the bidding process called the outrage all “politics.”
Read the full article here
