Hempstead takes on new oversight powers over troubled town agency

The Hempstead Town Board voted Tuesday to grant itself new oversight powers over the Department of Occupational Resources and to appoint a new commissioner to lead the troubled agency.

The legislation will require the department to submit its budgets and vendor contracts to the town board for approval. The agency, which is federally funded, was not previously subject to board oversight.

The board appointed Eric Mallette, a Freeport pastor, to serve as commissioner of the department, which provides counseling and training to thousands of local job seekers annually. Mallette will replace Gregory Becker, who retired from the post Saturday.

The reforms come one month after Newsday reported that former Commissioner Ana-Maria Hurtado signed a contract in 2017 with Alcott HR, a human resources outsourcing firm, that created post-retirement jobs for her and two co-workers in the town agency. The contract stipulated that the department would select which employees Alcott hired to work in the department. Alcott has offices in Farmingdale.

In the first year of the contract, the agency projected the first deficit in its history, prompting Hempstead to provide $300,000 in town funds.

The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is now investigating the Alcott contract.

The board voted 7-0 to approve the new oversight rules, which Supervisor Laura Gillen called "an example of elected officials doing something to protect taxpayers."

Mallette was appointed through an emergency resolution introduced by Erin King Sweeney, the board's Republican majority leader. The board voted 6-0 in favor. Gillen, a Democrat, abstained from the vote, saying the board had not given her time to review Mallette's resume.

"This is not the way we should hire the commissioner to oversee one of our departments, especially one that has been plagued with some scandal," she said.

King Sweeney said Mallette has "years of experience working with youth and with the unemployed, helping them get jobs in the community."

Mallette, 56, a Republican, is the pastor of Greater Second Baptist Church in Freeport and a member of the town's Industrial Development Agency board. He cited his church's youth mentoring programs as an example of his experience in workforce development.

Gillen said she had pitched to the board her own candidate, who had worked previously for the state Department of Labor on workforce development initiatives. King Sweeney said her caucus opposed the candidate in part because he lived outside Hempstead Town.

The board also approved three-month extensions for a number of the department's contracts, including with Alcott. Gillen said the town is preparing to rebid all of the contracts, in accordance with town procurement guidelines.

She said the three retired department officials employed through the Alcott contract no longer work for the agency.