Staffing Changes Pending for Building Department as Authorities Review Thousands of Records

Staffing changes and new leadership are in store for the building department as police and prosecutors dig through "thousands" of records that span more than a decade, officials said Monday.

For all intents and purposes, the building department remains frozen in time after police detectives on the beleaguered office on Friday. The office is physically off-limits to anyone except investigators from the Port Chester Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, as authorities look to preserve records and evidence.

An investigation into corruption at the building department began on April 29 of last year, when police closed the office for the first time and carted away boxes of records. Some employees were sent home Friday after police returned to lock the office down, but the department's clerical staff has been moved and will remain available to take applications and answer questions, Mayor Dennis Pilla said.

Police have remained mum of the details of the investigation, but former Building Inspector Frank Ruccolo was suspended in the aftermath, and officials say police have been digging through thousands of individual paper records that span a decade, when Leonard Cusumano – Ruccolo's predecessor – helmed the department.

When maintenance worker Daniel DeLisa was fired in February for allegedly outsourcing his $5,400-a-year cleaning job, DeLisa told authorities the late Cusumano gave his blessing to outsource the job a decade ago. Similar stories abound in the village.

One major time-sink for investigators is the sheer number of records in disorganized paper files. Those records pre-date at village hall, and Pilla said investigators are working through a cache of 3,000 building permits.

Of those permit files, 1,000 were never closed, meaning current staffers don't know what happened with those cases.

The process involves "reinspecting all of the suspicious-looking inspections from the past, to make sure that in the present tense there are no violations," Pilla said. "There are thousands of records that are abnormal. And the people of Port Chester need to understand that's going to take time."

While Pilla said potential criminal charges would come "not soon enough," he said the investigation's scope has expanded beyond the records at village hall.

Police have not discussed details, but a source familiar with the investigation said authorities are looking at the bank statements, property assets and financial records of suspected employees. The source pointed to one former employee who owns a home worth almost $1 million and likely could not have financed the home with official, reported income.

Sources say those patterns have increasingly become a focus of several concurrent criminal investigations – including the building department case and the parking meter theft probe.

In the meantime, Port Chester's leaders are exploring several options for the future of the building department. Pilla said staffers are exploring the possibility of combining building department operations with a nearby municipality, while Village Manager Christopher Russo interviews civil service candidates for the building inspector role. Russo will present a list of candidates to the board "very shortly," possibly at the next public board meeting.

Check back with Port Chester Patch for updates on the building department investigation.

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