Richard Quaglietta, Unleashed
For more than two hours today, Richard Quaglietta answered questions from about a dozen residents at a "Meet The Building Inspector" session at Town Hall. Several residents had nuts and bolts questions about home improvements at the Three Arrows Cooperative Society and there was some discussion about raccoons and foxes in abandoned buildings. But most people were there to vent their frustration at the slow response of government to septic problems in Lake Peekskill.
Quaglietta explained that septic issues are the province of the Putnam County Health Department and that he has no authority to force corrective action. "The Health Department is the driver of this," he said. Responding to questions about why he hasn't declared homes with known septic problems uninhabitable, he said that until the county gives him paperwork stating that a septic system is not viable, his hands are tied. "It's a system, and I hate to say this, but it's government. And government moves slow," he said.
Until recently, he said the county health department was not responsive to his cries for help. Residents used to pull strings there and problems got overlooked. "Today, you're starting to get people in the Health Department who actually care," he said. Supervisor Alison Jolicoeur and Quaglietta urged the meeting attendees to become more active and organized in registering their complaints, saying there is strength in numbers. "You as a community probably have more authority over septic systems than I do," Quaglietta said.
Residents were urged to call the county's new Director of Public Health, Rian Rodriguez, to attend court hearings, to write letters to their state representatives, and to submit complaints to the county and state health departments. Quaglietta also pointed out that Rodriguez reports to the county legislature, "and you have a county legislator here that knows about the problem and has been doing zero about it, zero!" Jolicoeur said that the next administrative hearing on septic issues at 64 Lake Drive is on May 6th at 9:30am at the County Health Department located at 1 Geneva Road in Brewster.
Quaglietta also used today's meeting to pull back the curtain on the Building Department's day-to-day activities. He said he expects all 603,00 pieces of the department's paper records to be digitized by the end of May and that after several months of verification, they will all be available through an online portal. He will then be mailing the original paper copies of building files back to property owners.
Quaglietta was candid about the department's deficiencies that have arisen over time. He acknowledged that much of the building code has been created by what he called "knee jerk reactions" to specific problems, and that laws have been created that sometimes don't make sense or are in conflict with others. Every Wednesday he meets with staff to review and focus on opportunities to clean up the code. He said he hopes to remain the building inspector for another two years or so and that his goal is to make sure that when he leaves, he hands over a department that is functioning effectively.
Quaglietta asked for the community's patience while the digitization process is underway, especially because one member of his staff is on maternity leave. He noted that he is just one inspector for a very large geographic area and said he would appreciate residents sending him tips for what they think could be illegal apartments, illegal short-term rentals, and cars or homes that appear to be abandoned.
Quaglietta likes to point out that he doesn't live in Putnam Valley, which makes life easier because he doesn't have friends here. Given the nature of his job, that was probably a wise decision.
If you're not already a subscriber but would like to receive future stories, please click on the subscribe button at watchingputnamvalley.com and provide your email address. If you have ideas for future stories or want to provide feedback, please send an email to watchingputnamvalley@gmail.com.