Q&A
Council Member Restler questions Commissioner Molina about 250 Broadway lease and delegation of authority
1:08:52
·
143 sec
Council Member Lincoln Restler engages in a detailed questioning of DCAS Commissioner Louis Molina regarding the 250 Broadway lease offer and the delegation of authority within DCAS. Restler seeks clarification on the costs associated with renovating 250 Broadway and the timeline of shifting delegation authority to the Executive Deputy Commissioner.
- Restler challenges Molina's figures regarding the city's portion of renovation costs for 250 Broadway
- The discussion reveals that the delegation of authority was executed on October 9th, following discussions that began in September
- Restler draws attention to the timing of this delegation shift in relation to the phone seizures of Deputy Commissioner Jesse Hamilton
Lincoln Restler
1:08:52
We did request that he attend.
1:08:54
Okay.
1:08:54
And he did say to the press oddly yesterday that he was definitely coming, but we have not yet seen him.
Louis Molina
1:09:00
Thank you.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:02
I just think a couple clarifying questions based on council member powers, thoughtful line of questioning, and then we'll shift to council member Brewer.
1:09:12
Could you clarify the offer for 250 Broadway?
1:09:15
You said required extensive work, a taxpayer expense?
Louis Molina
1:09:20
Yes.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:21
Could you break that down for us?
1:09:22
Was the landlord of 250 Broadway prepared to cover the vast majority of the cost to renovate the space, to accommodate the city?
Louis Molina
1:09:31
We were going to cover just over $10,000,000 of it, and Orlando was gonna cover the balance of
Lincoln Restler
1:09:37
that.
1:09:38
Can you confirm that?
1:09:39
That's
Louis Molina
1:09:40
Will you want me to confirm the number?
Lincoln Restler
1:09:42
No.
1:09:42
I'm asking if the executive deputy commissioner can just confirm that because I don't believe that's true.
1:09:45
I just wanted to give her the chance to correct that with you.
Gale A. Brewer
1:09:48
Oh, so
Louis Molina
1:09:48
you don't believe that I'm telling you to I
Lincoln Restler
1:09:49
don't believe you have the right numbers.
1:09:51
I just wanna just ask.
1:09:52
So I'm just asking the question.
1:09:53
Is that accurate?
Louis Molina
1:09:55
Yes.
1:09:56
It's accurate.
Lincoln Restler
1:09:56
Okay.
1:09:57
It's not that no.
1:09:59
It's inconsistent with our understanding.
1:10:01
Then could you
Louis Molina
1:10:01
If you want, I can share the exact number of the capital improvement cost that the city tax payers would have had to have paid were approximately $10,240,745.
Lincoln Restler
1:10:13
That is not the number that the landlord committed to covering.
Louis Molina
1:10:17
No.
1:10:17
That is our portion that we have to cover.
1:10:19
O'Connor would have covered the difference.
Gale A. Brewer
1:10:21
We
Lincoln Restler
1:10:21
would love to review that data, which
Louis Molina
1:10:22
you don't give you time.
Lincoln Restler
1:10:23
No.
1:10:23
That'd be great.
1:10:24
And then could you confirm the date once again that you delegated the authority for license agreements to executive deputy commissioner over to?
Louis Molina
1:10:32
I did that in September.
1:10:36
Awesome.
1:10:38
Well, we executed.
1:10:39
Well, I was in I was in conversations regarding the delegation of authority with my with my general counsel.
1:10:46
And we executed it on December on October 9th.
Lincoln Restler
1:10:51
October 9th.
1:10:51
Okay.
1:10:51
So that did
Louis Molina
1:10:52
We began talking about it September about September 9th.
Lincoln Restler
1:10:54
So following the phone seizures of Jesse Hamilton, the delegation authority was shifted to deputy executive deputy commissioner over to him.
Louis Molina
1:11:01
The discussions of shifting delegation began on September 3rd, and we executed it on October 9th because they're complex legal delegation documents.
Lincoln Restler
1:11:09
Okay.
1:11:09
Just wanted to make sure we had that accurately for the record.
1:11:12
Yes.
1:11:12
Council member Brewer.
1:11:14
Our former chair of this fine committee.
Gale A. Brewer
1:11:15
Oh god.
