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Q&A
Q&A on DOI's use of on-loan employees from other agencies
1:01:32
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Council Member Restler and Commissioner Strauber discuss the use of on-loan employees from other agencies to supplement DOI's staffing. They explore the challenges and current status of these arrangements.
- DOI currently has 137 active on-loan positions, down from 180 in fiscal year 2020.
- The arrangements are governed by Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) that can be canceled with notice.
- Many agencies are not fully complying with the agreed-upon headcount due to their own budget constraints.
- NYCHA is highlighted as an example of an agency that is nearly fully staffing its agreed-upon positions (49 out of 53).
Lincoln Restler
1:01:32
I also wanted to ask you about in your testimony, you mentioned the 40 individuals who were on loan from other agencies through MOUs.
1:01:42
I believe you said it was a 40 lines.
1:01:45
Are those lines all filled?
1:01:47
And do I have that right?
1:01:48
And can you give us some insight of are there agencies that are not loaning you as many employees as they are supposed to?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:01:56
So our current active on loan headcount is 137.
1:01:59
Around 140, as you said.
1:02:02
And and look, part part of the issue is this is through memoranda of understanding.
1:02:06
Right?
1:02:06
So there are agreements that either party can cancel with, you know, some period of notice.
1:02:11
And it certainly is the case that for some of the MOUs that we have, we're not receiving headcount, you know, that is fully compliant with the agreement.
1:02:21
On the other hand, we understand that all agencies have been subject to these budget reductions.
1:02:27
And so all agencies are facing these challenges.
1:02:29
And obviously these are not enforceable agreements in the sense that they can be terminated by either party within a six month period.
1:02:35
So I think I think, you know, this is this is an overall budget issue.
1:02:38
It's certainly not the case that there's any, you know, one agency that's saying we don't wanna be helpful to you.
1:02:43
I think the message that we're getting is like, yes, we'd like to.
1:02:46
We can barely fill our own staffing needs.
1:02:49
Right.
1:02:49
So that's that's the situation with the MOU.
1:02:51
So that, in fiscal year twenty, we had 180 through these agreements, 180 headcount.
1:02:57
We now have 137.
Lincoln Restler
1:02:59
And understanding that other agencies are facing challenges around headcount as well, Are there can you help identify for us which agencies have seen the greatest reduction during that five year period?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:03:13
You know, I'd have to know more about their budgets in order to do it.
1:03:16
And frankly, I'd have to go back and look at each MOU.
1:03:19
But but for the most part, we're either getting fewer positions than agreed to or there's there's such low funding available for each position that they wouldn't really fund a current full salary.
Lincoln Restler
1:03:31
Okay.
1:03:32
I I think it would be helpful for us to understand if there are agencies that should be stepping up because in our oversight capacity, if we should be pushing NYCHA or DOB or whoever the case may be to be being better partners to DOI and lending more staff as they had previously in their MOU agreements, then we should be doing so because you all having your own headcount is one way for you to have capacity, but this is another critical way, and we can put pressure on those agency heads as well if there are folks that aren't stepping up in the ways that they should?
Jocelyn E. Strauber
1:04:04
This is actually a good moment for me to correct something, just quickly on on NYCHA, which is not an example of an agency that is not stepping up.
1:04:10
We have budgeted headcount through our agreement with NYCHA for 53 positions, and we've got 49 active positions.
1:04:17
So so they're, So they are staffing that squad quite fully.