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Q&A
Staffing and structure of borough commissioners' offices
1:21:34
ยท
5 min
Council Member Salamanca raises questions about the salaries and staffing of borough commissioners' offices. The discussion reveals disparities in staffing across boroughs and the DEP's approach to resource allocation.
- Borough commissioners' salaries are generally set equally, with one exception
- Staffing varies across boroughs, with some having dedicated staff while others do not
- DEP emphasizes a team-based approach to staffing and resource allocation
- The structure of borough commissioners in DEP differs from other agencies due to the interconnected nature of their infrastructure
Rafael Salamanca
1:21:34
Okay.
1:21:35
And in terms of the structure, I know that DOT, parks and other agencies have borough commissioners and normally the borough commissioner's salary is set equally per borough commissioner.
1:21:51
Is that the same with your your commissioners?
Rohit Aggarwala
1:21:55
Yes it is.
Rafael Salamanca
1:21:57
But the stat I hear the Staten Island Commissioner is getting paid much more higher than the other ones.
1:22:02
Yeah I know.
Rohit Aggarwala
1:22:03
So Mario was transferred over, and so it seemed appropriate to keep him, but I don't think there's a
Rafael Salamanca
1:22:14
problem with I'm just advocating for the borough commissioners to be out there to get a bigger salary.
1:22:18
So, you know, it's understandable.
Rohit Aggarwala
1:22:20
Look, I will I could council member, I wanna thank you for your leadership on this.
1:22:25
I am so excited about having the full set.
1:22:27
I actually mentioned them mentioned them before you arrived.
1:22:32
I'm really excited about the people we've been able to recruit both internally in Effie and Mario, within city government in terms of Alfonso and Marty in Manhattan, and a new hire who had not been in city government in Dresana in Brooklyn.
1:22:48
They are a stellar group of people and I think they will do a really good job of helping our agency connect to elected officials, to local communities and to really know our neighborhoods.
1:23:00
But it is if I could add also really important to note that the most common interactions with elected officials and local communities is through the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations.
1:23:11
And we do also have borough managers for the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations.
1:23:16
And and so I would just ask because DEP functions differently than the parks department, I I we have intentionally structured the brow commissioners differently than the parks department and DOT does.
1:23:32
I do think that's appropriate.
1:23:34
I'm happy to talk more about that if you have doubts or disagree.
1:23:39
But we have taken this very seriously.
Rafael Salamanca
1:23:43
Alright.
1:23:44
You know, I value your agency.
1:23:46
It plays a major role especially my district where I'm surrounded by water.
1:23:52
And there's many times there's sewage overflow, we have flooding because of the Bronx River and the East River.
1:24:00
And also, you know, I had the water transfer stations, the DEP transfer stations, the waste transfer stations, I'm sorry, in Hunts Point which I'm gonna get to in a minute.
1:24:14
My final question here with the borough commissioners is staffing.
1:24:19
Does DEP plan on staffing the borough commissioners' offices?
1:24:25
It's my understanding that Manhattan and Brooklyn each have one staffer while Queens has two staffers, but yet the Bronx and Staten Island do not have any designated staff.
Rohit Aggarwala
1:24:42
Actually, yeah.
1:24:42
Beth, can you can you come up and just why don't you take this one?
1:24:46
Yes.
1:24:47
We'll need to swear
Lincoln Restler
1:24:47
Deputy commissioner Fellain.
Rohit Aggarwala
1:24:49
I think this is a question Beth can answer.
UNKNOWN
1:24:53
Good morning.
1:24:54
Please raise your right hand.
1:24:56
Do you affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before this committee and to respond honestly to council member questions?
1:25:02
Thank you.
1:25:03
You may begin when you're ready.
Beth DeFalco
1:25:04
Hi, council member.
1:25:06
Yeah.
1:25:06
In in the borough commissioner's newly elected roles, we've the way that we have set this up, especially in some of the larger boroughs including Queens and and and Brooklyn as well and Manhattan, there have been some additional staffers that we use to bolster our borough commissioners.
1:25:27
However, those staffers are also used in the other boroughs as well.
1:25:30
We work as a team.
1:25:31
It's not backing each other up.
1:25:33
It's not like we've got one person per borough and it's good luck to them.
1:25:38
So we've got a staff overall in the public affairs office, about 50 people.
1:25:42
And we're able to use those as needed.
1:25:45
And if there's anything that we're not doing, please let us know and we're certainly happy to talk about that and address any questions you've got.
Rafael Salamanca
1:25:51
Thank you.
1:25:52
Again, you know, I envision this position, borough commissioners to fully, you know, to staff them and allow them to operate as real borough commissioners.
1:26:02
I'm gonna continue to push the envelope on that, but thank you for the answer.
Beth DeFalco
1:26:05
Councilmember, one thing I would mention is that our borough commissioners work hand in hand with BWSO and BWT's borough managers.
1:26:12
They're they're literally tied at the hip.
1:26:14
So while there is a vision for the way that parks and other agencies work together, our infrastructure is all connected.
1:26:23
It's not separate infrastructure.
1:26:25
And so that's why we've set it up the way that we have.
1:26:27
But certainly, we'll always happy to get more people to help us out.
Rohit Aggarwala
1:26:30
And if I could also build on that, I think in the operating bureaus, particularly BWSO, you see that all the time.
1:26:37
On any given day, if there happens to be two water main breaks in the Bronx, we'll have a crew from the Queens yard or or the Manhattan yard respond to it.
1:26:46
Right?
1:26:47
So part of what we do is intentionally think about a citywide pool even when some of our facilities are separated on a borough basis.