From left, Admin. Asst. Kelly Sheppard, CSEA Local 830
Pres. Jerry Laricchiuta, County Executive Ed Mangano, and
CSEA Local 830 Executive VP Ron Gurrieri
CSEA Local 830 officials, including President Jerry Laricchiuta took a tour for the first time with new Nassau County
Executive Edward Mangano and his staff, on March 11. The tour lasted nearly 90 minutes and went through the entire building. Leading the way was Social Services Unit President Ernie Jackson.
The tour started on the concourse level which inhabits between 60 and 70 employees who all work with finances. Employees in this area have complained of air quality issues in the past, but according to Laricchiuta, and DSS Director of Operations Manny Mosquera, 3 air quality tests have been done in the past nearly 4 years, which have came back negative.
Laricchiuta and Mangano discuss issues on the concourse.
Next the tour hit the rotunda, where it was a typically busy day. According to Karen Garber, Program Coordinator, Office of Consumer and Public Information, an average of 1,000 clients come through the rotunda each day. That number was at 700 when DSS originally moved to 60 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. But Garber says, the computer system at DSS allows for each client to be tracked in terms of what they did, and why they were there.
Laricchiuta and Mangano in the control room.
Mangano and Laricchiuta then went to the control room where a public security officer keeps track of the crowd intake in the rotunda. The tour went through the remainder of the facility which included Medicaid on the main floor, and APS and Senior Citizens on the second floor.
The main concern throughout the tour, and over the five years that Social Services have been at 60 Charles Lindbergh Boulevard, is the tight spacing for the employees, including 5 foot by 5 foot cubicles. Mosquera confirmed that there are between 1200 and 1400 employees that work at 60 Charles Lindbergh Boulevard, but they all are not in the building concurrently. However, the building was made to handle far fewer than that.
Mangano, and Laricchiuta with DSS Unit President Ernie Jackson
“That is our main concern here,” President Jerry Laricchiuta said. “But for the first time in my nearly 5 years as president, we have been able to get our County Executive here to walk through and see with his own eyes the conditions here. We look forward to working with him to alleviate this problem.”