North Hempstead building official Joseph Geraci resigns after retaliation finding

A top official in North Hempstead’s Building Department has resigned months after an internal probe into a retaliation claim found he violated town code.

The town board accepted the resignation of Joseph Geraci, an assistant to the building commissioner, at a Nov. 14 meeting.

Geraci, whose annual salary was $133,352, couldn't be reached for comment.

He started working for the town in 2008 and previously served as acting highway superintendent and deputy public works commissioner.

Thomas McDonough, union president of the local CSEA unit that represented Geraci, said Geraci retired and it "had nothing to do with the previous incident."

In June, Newsday obtained records from an internal probe through a Freedom of Information Law request that showed town Building Commissioner John Niewender was suspended without pay that month after an investigation found he retaliated against an employee who filed a complaint against him.

Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena wrote in a May letter in which she suspended Niewender it was indisputable he had threatened an employee, whose identity was redacted, in August 2022 "for the prior actions of filing a complaint against him."

She also said Niewender and another person, whose identity was redacted, "did in fact engage in conduct that was retaliatory."

DeSena declined to comment Tuesday on Geraci's resignation.

The law firm Lamb & Barnosky LLP did the internal disciplinary probe and generated a 41-page report that town officials previously turned over to Newsday along with related documents after heavy redactions.

But Newsday also previously obtained an unredacted version of portions of the law firm's report that a source familiar with the probe verified as authentic.

As a whole, the records show building inspector Paul Vetere filed an equal employment opportunity complaint with the town in July 2022 and then was summoned in early August of that year to a meeting with Niewender and Geraci without a union representative.

Vetere's July complaint was about department officials asking him to fill out time sheets — which no longer were a department requirement — for three days he worked from his car because he had COVID-19 symptoms, the records show.

The law firm's report concluded Niewender knew at the time of the meeting there was a possibility Vetere had made, or was going to make a complaint.

In the meeting, Niewender and Geraci reprimanded the inspector for "bashing" them to other employees, the report said. 

The report concluded the meeting was a way for Niewender to try to deter Vetere from filing a complaint against him.

The probe also concluded Niewender and Geraci created a reasonable fear Vetere would suffer consequences for making a complaint.

The investigation found the two officials committed misconduct by violating anti-retaliation provisions of the town code, the report said. 

Niewender served his suspension and returned to work in July. Geraci remained on the job, a town official familiar with the probe told Newsday in June.

But McDonough, the union official, said at the time that CSEA was set to enter arbitration with the town over any disciplinary action against Geraci.

Niewender’s suspension occurred as the Nassau County Comptroller’s Office conducted a still ongoing audit of the Building Department that DeSena requested in the summer of 2022 while describing the unit as “deeply flawed" and "scandal plagued."

In 2007, a 16-month investigation into allegations of corruption led to the arrests and convictions of several North Hempstead building department employees.

Niewender previously has defended his department, saying he isn’t aware of any recent scandals and hopes the audit will exonerate the department and show it’s understaffed.

Comptroller's Office spokeswoman Wendy Goldstein said Tuesday the audit's findings should be released by year's end or in early January.