To 'weed out the riffraff,' Babylon Town permit expeditors getting more scrutiny
Christine Fey, right, an expeditor who had to register with Babylon Town as part of a new local mandate, is pictured with her client Ana Silverio, who said she had a bad experience with another expeditor. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Residents invest faith and sometimes thousands of dollars in people they hope will guide them through Babylon Town's permitting process, but officials say some expeditors just take the money and run.
To fight that, the town now is requiring expeditors to register and undergo a background check.
The town defines an expeditor as someone who gets paid for “assistance in the submission, filing, negotiation or completion of an application for a permit or other approval." That can mean helping homeowners smoothly navigate the process of obtaining permission for everything from pools to new construction.
Part of Babylon's new mandate includes expeditors paying a $250 annual fee and submitting fingerprints for the town's background check upon registering.
The town can reject the registration of anyone who has been convicted of a “corruption-related” crime, such as fraud or bribery. Those who fail to register face a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and/or a jail sentence of 15 days to one year.
Town Attorney Joe Wilson said the registration requirement will give the town greater transparency, efficiency and accountability.
“We wanted to make sure who is coming in and make sure they’re honest and don’t have a criminal history,” he said. “We’ve had certain expeditors come in and provide false information on building applications.”
The town so far has registered more than two dozen expeditors, whose names are available to the public. Professionals in fields related to the work being done, such as engineers and architects, don't have to register, Wilson said.
Expeditors — who aren't licensed — may not have any expertise in those fields but can help homeowners connect with professionals and are knowledgeable about the permitting system.
“They do provide a valuable service for some of our residents who don’t know the process,” Wilson said.
Christine Fey, 56, did expediting for her father’s construction firm for more than 20 years before starting her own expediting company, Accurate Expediting Services, Inc., in West Babylon, about 13 years ago.
She said this is the first time she’s been required to register with a town but feels it’s “a good thing” that helps “weed out the riffraff.”
Fey said many people think they can be expeditors but don't have the knowledge or connections needed to do the job.
“I’ve heard of them taking people’s money and not doing what they said they were going to do,” she added.
For a fee of $1,250, Fey helped new homeowner Ana Silverio, 27, of Ronkonkoma, get approval for an accessory apartment.
Silverio said she had paid another expeditor $900 but he didn’t know local code requirements. After her initial approval attempt failed, he told her to just keep the apartment illegal.
“I wanted to do the right thing,” Silverio said. “There’s a lot of people out there like me who don’t know what to do and then if the expeditor doesn’t know either, they end up not doing the right thing.”
Residents invest faith and sometimes thousands of dollars in people they hope will guide them through Babylon Town's permitting process, but officials say some expeditors just take the money and run.
To fight that, the town now is requiring expeditors to register and undergo a background check.
The town defines an expeditor as someone who gets paid for “assistance in the submission, filing, negotiation or completion of an application for a permit or other approval." That can mean helping homeowners smoothly navigate the process of obtaining permission for everything from pools to new construction.
Part of Babylon's new mandate includes expeditors paying a $250 annual fee and submitting fingerprints for the town's background check upon registering.
The town can reject the registration of anyone who has been convicted of a “corruption-related” crime, such as fraud or bribery. Those who fail to register face a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and/or a jail sentence of 15 days to one year.
Town Attorney Joe Wilson said the registration requirement will give the town greater transparency, efficiency and accountability.
“We wanted to make sure who is coming in and make sure they’re honest and don’t have a criminal history,” he said. “We’ve had certain expeditors come in and provide false information on building applications.”
The town so far has registered more than two dozen expeditors, whose names are available to the public. Professionals in fields related to the work being done, such as engineers and architects, don't have to register, Wilson said.
Expeditors — who aren't licensed — may not have any expertise in those fields but can help homeowners connect with professionals and are knowledgeable about the permitting system.
“They do provide a valuable service for some of our residents who don’t know the process,” Wilson said.
Christine Fey, 56, did expediting for her father’s construction firm for more than 20 years before starting her own expediting company, Accurate Expediting Services, Inc., in West Babylon, about 13 years ago.
She said this is the first time she’s been required to register with a town but feels it’s “a good thing” that helps “weed out the riffraff.”
Fey said many people think they can be expeditors but don't have the knowledge or connections needed to do the job.
“I’ve heard of them taking people’s money and not doing what they said they were going to do,” she added.
For a fee of $1,250, Fey helped new homeowner Ana Silverio, 27, of Ronkonkoma, get approval for an accessory apartment.
Silverio said she had paid another expeditor $900 but he didn’t know local code requirements. After her initial approval attempt failed, he told her to just keep the apartment illegal.
“I wanted to do the right thing,” Silverio said. “There’s a lot of people out there like me who don’t know what to do and then if the expeditor doesn’t know either, they end up not doing the right thing.”
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
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