Records: North Hempstead Building Commissioner John Niewender suspended for misconduct

North Hempstead Building Commissioner John Niewender was suspended without pay for the month of June after an investigation found he committed misconduct by retaliating against an employee who filed a complaint against him, records show. 

The documents, which Newsday obtained under a Freedom of Information Law request, also show  Niewender — who has held his role since 2014 — is expected back at work Monday.

Niewender’s suspension occurred as the Nassau County comptroller's office is wrapping up a yearlong  audit of the building department that Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena requested in 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 has defended his department in the past, saying he isn’t aware of any recent scandals and that the supervisor’s allegations have hurt staff morale. He has said he hopes the audit will exonerate the department and show it’s understaffed.

Niewender, who collected a salary of $135,930 in 2022, didn't return requests for comment Friday. Earlier in June, he declined to answer questions about his suspension.

DeSena said in a statement Friday that Niewender's suspension shows her administration "has a zero-tolerance policy for workplace retaliation and will hold our management to a higher standard than in prior administrations." 

She added, “While I can’t comment further on the specifics, since I took office, I have expressed deep concern regarding the operations of the Building Department under the prior administrations, and this situation does nothing to allay my concerns about the department’s ability to manage day-to-day operations in a professional and efficient manner.”

Records show  DeSena told Niewender in a May 19 letter in which she suspended him that it was indisputable that Niewender had threatened an employee, whose identity was redacted, last August "for the prior actions of filing a complaint against him." She also said Niewender and another person, whose identity also was redacted, "did in fact engage in conduct that was retaliatory."

The town’s spokesman, Gordon Tepper, said Friday that North Hempstead doesn't comment on personnel matters.

The law firm Lamb & Barnosky LLP, an outside contractor, did an internal disciplinary probe after a Building Department inspector filed two equal employment opportunity complaints with the town last year.

The firm generated a 41-page report that town officials turned over to Newsday after heavy redactions. But Newsday also obtained an unredacted version of portions of the report that a source familiar with the probe verified as authentic.

The unredacted pages identified the inspector who filed the complaints as Paul Vetere and the third person who was present at an Aug. 8 meeting involving Niewender and Vetere as Joseph Geraci, an assistant to the commissioner.

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

The meeting occurred the same day town officials learned the county comptroller would begin examining the Building Department's operations and procedures as part of the comprehensive audit DeSena requested.

Since then, the law firm's probe concluded Niewender and Geraci engaged in prohibited conduct during the Aug. 8 meeting after Niewender initiated a conversation with Vetere because he heard Vetere had told people he was “going to make a complaint.”

Investigators found Niewender and Geraci committed misconduct by violating anti-retaliation provisions of the town code, the report said. 

Niewender, the report added, was upset that Vetere was “tarnishing his reputation” because Niewender previously had given the inspector overtime and tried to help him advance his career.

At the meeting, Niewender told Vetere he could be fired for misconduct, but didn't tell Vetere not to file the complaint, according to the report.

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

The report said an audio recording Vetere made of the meeting shows Niewender told him, "You have a chance here to make it right. You need this job." 

Niewender also told the inspector, according to the report, "I know that's part of your mission, to get me out. I'm not going anywhere … Choose wisely. That's advice, not a threat."

The meeting happened about three weeks after Vetere filed a July 19 complaint against Niewender. But investigators found no wrongdoing there, the report said.

That complaint was about building officials asking Vetere 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. 

Vetere and Geraci didn't respond to a request for comment Friday. Geraci remains on the job, a town official familiar with the probe said Friday.

Thomas McDonough, president of the local CSEA unit that represents Geraci and Vetere, said the union will enter arbitration with the town over any disciplinary action against Geraci.

Earlier this year, Niewender, who leads about 50 employees, pushed back after the county comptroller's office requested additional records for its audit, Newsday previously reported.

The comptroller's office said in February that Niewender wouldn't turn over the documents without a subpoena or a Freedom of Information Law request until DeSena intervened.