NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Westchester County Veterans Services Agency Director Ronald C. Tocci, was paid by Westchester County while working on a lawsuit over the New Rochelle Naval Armory filed in 2019, Westchester County Human Resource records show.
Tocci is paid an annual salary of $103,565.
Over the past two years, Tocci has repeatedly claimed that he was not involved in the Armory lawsuit, ostensibly filed on behalf of “veterans”, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. When evidence surfaced last year in a court transcript that Tocci was not only involved in the case but told a judge overseeing the case he was negotiating with the Mayor of New Rochelle on behalf of the plaintiffs, Tocci admitted he was involved but acting only as a private citizen not as a Westchester County employee. Mayor Noam Bramson strenuously denied negotiating with Tocci over the Armory.
According to payroll time-sheet records seen by Talk of the Sound under a Freedom of Information request, Tocci has not taken any personal days, sick days or vacation days since the Armory lawsuit was filed on July 25, 2019.
As a result, Tocci has accrued over 1,000 hours in accrued sick leave, personal leave and vacation leave worth over $50,000.
Tocci’s time sheets do list “Business Travel” on September 26, 2019, with the notation “Chris — Peekskill outreach” and “telework” on March 24, 2020.
Before the lawsuit filing, Tocci took vacation days from June 10, 2019, to June 21, 2019.
Despite having not taking any time off from his County job, Tocci participated in four court proceedings — all during the workday when he was working for Westchester County.
On March 4, 2020, at 9:30 a.m., Ron Tocci was present for the oral argument on motions to dismiss at the Westchester County Supreme Court along with a large veteran contingent.
On July 14, 2020, at 11:30 a.m., Ron Tocci was present virtually in front of Judge Lawrence Ecker for oral argument on motions to dismiss, from Michael Amodio’s office, and did participate as previously reported.
On September 18, 2020, at 10:30 a.m., Ron Tocci was present in-person for a settlement conference at the law offices of Wilson, Elsner in White Plains, NY.
On December 8, 2020, at 2:15 p.m., Ron Tocci was present virtually for a settlement conference before Judge Wood, from Michael Amodio’s office, and did participate.
Tocci’s time sheets state he was paid for a full workday by Westchester County on March 4, 2020, July 14, 2020, September 18, 2020, and December 8, 2020.
Tocci was present at a press conference at the New Rochelle Armory on the day the lawsuit was filed, made appearances at various Veterans Services Organizations to “brief” them on the lawsuit and is alleged in a County Ethics complaint of working on the lawsuit while in his County office and using County resources in the process.
The legal maneuverings over the Armory have always been a bit incestuous with the Latimer administration, which runs Westchester County, denying involvement while Tocci, a senior County official, using County resources to advance a dubious, obstructionist lawsuit against the City of New Rochelle with Tocci in effect suing the New Rochelle City Council which appointed him to advise them on New Rochelle veterans issues over a property Tocci arranged to be transferred to City control more than two decades ago when Tocci was representing New Rochelle in the New York State Assembly where he was succeeded by Latimer.
Westchester County Spokesperson Catherine Cioffi has frequently (and loudly) denied that the County has anything to do with the Armory lawsuit despite Tocci, a Latimer appointee, working on the case from his County office, a settlement agreement to provide the County office space at the Armory and now evidence that Tocci was involved in court proceedings on County time.
Cioffi did not respond to a request for comment on the Tocci time sheets.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cioffi issued a statement on Thursday 3/4. We requested a statement on Tuesday 3/2. The full text of her statement is after the image of the Tocci time sheet below.
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Tocci Time Sheets
Source: Westchester County Human Resources.
Any time Mr. Tocci spent on personal business during his workday is subject to reduction of his accumulated personal time. We do not double check the accuracy of department heads consistent with timesheets; they have discretion to use their lunchtime hour and other personal time accrued as they see fit. If you have proof of his whereabouts contrary to his time sheets, you are welcomed to submit your proof, and we will follow up accordingly.
We repeat categorically the County has no interest in the Armory project and we have shown no indication of such interest at any point in time.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The idea that it is up to Talk of the Sound to submit “proof of (Tocci’s) whereabouts contrary to his time sheets” so the County can “follow up” is patently absurd.
Talk of the Sound is a news outlet not a law enforcement agency. We have no legal standing to file a complaint with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office over allegations of time theft as no one stole County time from Talk of the Sound. We cannot initiate an HR investigation. And Tocci has stopped responding to our emails.
It is not our concern as to whether the County decides to investigate Ron Tocci for time theft, or make a criminal referral for same. Our role is to gather news and information and share that with our readers. The County is free to ignore the information we published which is quite detailed and thoroughly sourced.
The time sheets are readily available to the County as they come from the County Human Resources department.
The time Ron Tocci spent in court proceedings is readily available to the County as he works for the County so they can ask him directly.
The County can then compare Tocci’s statements with court records and statements from court officers including the attorneys for the parties who can verify (or not) Ron Tocci’s claims about his whereabouts.
Westchester County does not need our assistance to do any of that just the will to do so.
It is our view that having had two days to prepare a reply, the County could have issued a statement that the well-documented, detailed allegations in our story are troubling and will be referred for an internal HR investigation. Instead, the County has offered baseless excuses for the disparity between the court records and Ron Tocci’s time sheets which indicate he has not taken a single minute of personal time, vacation, or sick leave since the lawsuit was filed on July 25, 2019.
No annual physical, no dental appointments, no three-day weekends. No in-person court appearances. No in-person settlement conferences. Nothing. Just working 100% of the time for the past 19 months.
Except court records say otherwise.
Wait a minute didn’t this Tocci guy claim he was doing this privatily. Sounds like he is lying. If this happened on my job I am sure I would be going to see the shop steward and might even get fired. Sounds like a double standard for this guy who got anointed to this job. Another old white guy boomer in a bulletproof job story.