Sanitation suit to be refiled

The lawsuit against Oceanside Sanitation will be changed and sent again.

Last week, a temporary restraining order to stop the Oceanside Sanitation District from paying the Michael and Charles Scarlata and their company, Assistance Corp., was rejected by Nassau County Court Judge Antonio Brandveen.

Almost a year ago, a state comptroller’s audit revealed that the Scarlatas collected $800,000 in retirement benefits in addition to their salaries. Michael received $391,000 in deferred payments from 1998 to 2013, after retiring in 1998 with a $75,000 annual pension. His son received $421,353 in payments in 2012 and 2013, after he retired. Michael has remained a consultant to the board under a five-year contract, earning $62,000 a year as well as health benefits. In addition, the comptroller determined that the district had entered into a series of contracts with Assistance Corp. in order to pay Michael Scarlata additional post-employment money.

On Nov. 3, former Sanitation worker Joseph Samoles filed a class action taxpayer suit against that alleges hat the sanitation board has failed to recover money it paid the Scarlatas, and seeks to reclaim it. The complaint also claims that board Chairman Joe Cibellis and Commissioners Tom Lanning and Florence Mensch voted against measures to recover the funds and to bring in outside counsel, because of business and political relationships they have with the Scarlatas.

Austin Graff, Samoles attorney, said that he will amend the original complaint to reflect the fact that the post-retirement payments had been already paid in full and the consulting contract was separate from that. Graff plans to file the amended complaint by Jan. 6. After that date, the sanitation district will have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit.

A Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 12 went into executive session, at which they discussed the lawsuit but did not take any action or make any decisions

In July, the board approved a resolution, by a 3-2 vote, to suspend Michael Scarlata and review his contract as well as the comptroller’s audit. (The comptroller’s office said it would not get involved in the lawsuit.) The resolution ordered him to stop attending sanitation board meetings and interacting with board members or sanitation employees. But Scarlata has continued to attend meetings as a member of the public, which he is allowed to do. A September proposal to hire outside legal counsel to review his contract failed in a 3-2 vote.