Maragos audit finds fault with Nassau Parks Dept.

The Nassau County parks department failed to properly administer and supervise two licensing agreements with a food vendor, costing taxpayers $430,989, according to an audit released by Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos on Dec. 12.

The report, which examined paperwork and receipts from January 2013 to May 2015, found that Plainview-based Dover Gourmet Corp., which holds the exclusive right to provide food and beverage service at county facilities, did not complete nearly $300,000 of contractually required capital improvements. It also claims the vendor underreported about $27,000 in cash receipts and accumulated more than $22,000 in late fees.

“The Parks Department’s informal relationship with Dover resulted in significant lost revenue opportunities,” Maragos said in a statement. “The Parks Department should now make every effort to recover the uncollected revenues and obtain legislature approvals for all unauthorized catering services received.”

Dover has an exclusive license to operate snack bars, dining rooms, mobile trucks, golf cart food, vending machines, cafeterias, restaurants, special events and catering at most county parks and buildings, as well as at Nickerson Beach, which operates from May to September.

Dover President Butch Yamali, an Island Park resident who owns Peter’s Clam Bar on Long Beach Road, said the audit is “not true and not right,” and added that Maragos is tying up his business in what he called a “political chess game.” The Nassau comptroller, formerly a Republican, switched parties in September. He announced during the same news conference that he would run for county executive in 2017.

“They went through everything that I had and kept coming back looking and looking,” Yamali said. “They’re trying to find something that’s not here.”

Yamali said that his company only owed $338 for underreported ice cream sales as a result of the audit, which they have already paid to the county. In terms of the $27,000 that the audit claims were underreported, Yamali said Dover provided services to the county at a discounted rate, and did not pay a commission to Nassau because of that arrangement. He added that his company was discounting more than they would have paid the parks department.

Maragos claimed that Nassau allowed Dover to offset $84,000 in license fee revenue against amounts the vendor said it was owed for catered events, which circumvents the county’s procurement and payment processes.

The audit also pointed out incomplete capital improvement projects that were part of the 10-year licensing agreement, signed by former County Executive Thomas Suozzi in 2009. The projects include a new snack bar at Cantiague Park’s golf course, as well as picnic pavilions at Cantiague and Eisenhower parks. Cooking and service equipment, a free-standing snack bar and picnic tables were also supposed to be implemented at Nickerson Beach, the audit said.

According to the report, the parks department informed the comptroller that “some renovations were planned but never got off the ground, and that some adjustments were made to Nickerson Beach capital improvements schedule, as it was discovered that underground pipes would be damaged by the originally planned improvements.”

Yamali said some of the projects have been completed, and that others do not have to be finished until 2019, when the agreement expires. There is an option for a two-year extension as part of the agreement, he added.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, so it’s not a matter of fighting it,” Yamali said of Maragos’ audit. “It’s a matter of [asking], ‘Why did you do that?’”

The parks department did not immediately respond to the Herald’s request for comment at press time.