City Hall – Council Member Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) joined Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Tuesday as he signed legislation co-sponsored by Felder and Council Members James Gennaro, Leroy Comrie, and David Yassky that will restructure the Environmental Control Board (ECB), mandating a more efficient, responsive, and equitable adjudication and appeals process for homeowners and small business owners.

“This law is a great first step toward bringing ECB into the 21st Century and hopefully starting a new era where tax-paying homeowners and small businesses no longer feel harassed by their own government,” said Governmental Operations Committee Chair Simcha Felder. “Mayor Bloomberg and the Council recognized that this was an area ripe for reform and we worked together to pass a sensible law that will start that process.”

The law moves the ECB from the authority of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), a central tribunal that conducts hearings for agencies, boards, and commissions in the city, among other reforms to modernize ECB to protect respondents from no-show agencies and endless waits for appeals decisions. Introduced in May and passed in June by the Governmental Operations Committee, of which Felder is Chair, the Council sent the bill to Mayor Bloomberg after approving it on July 23, 2008.

ECB is responsible for conducting hearings of violations of the city’s quality of life laws. The board hears complaints from the Departments of Sanitation, Buildings, Health, Consumer Affairs, and FDNY, amounting to 175,000 hearings annually. 

Upon enactment of this law, ECB will provide language services and protect violators from no-show agency representation. The law also outlines technological improvements, including online payment, electronic scheduling, and increased efficiency in administration.

(YWN Desk – NYC)