GOSHEN – Orange County Attorney Rick Golden late Wednesday said contrary to allegations made by Senator James Skoufis (D, Cornwall) that Human Resources Commissioner and former county attorney Langdon Chapman masterminded an intricate deal to hand a lucrative IT contract to his brother-in-law’s company, StarCIO, it was all done above board and that Chapman was not involved in the arrangement.
In a statement, Golden said the contract and two amendments were procured in accordance with state and county laws.
The contract, amendments and second contract added up to $822,900, according to county documents obtained by Mid-Hudson News.
“The amendments under both state and county law do not need to be subject to a new round of procurement, nor would it make sense to do so, as you would then have separate contractors/vendors overlapping on the same project causing inefficiencies,” Golden wrote. In fact, he said two of the written quotes considered were not sent in by the companies, and there was no legal requirement for that to happen.
According to Skoufis, StarCIO took part in securing one of their competitors quotes in August, months after the quote should have been obtained. But, Golden said, “It is entirely proper to use ‘piggyback’ proposals from other governments as quotes, which is what happened here.” He said there was nothing fraudulent in the process as alleged by Skoufis.
The county attorney also said the hiring of relatives of county employees, or the engagement of contractors/vendors who employ relatives, is allowed under the county ethics code.
What is prohibited, Golden said, is if the county relative is part of the decision-making process to hire an employee or contractor, or if the decision-maker is under the supervision of the county relative. “Such prohibited conduct did not occur regarding StarCIO,” Golden wrote. “The relative department head had no role in the selection of StarCIO, nor did anyone under his supervision.”
On Wednesday, Skoufis urged the Orange County District Attorney, State Attorney General and FBI to look into this contractor deal, which he said was potentially criminal.
The need for an IT consultant
Information technology currently falls under the county General Services Department, but as of January 2024, it will be a new, separate department as per recent county legislative action.
That will require the hiring of a commissioner for the new department at an annual salary of between $200,000 and $250,000, county legislators learned Wednesday afternoon from county administrators during a Ways and Means Committee session called to review the department’s proposed 2024 budget.
The seven IT employees currently working under General Services will be transferred over to the new IT department.
As of this moment, no commissioner has been hired.
Skoufis maintains Chapman is “puppeteer” of major county decisions
Senator Skoufis alleged that Chapman is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain controlling all major decisions affecting the county, not County Executive Steven Neuhaus. And he claimed Chapman crafted the StarCIO arrangement in such a way as to keep the heat away from himself.
But, in his written opinion late Wednesday, current County Attorney Golden said the entire process was done according to the law and that Chapman was not involved in it.
