Politics on the Hudson

A report issued by New York Inspector General Joseph Fisch today alleges that the former executive director of the state Office of Real Property Services used staff to take care of personal business, such as booking a family vacation, driving his daughter from medical appointments to school and conducting a real estate search for his wife.

Lee Kyriacou, the former head of Real Property Services, also refused to charge his vacation or sick time when he was out of the office and claimed he was “reachable” when he wasn’t in the office, according to the report. Kyriacou, who was appointed head of the agency in September 2007, resigned in December 2009, during Fisch’s investigation.

“Mr. Kyriacou abused his authority and exploited his staff for inappropriate personal business,” Fisch said in a statement. “His departure from state service was appropriate.”

The inspector general said Kyriacou repeatedly had executive assistant Mary Beth Cimino take care of personal business for him on state time. Cimino was also asked to set up apartment tours for the family’s relocation to the Albany region.

Fisch said three ORPS executives confronted Kyriacou about using staff for private business. One likened his behavior to that of former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who was convicted for using employees to chauffeur his wife, but Kyriacou said he saw nothing wrong with what Hevesi did and it was routine for assistants to complete personal tasks for their bosses in the private sector, the report said.

Other findings in Fisch’s report include:
—Kyriacou regularly drove his state-assigned Chevy Impala home to Beacon, Dutchess County, and underreported his personal mileage by 6,000 miles in two years. He did not claim the personal benefit on his income taxes, as required by law.
—Kyriacou directed subordinates to complete and approve his time sheets, and he had them complete and review their own time sheets. He tried to blame any inaccurate attendance records or mileage discrepancies on his assistants’ incompetence.

Kyriacou is no longer a state employee and does not face discipline, but ORPS has agreed to strengthen its procedures based on Fisch’s recommendations. The agency no longer assigns state vehicles to individual employees and plans to monitor mileage reporting and limit the use of state cell phones.