NCC Audit

A Nassau Community College (NCC) employee took an on-campus car home for several days without permission, triggering a police investigation for the stolen/missing property, but NCC officials said they could not discipline the employee because they could not prove that he had been the one who took the car, even though the campus car was recovered at the employee’s home. According to an audit by Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, this incident was only one of several examples that showed a lack of proper policies and procedures regarding the management and fueling of NCC vehicles.

"Who was minding the store when this employee took a campus-only car home for several days?” Weitzman asked. “Safety Town keeps better track of its vehicles. It is made even worse by the fact that the college chose not to discipline him, once they recovered the car.”

The audit also revealed unexplainable gas consumption by some campus cars—one vehicle card, assigned to the Chief of Public Safety’s vehicle, was used to fuel 20 gallons of gas at 1:52 p.m. one day and then again another 20 gallons just 4 minutes later. The car had a tank capacity of 30 gallons.

The 17-page limited audit by the Comptroller’s Office looked at the fleet of vehicles and motorized equipment (golf cart, boat, etc.) owned by NCC and managed by NCC’s Physical Plant. The audit period covered January 1, 2007-November 26, 2008.

At the time of the audit, NCC’s fleet consisted of 65 vehicles, comprised of 10 passenger cars, 27 pick-up trucks and vans, 10 public safety cars, 12 pieces of heavy equipment, four electric cars, one golf cart and one boat. Most of the vehicles in the fleet are not driven off campus and are not assigned to specific individuals. Only two vehicles are assigned as take-home vehicles—the President’s car and the Chief of Public Safety’s vehicle. NCC has one fuel site for all the vehicles, located near the Physical Plant’s garage. Although a camera monitors the fuel site, the video is not reviewed by anyone, the audit stated.

According to the audit, vehicles are fueled using an automated system called “Gasboy,” which requires the user to insert two cards; one that identifies the vehicle, called the “vehicle card” and another called a “driver card” that identifies the attendant in the Physical Plant who is fueling the car. In addition, NCC’s Public Safety also keeps a manual logbook that contains fueling transactions.. The audit found that no supervisors review the Gasboy fuel reports, nor does anyone investigate any reported incidences of excessive fueling.

Auditors found 18 vehicles that “appeared to have unusual fueling activities,” such as being fueled more than once a day with a questionable amount of fuel pumped. Six of the 18 vehicles had fueling incidents that were very hard to explain: Vehicle #P-3 was gassed up at 12:47 a.m. with 12.9 gallons, then again the same day at 1:19 p.m. with 15 gallons; On yet another day, the same vehicle gassed up at 12:08 a.m. with almost 14 gallons and then again at 12:53 a.m. with another 15; Vehicle #P-35 was gassed up at 7:37 a.m. with 25 gallons and the again at 7:42 with almost 16 more. The car had a 26 gallon gas tank. Vehicle #P-14 received over 33 gallons of gas at 5:19 a.m. and another 21 gallons at 6:26 a.m.

"Not even Dale Earnhardt, Jr. could use this much fuel, this quickly,” said Weitzman.

NCC’s lax policy regarding driver qualifications was also noted by auditors. Currently, NCC only requires NCC vehicle drivers to have a valid New York State driver’s license and does not keep track of any possible convictions or moving violations that a driver might have. Auditors recommended that NCC officials follow the Nassau County fleet policy for drivers, which includes more stringent qualifications. Under the County policy, drivers must be at least 21 years old; hold a valid NY State license for at least two years; have a license that is unrestricted; have no convictions for DWI or DWAI in the past five years; have no more than 9 points on license in the past 18 months; must complete a Defensive Driving course within the past three years; and must hold a valid Nassau County Motor Vehicle Operator’s card.

The audit also looked at other aspects of NCC’s vehicle use procedures and found some vehicles were missing the proper identification decals and stickers and that there was a lack of policy for vehicle repairs and maintenance.

Comptroller Weitzman said that his office will follow up with NCC in about six months to ascertain if the recommendations have been implemented.

NCC employee takes on-campus car home for several days without permission and is not disciplined

Audit of Nassau Community College’s car fleet reveals

lax fueling practices and little oversight of drivers’ qualifications