Fabien Levy, the mayor’s spokesman, stated as soon as Mr. Adams realized of the summons, his busy schedule prevented him from dealing with it himself. He declined to touch upon using a Metropolis Corridor lawyer within the proceedings, besides to say that the mayor had all the time meant to symbolize himself.
“Mayor Adams has made no secret of the truth that he hates rats — whether or not scurrying round on the streets or terrorizing constructing tenants,” Mr. Levy stated. “He spent 1000’s of {dollars} to remediate an infestation at his residence in Brooklyn earlier this yr, and was pleased to seem earlier than OATH right now to state as a lot.”
OATH adjudicates a broad vary of instances, together with these involving worker self-discipline and company summonses. The workplace has no specific protocol relating to dealing with summonses issued to Metropolis Corridor officers, however described itself as an entirely impartial entity, regardless that Mr. Adams in March appointed Asim Rehman as OATH commissioner and its chief administrative regulation choose. The listening to officer who presided over the mayor’s case has solely restricted civil service safety.
“OATH listening to officers are skilled, impartial determination makers who don’t take into accounts who the individual named on the summons is, when issuing a choice in a case that comes earlier than them,” stated Marisa L. Senigo, the workplace’s deputy commissioner for public affairs.
The Lafayette Avenue property owned by Mr. Adams drew consideration throughout the 2021 Democratic mayoral main. As questions on Mr. Adams’s main residence grew intense, he supplied reporters a guided tour of the constructing’s basement house, asserting that it was his main residence.
On a wet late Tuesday afternoon, the constructing appeared freed from rats, however an adjoining property had baggage of trash piled up in opposition to a stairwell. The neighborhood, nonetheless, appeared properly acquainted with rodents: The native councilman, Chi Ossé, took workplace partly on a marketing campaign promise to “speak about rats.”
Sean Piccoli contributed reporting.