Letter Audit Report on the Department of Homeless Services’ Monitoring of Their Employees Who Drive City-Owned or Personally-Owned Vehicles on City Business
Letter Audit Report on the Department of Homeless Services’ Monitoring of Their Employees Who Drive City-Owned or Personally-Owned Vehicles on City Business
SZ15-066AL
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
New York City requires that only those employees who exercise reasonable care in operating City-owned or personally-owned vehicles be allowed to use them to conduct City business. This requirement is outlined in the City of New York’s “City Vehicle Driver Handbook” (the “Handbook”). Agency heads, through their agency’s Agency Transportation Coordinator (“ATC”), must ensure that all employees assigned a City-owned vehicle either for full-time use or temporary use have been authorized to drive. It is also the ATC’s responsibility to ensure that each driver has a valid license. An employee’s driver’s license must be issued by New York State unless the employee is exempt from City residency requirements. In that case, the authorized driver must have a valid license from the state where he/she resides and must have the appropriate classification for the vehicle which he/she is driving on City business. The Handbook further specifies that City agencies must establish programs that promote safety along with proper training in the use of motor vehicles.
City agencies participating in the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) License Event Notification System (“LENS”) program are required to monitor the driving behavior of their employees. The LENS program is designed to notify an ATC of any event that affects the driver’s license, such as an expired license, the accumulation of points, an accident, and charges against the driver for driving while impaired or driving under the influence. This enables the ATC to ensure that only employees with valid licenses are driving on City business.
In January 2014, the City launched the Vision Zero Action Plan (“Plan”), a comprehensive initiative to reduce driver, bicyclist, and pedestrian injuries and fatalities in New York City. The Plan details steps to improve street safety, including lowering the speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour and increasing the penalties for driving with a suspended license and leaving the scene of an accident. The Plan also proposes increasing the number of red light cameras and installing additional traffic devices to control speeding. With respect to City employees, the Plan includes implementing a citywide defensive driving program and adding safety-related equipment and devices to City vehicles.
Results
We found that the Department of Homeless Services (“DHS”) effectively monitors the driving behavior of its authorized drivers. DHS subscribes to the DMV’s LENS program, receives its updates, and revokes the privileges of drivers who have suspended or revoked licenses in a timely manner as prescribed by regulations. In addition, DHS provided its employees with a required safety awareness program. We found one DHS employee who circumvented DMV regulations in both Florida and New York. However, since this employee’s behavior was an exception rather than the rule among the agency’s drivers, our conclusion that DHS effectively monitors its employees is still appropriate. The issues concerning this employee’s behavior will be discussed in a separate report.
In their response, DHS stated that it “is pleased that there were no findings against our Agency…. As per its practice, DHS will continue to review and strengthen our internal controls to ensure that the Agency follows all applicable laws, policies and procedures, rules and regulations.”