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Referral To Town Comptroller Over Billing Irregularities In Siemens’ Energy Performance Contract Leads To Director Being Locked Out Of Office & Request For District Attorney To Investigate Clarkstown Officials
By Tina Traster
A Clarkstown town employee who raised concerns over a requested payment from a town-hired contractor says he was put on paid administrative leave for pushing for answers from town officials about what he reported to be a “critical financial discrepancy.”
“When a Clarkstown employee raises questions or concerns with how town funds are being distributed, that employee deserves to be protected and appreciated. Retaliation against employee whistleblowers has no place in our town government.”
Michael Gianatasio, Director of Engineering & Facilities Management for the Town of Clarkstown, wrote two memos over the course of three weeks outlining what he called “unsupported labor billing” by Siemens International Industry, Inc. for work performed at the Mark Woods playground at Zukor Park in New City.
Gianatasio, who said he met with continued resistance from top town officials over his concerns, was unexpectedly called to the town attorney’s office on Monday morning, while locksmiths changed the locks on his office. He said Town Attorney Kevin Conway told him he was under investigation for omissions in his financial disclosure forms from 2023 through 2026. Another attorney from Hodges Walsh & Burke, LL was present, but Gianatasio said he was told he was not allowed to have his own attorney.
“I was shocked, just completely shocked,” said Gianatasio, who denied intentionally omitting disclosures of interests he’d held in companies in the past. “I was completely shocked. All of a sudden, without ever being disciplined or warned for any wrongdoing, I’m under investigation. In fact, they changed the locks to my office before I even stepped into the attorney’s office.” He said Conway asked about companies Gianatasio no longer owned or had an interest in, companies that pre-dated his tenure at Clarkstown, that Gianatasio didn’t know needed to be disclosed, and disputed their relevancy.
Gianatasio said he’d grabbed his bag and some personal items before being locked out, but his computer was confiscated and the police escorted him out of the building.
RCBJ requested comment from Town Attorney Kevin Conway but received no response.
Al Moroni, who is the Deputy Town Supervisor & Chief of Staff, has been named interim director of Engineering and Facilities Management. Moroni is not an engineer, said Gianatasio, adding he is not permitted to sign off on the payments.
On May 29, Gianatasio wrote to Clarkstown Comptroller Sara DiGiacomo detailing an “unexplained, unsupported labor” discrepancy of $594,469,” adding that “a review of the certified payroll records on file by the Department of Engineering & Facilities Management revealed that Siemens Industry Inc. has billed and drawn the entirety of a project’s $680,320 labor budget, certifying the milestone as 100 percent complete.”
He further wrote “a direct review of the certified payroll records submitted for the Zukor Park…validates a total field labor cost of only $85,850. Consequently, there is an unexplained, unsupported labor variance that requires immediate contractor reconciliation.” Moroni was copied on the email.
“I take my ethical obligations very seriously,” said Gianatasio, who turned to DiGiacomo, the town’s comptroller, to reconcile his findings. “She told me everything in my accounting was correct.”
In April 2024, the town board authorized $9 million for an Article 9 Energy Performance Contract (EPC) with Siemens to fund lighting, building improvements, and to build a new playground in Zukor Park, to honor the late Councilman Mark Woods. In July 2025, the town board passed a resolution reducing the original playground estimate from $2.8 million to $1.3 million, defining the project as “duly authorized energy-related playground improvements.”
Energy Performance Contracts are agreements between a municipal government and an Energy Service Company (ESCO). The ESCO designs and installs energy-saving upgrades—like LED lighting, HVAC modernization, or solar panels—with the cost of the project paid for in advance by the municipality. The savings are offset by future utility bill savings. Any shortfalls in savings over time are reimbursed by the ESCO.
Although the playground did not fit into the framework of an EPC, Gianatasio said Siemens offered to build the playground as part of the contract.
“When I had asked what does a playground have to do with energy, I’d gotten a look of death,” said Gianatasio, suggesting that any questioning of the Siemens’ work seemed to raise hackles with top town officials.
But when it came to payments, Gianatasio said he held his ground by refusing to authorize the Siemens monies until the company justified its labor billing. In the meantime, he said, “more issues with Siemens’ work on air and heating in both the town hall and the police department/justice court,” came to light. He said the company also billed the town $180,000 for two boilers that he costed out at $28,000 apiece for the same manufactured units.
The professional engineer, who had been working for Clarkstown for three and a half years and has received regular raises and praise, said he always felt something didn’t add up with the way the Siemens contract had been awarded.
“Something didn’t seem right,” he said. “There was a rush to get it approved. We formed a committee to determine between two bidders but at one point, Clarkstown’s Director of Finance Colin Schmitt came into the room and said, ‘we’re going with Siemens.’”
Gianatasio recalled saying, “What happened to the selection committee?”
Three weeks after Gianatasio sent the first memo, he sent a second one to Town Supervisor George Hoehmann, and again copied Moroni on June 18.
He raised the issue of the labor discrepancy, along with the statement “the issues I identified on the Siemens Energy Performance Contract, including certified payroll discrepancies, billing irregularities, non-functional building management system equipment, and related facility conditions, were identified in the course of performing my duties.”
“Identifying, documenting, and reporting these types of issues is part of my responsibility as Director of Engineering. My professional obligations regarding public safety, code compliance, and the responsible use of public funds exist independently of my job title. Those obligations come with the license, not only the position.”
Gianatasio, 53, said he’d always loved working for Clarkstown, but he failed to understand why town officials were unresponsive to his concerns or why he was being “micro-managed.”
“I couldn’t get their attention,” he said.
At a certain point, Gianatasio recognized he was in an adversarial position with Clarkstown’s top officials.
During this fraught period, the engineer arranged a free consultation with another energy contractor to come to the town and assess reported problems with the HVAC systems. Gianatasio said the IT department was getting calls for paper jams because of excess humidity in the buildings.
“I’d set up a free assessment but Moroni cancelled the meeting,” he added.
In anticipation of retaliation or an adverse action, he wrote in the June 18th memo to Hoehmann, which RCBJ has obtained, that the town must preserve records of the Siemens contracts. He said he is entitled to civil service protection before any disciplinary or adverse personnel action is taken. He also put in writing a refusal to appear before the town board in executive session to address the matters, writing that “public and taxpayers have every right to understand how matters of such significance to their lives must be addressed in public for all to see and understand.”
A few days after Gianatasio sent the June 18th memo to Hoehmann, Clarkstown Superintendent of Highways Robert Milone sent a letter to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Walsh requesting his office investigate the town and its officials “to determine whether those officials have committed nonfeasance or neglect via the oversight/administration of a certain contract between the Town of Clarkstown and Siemens Industry Inc.” RCBJ obtained a copy of the letter to Walsh’s office.
He told Walsh he was concerned that some of the town projects or their administration were not adhering to the stringent town requirements or New York State’s Green regulations. He described a meeting on June 12 in which he raised the issue of the Siemens contract and his inquiries were met with silence. Three days later, Hoehmann called a special town board meeting at noon, which Milone said posted without an agenda, to pass a resolution clawing back town highway funds that had been approved a week earlier “to frustrate the town’s ability to meet our road paving milestones in 2026.” He alleged the claw-back was retaliation.
Milone on Tuesday, confirmed he was contacted by the District Attorney’s office and met with investigators to discuss his concerns.
“The taxpayers of Clarkstown have a right to transparency in all of the town’s financial dealings,” said Milone. “When a Clarkstown employee raises questions or concerns with how town funds are being distributed, that employee deserves to be protected and appreciated. Retaliation against employee whistleblowers has no place in our town government.”
RCBJ reached out to Siemens for comment, but did not receive a response as of press time.
