Following upon recent unprecedented disciplinary action taken by the Department of Buildings in the suspension of the registration of the general contracting company Harco, Inc. for accruing an extensive dangerous violation history, the Department moved this month to revoke the registration and active work permits held by general contracting company MRMD NY Corp (MRMD) and its principal.
Enhanced disciplinary action against construction professionals that abuse the New York City Construction Codes is a key priority outlined in the Department’s strategic Building One City initiative.
This disciplinary action is part of an overall strategy of imposing greater accountability and integrity within the construction industry.
In November 2014, the New York City Law Department, in coordination with the Department of Buildings, entered into an agreement with MRMD and its principal Michelle San Miguel in which they would pay outstanding penalties from accrued violations totaling $868,325, and properly supervise all construction sites where they hold work permits.
MRMD continued to allow serious safety violations to exist at its work sites and currently has the most violations issued of any registered general contractor.
As of August 31, 2015, MRMD owed over $600,000 in ECB penalties above and beyond the violations encompassed in the November 2014 agreement. On September 25, 2015, the Law Department declared MRMD and San Miguel in default of the November 2014 agreement.
The breach of agreement by MRMD and San Miguel provided the Department of Buildings the option to permanently revoke San Miguel’s general contractor registrations.
In addition to the revocation of their general contractor registration, MRMD and San Miguel will no longer be able to perform specialized concrete or demolition work through their safety registration endorsements.
The Department is proceeding to revoke permits on existing jobs until such time as a new contractor can be placed on current active sites. In total, there are 486 work permits at 433 sites that will be subject to revocation by the Department.
“This case should once again remind construction professionals that the Department will not tolerate any abuse of the Construction Codes at the expense of worksite or public safety,” said Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler.
“This Department will continue to take aggressive disciplinary action against the licenses of any construction professionals that ignore their legal obligations.”
“REBNY supports DOB’s actions to enforce greater accountability and integrity within the construction industry,” said John H. Banks, III, President of The Real Estate Board of New York.
“Today’s announcement will lead to safer construction sites and send an important message that repeated failure to pay fines or ignoring violations will not be tolerated.“
