Heard Around Town: Arroyo cannot come before City Council for a year

After a decade representing the south Bronx at City Hall, former Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo will not be allowed to come before the New York City Council for a year after she took a role at a nonprofit with significant city contracts.

Arroyo announced she would resign at the end of 2015 due to “pressing family needs.” She then started work as vice president for administration at Acacia Network this January. Acacia Network, a nonprofit offering health care, economic development, housing and other services, has received more than $250 million in city contracts since Dec. 31, 2012, according to the city comptroller’s Checkbook NYC budget tracking tool. The bulk of this spending comes in the form of contracts with the Department of Homeless Services for shelter and related services.

Employees of Acacia collectively contributed $450 to her campaign during her most recent re-election campaign.

The city charter’s conflicts of interest laws prevent Arroyo from coming before the agency she previously worked for – in this case the council – in a professional capacity for one year. The laws also ban her from disclosing confidential city info and from working on a “particular matter,” such as a specific case, proceeding, application or request for a ruling or benefits, that she worked on while she was on the council. Considering and enacting local laws, zoning resolutions and budgets do not fall into this category.

The only discretionary funding the council has allocated to Acacia since 2009 – an $83,000 contract overseen by the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to provide mental health care and related services to court-involved youth – was set aside in fiscal year 2016 at the request of Councilwoman Deborah Rose, according to the City Council press office.

A spokeswoman for Acacia said Arroyo’s role would not involve appearing before the City Council.