Officials: Arrested Spring Valley inspector hasn't passed civil service exam

News 12 has been filing public document requests since the day the flames broke out at the facility - one revealed important information about one of the two Spring Valley village workers under arrest.

News 12 Staff

Jun 29, 2021, 9:24 PM

Updated 1,263 days ago

Share:

The arrests in connection to the fatal Spring Valley fire at Evergreen Court come on the heels of three-month Team 12 probe into the events that led to the deadly incident.
News 12 has been filing public document requests since the day the flames broke out at the facility - one revealed important information about one of the two Spring Valley village workers under arrest.
Through the request, News 12 learned that Raymond Canario, the assistant building inspector for Spring Valley, is working under a "provisional status" - despite being appointed two years ago - because he has yet to pass his state-required civil service exam.
Multiple sources say that Canario failed the exam on his first attempt, but Rockland County officials were unable to confirm that. They did confirm that he has still not passed the state-required exam.
Wayne Ballard, the director of Building and Public Works, was also arrested. He is not required to pass the exam, but has been entangled with several political controversies over the years.
The probe into the deadly fire at Evergreen began back in March, but the Turn To Tara team has been focusing on the lax code enforcement in the Village of Spring Valley for 16 years.
So far, the village has refused to release the documents to News 12, so the team is in the midst of the appeals process. News 12's legal team says their denials were issued without legal precedence.