Ex-Correction Commissioner Louis Molina, who was transferred to a City Hall position last fall amid controversy over his stewardship of the city’s jail system, has landed a new job in the municipal government as head of its operations agency, Mayor Adams’ office announced Monday.
Molina, who has served as an assistant to Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks since resigning as Correction Department head in November, is expected to take on the role of commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services once his predecessor, Dawn Pinnock, officially departs later this month.
“I could not think of a more deserving or equipped leader to serve our administration in this critical role,” Adams said in a statement, touting Molina’s decades of municipal experience that started with him being an NYPD officer.
Shawn Inglima for
Mayor Adams with Louis Molina during a press conference on Rikers Island in June 2022. (Shawn Inglima for )
The appointment comes after Molina applied unsuccessfully this year to become police chief of Oakland, Calif.
At the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Molina will be in charge of the city government’s hiring efforts, manage its real estate portfolios and oversee the purchase of goods and services for other agencies. The department also has a small police force that Molina will oversee.
While Molina was leading the Correction Department, a troubling trend of violence continued at Rikers Island, and the federal monitor overseeing the city jail system recommended last July that Molina had not meaningfully reformed the system and asked a judge to hold his agency in contempt. A federal judge then held the agency in contempt in December, a month after Molina switched over to the City Hall role.
About the same time, Molina faced criticism for taking a taxpayer-funded trip to Europe with a group of top Correction Department aides amid a city government travel freeze.
Molina’s appointment comes as the City Council is expected to vote on a bill Thursday that would expand the chamber’s ability to block mayoral appointments. The citywide administrative services commissioner is among the roles that would become subject to the Council’s oversight powers should the bill become law.
