SCHENECTADY — A withering grand jury report slammed the city's code enforcement department, saying failures to confront code violations at 104 Jay St. "directly contributed" to the fire that caused the deaths of four people three years ago.

Firefighters who reported the potentially deadly flaws in the building forwarded their code violations to the enforcement department, including one that predicted any fire at the building would be deadly for tenants and anyone who tried to save them.

But the pleas were ignored, according to the report, which was sent to Mayor Gary McCarthy and condemns the inner workings of the administration's code enforcement operation. Complaints about death-trap violations disappeared into the code enforcement office with no sign that efforts were made to fix the problems, the grand jury found.

"The importance of the Bureau of Code Enforcement in keeping people safe is revealed by the tragic consequences of March 6, 2015, and its bureaucratic failures documented in this report must be fully remedied moving forward," District Attorney Robert M. Carney said in a statement released with the report.

Among its findings: Firefighters found 14 different code violations in the building before the March 6, 2015, blaze, but the code enforcement department did not follow up on any of them.

McCarthy said late Monday that one of the more significant parts of the report was the referrals from the fire department that apparently fell on deaf ears.

He said the fire department had a system where the police dispatcher would "create a second call that was referred to the building inspector but they were disregarding those and not following up on them on an appropriate manner."

"I was under the impression that that was being followed up on, but it was a decision that was made by the building inspector to disregard that and it created an environment of haphazardness," he said.

He did not mention the building inspector at the time, Eric Shilling.

In February 2017, Shilling committed suicide. Carney later said he was not being investigated for any criminal wrongdoing. He had testified before the grand jury on the fatal fire.

The mayor, when asked if the scathing report may lead to litigation against the city, said: "I don't comment on lawsuits or prospective lawsuits."

He spoke about the city's reforms, including changes in leadership of the building department and efforts to computerize the system.

In December, McCarthy placed the two arms of the building department - the office of building inspector and the Code Enforcement Bureau - under the authority of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Eidens.

The building department is now led by Assistant Police Chief Jack Falvo.

"Though we in many respects are farther ahead of other communities, it showed that you can still have tragic events precipitated by individuals who make poor decisions, but we've dealt with those things. We're moving ahead," the mayor said.

He dismissed as "political grandstanding" a request Monday by City Councilwoman Leesa Perazzo to discuss a preliminary report from the state comptroller's office in two weeks.

Council President Ed Kosiur, who sets the agenda, said Monday it was something that he would most likely put on the table for initial discussion.

'The majority of this stuff will be implemented from the mayor's office, again redefining the authority and the regulations," he said, adding he endorsed the idea of using GPS to keep tabs on the code enforcement officers.

Kosiur conceded that "probably 90 percent of what you're reading in this (grand jury) report is going to be from the comptroller's report as well."

That draft report found that Schenectady has been violating state law by taking three years or more to inspect apartment buildings for fire safety or other code problems.

Firefighters discovered a number of violations — including broken fire alarms and missing fire doors — that prosecutors said caused the blaze to quickly spread and kill tenants.

The fire killed Harry Simpson, 59; Jermaine Allen, 37; Berenices Suarez, 33; and Robert Thomas, 31. It also forced more than 60 people from homes at 104 Jay St. and 100-102 Jay St., both since demolished. The blaze started in a reclining chair in Simpson's apartment.

One code violation report firefighters sent to the code enforcement department a year before the blaze predicted any fire there would be deadly.

"Building poses numerous health hazards that can/will be fatal to its occupants and EMS agencies," the report stated.

But the grand jury found that the code department logged the 14 code violation reports as "advisory in nature."

The violations were "handed off" to code inspectors but "no reported actions were taken by BCE employees in response to any of the 14 CVRs filed with them in the two years prior to the fire."

The grand jury describes a code enforcement office in chaos. None of the reports were logged in or filed and there was no methods for keeping records or track of which code inspectors were asked to investigate the violations.

The Schenectady County district attorney's office compiled the report with the grand jury.

City Councilman Vince Riggi emphasized Monday that it was imperative without a fire inspector that the city should have both been taking and acting on those recommendations from the fire department.

"It's a scathing report and it certainly shows the deficiency in one of the most important departments in the city of the Schenectady," he said. "It has a lot to do with public safety."

He also said the city may want to consider hiring a fire inspector, which the report says it hasn't had in years.

That was one of eight recommendations in the grand jury report. Some of the others include adopting a policy manual that spells out the responsibilities of supervisors, penalties for building owners who fail to file annual inspections of fire alarms, ethics rules that prohibit employees from accepting gifts, requiring the fire department to notify the codes department and city attorney's office of false alarms.

Jason Sacks, a building manager accused of failing to make sure the fire alarm system and the fire doors worked in the apartment building, pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide on Jan. 12. In return for a promised sentence of one to three years in prison, Sacks agreed to testify against Kenneth Tyree, a housing inspector who was tried for allegedly failing to confront the code violations when he visited the building.

A jury acquitted Tyree of all charges related to the fire last month after he testified that he was poorly trained and was not certified to inspect apartment buildings like the scene of the deadly Jay Street blaze. He was convicted for lying on his job application about his criminal history.

Carney's office said the report was filed under seal with County Judge Matthew Sypniewski. The report was unsealed with the Tyree trial over.

City firefighters told the grand jury they were frustrated that their warnings about 104 Jay St. were ignored and left them feeling discouraged about filing future code violation reports.

Five months before the fire occurred, the company that monitored the alarm system noticed the dedicated phone line used to transmit information about fires and other emergencies at the building was no longer working.

The grand jury report says the company sent a fax to the code enforcement department. The fax was received but the grand jury found no evidence the code enforcement department did anything to deal with the problem.

The fire has spawned a flurry of legal actions, none of which target the city.

Kosiur, the City Council president, said the lack of training was something that jumped out at him in the grand jury findings.

"We've hired additional staff, we've hired additional code enforcement officers, and again the commitment I think that Mike Eidens and Jack Falvo are bringing to this will really truly overhaul the entire code enforcement," he said.

He referred back to the portion of the report about the city being responsible for the four deaths.

"You don't have to be an attorney to interpret that last paragraph that was in the findings," he said.