City Hall Mismanages Funding, looking around for someone to wipe its chin

**gnome** · February-24-12, 05:08 PM

Detroit— Chronic mismanagement may prompt the city to abandon a federally funded program that weatherizes homes for the needy and transfer the multimillion-dollar effort to a nonprofit agency.
Detroit, the only municipality in Michigan to administer weatherization funds, may work with state officials to find an agency that can handle the program. State officials cited the city's inability to manage weatherization and block grant funds as the reason for needing a change.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...ntion#comments

You know guys, for all the sofa-sitting urban planners and experts in public policy around here; for all the mind-numbing defenders of Detroit and their urgency in keeping things real, chew on the above reality sammie.

Build your Jane Adams SimCities and take a flier on the magic carpet of M1 prosperity generation because the cold reality is that the folks downtown don't give a hoot.

They don't care about you, their citizens, the taxpayers, the businesses, nothing. They care about staying in office and insisting on pointing fingers at everyone but themselves.

Yeah, it's cold in the D, and City Hall will do whatever it doesn't take to make sure it stays that way. People could have built businesses with that money. Houses could have been made warmer. Children could have gone to bed in pjs and not winter coats. Critical dollars could have been spent on food and not gas, but no that isn't going to happen.

The people in charge can't run the PD, the FD, the EMTs. They can't run the schools, the lighting, can't move snow or mow grass ... but for the pleasure of all this non-work we get to pay the third highest tax rates in the State. River Rouge and Inkster are higher, so bath in the glory that "the suburbs" have higher taxes.

Keeps it real folks,

**Blueidone** · February-24-12, 06:10 PM

And now, back to the issue at hand...as I have stated before, I have first hand knowledge of the ineptitude of the people managing this program. The company through which I have this knowledge is still owed over $17K on work completed and approved by the DHS inspectors. At this point in time, they may have to kiss that money good-bye. Therefore, the general contractor and all contractors who worked on these homes will not be paid. Liens will be placed on the homes of the residents in an attempt to recoup, but we all know that won't work either.

This company repaired 30 or so homes over 18 months. Out of the 25 or so invoices that were paid by DHS, NONE...I repeat...NONE of them were paid correctly. Now, if the company had set the prices, I could see there being a discrepancy. But DHS set the prices! They provided a list of things to be done and at what price. The work was done and approved. Yet, they never paid the amount invoiced. Sometimes they didn't pay enough...sometimes they paid too much.

In addition, there was no standard from one inspector to another. The work would be inspected by one person and okayed...but another inspector would say that the work was not to standard and make it be redone another way. Every re-do meant a delay in payment.

The Weatherization Program is good, in theory. However, in the opinion of the people who are doing this work, it's like putting a band-aid on a severed artery. For instance, there was one house were the glass in a couple of livingroom windows needed replacing. When the worker tried to walk across the livingroom floor, it cracked and began to collapse. The worker had to walk around the outside of the room...and then very carefully...to get to the windows. In another home, the company was paid to replace the ceiling in an upstairs bedroom due to water damage. But they roof was not scheduled to be repaired, which caused the water damage in the first place. The company had to fight with DHS to get the roof repaired.

The paperwork for this program is typical government red tape. Three different invoices in different formats. Copy after copy of the paperwork. Many times, the entire billing package was lost and DHS and the company had to recreate it all. Everything had to be HAND DELIVERED to DHS in order to get paid at all. Payment took 60 to 90 days when things were good.

I'm glad the feds shut the program down, although it probabl hurt many contractors. They need to find some agency or group that can handle this program more efficiently than DHS could...so that the people of the City of Detroit can benefit from these funds better than they have.

<end of rant> LOL

**Baselinepunk** · February-24-12, 06:56 PM

Could it be that these payments; along with potential others [[don't know for sure but considering .. I'm sure more than a few people haven't been paid save Mr. Bing -- who was first in line for his paycheck today) could be a "common practice" of sitting on the cash for all long as can be so the interest rolls up?

**Blueidone** · February-24-12, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by GOAT

Well put gnome. But you do realize this will egg him on to greater supidity. [[Kinda looking forward to it...like watching a car wreck in slow motion).

Blueidone, that is absolutely insane!
T
here should have been a criteria first as to what needed repaired before doing any work at all. A thorough review of the houses could have been done and then submitted.

DHS would inspect the houses, then generate list of what was to be done. This list was VERY specific. 3 of this item...1 of this...10 sq ft of this...etc etc. Orders were fulfilled to their specifications. Then an invoice was generated based on their work order, which matched identically. But the payment NEVER matched. I was the bookkeeper, so I know whereof I speak.

Most payments came to the company with very little or no explanation.

**DetroitPlanner** · February-24-12, 11:17 PM

Gnome, its a bizarre world [[govt adminstration) these days. Those of us still left with jobs are overworked and thing go undone because all those in charge can see is cutting. They have cut back so far that it is hard to get nearly anything accomplished because everyone is trying to do more with less and you can't adminster a program if you have fired the adminstrators. Believe me, they will fire the planners and other peons before they will fire the police or fire departments [[and it seems to me that those departments too are shrinking).

Gnome, Blue, I share your frustration. Its even worse when you are in the inside trying to keep programs adminstered and keep running into, the person who did that got laid off and there is no one doing what they used to do.

**Hermod** · February-25-12, 06:04 AM

Originally Posted by Baselinepunk

Could it be that these payments; along with potential others [[don't know for sure but considering .. I'm sure more than a few people haven't been paid save Mr. Bing -- who was first in line for his paycheck today) could be a "common practice" of sitting on the cash for all long as can be so the interest rolls up?

"Never ascribe to malevolence what can adequately be explained by incompetence."

**rjk** · February-25-12, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Blueidone

The paperwork for this program is typical government red tape. Three different invoices in different formats. Copy after copy of the paperwork. Many times, the entire billing package was lost and DHS and the company had to recreate it all. Everything had to be HAND DELIVERED to DHS in order to get paid at all. Payment took 60 to 90 days when things were good.

Whatever happened to the Washington bureaucrats that the Obama administration was sendig to Detroit to help the city cut through all the red tape and help get things done?

That was Bing's big announcement last summer.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D9ODJF281.htm

Ravine · February-25-12, 08:29 AM

What happened?
I still want to have Gnome's baby.

**jcole** · February-25-12, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by Ravine

What happened?
I still want to have Gnome's baby.

And I still couldn't have said it as well as he did

**Detroitnerd** · February-26-12, 02:46 AM

This is not a popularity contest.

Ravine · February-26-12, 06:37 AM

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10char

Ravine · February-27-12, 02:53 AM

I'm not getting to be any more fertile over here, goddamit.

**Novine** · February-27-12, 10:43 AM

This is all on Bing. No blaming Kwame or anyone else for this fiasco. How much more proof do we need that he's in over his head and can't manage his way out of a box?

**Blueidone** · February-27-12, 10:59 AM

I agree that as the leader of the City, Bing is responsible. However, you should not expect any leader of any City to know exactly what is going on at each and every desk within the City. I believe that there is a mindset among some employees of "take what you can get"...and it's "government" money so why not. What seems to be lacking most is honesty and integrity in those who are given responsibility in the various City departments.