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untanglingwebs
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Another fine mess per Kate Fields company Advanced Solutions.
EM 12-461
PRESENTED: 7—26-12.
Resolution Authorizing Payment to the Department of Energy
to Close the Local Energy Assurant Grant
BY THE EMERGENCY MANAGER:
On March 8, 2012, The City of Flint Emergency Manager ended the city’s contract with Advanced Solutions
Group and AltEnergy to develop the Local Energy Assurance Plan in Resolutions 2012EM158 and
2012EM159.
The Local Energy Assurance Plan Grant was awarded by the Department of Energy and managed
by the National Energy Technology Laboratories.
The City of Flint contacted NETL to request an extension to complete the Local Energy Assurance Plan. On
March 29th, NETL requested that the city provide a corrective action plan for completing the LEAP project.
The Corrective Action Plan was submitted requesting a six month extension and a budget amendment to
contract with new consultants to complete the energy assurance plan.. NETL did not approve the extension or
budget amendment during its May 8th response but requested the city provide additional detailed
documentation. With the grant end date being June 22,2012, the City of Flint was not confident that it would
be able to properly procure and execute a contract with a consultant to complete the project with less then a
month before the end of the grant period
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IT IS RESOLVED, that the Emergency Manager on behalf of the City of Flint shall authorize appropriate City
Officials to do all things necessary to return $110,292.06 to the Department of Energy for costs associated with
implementing the Local Energy Assurance Plan from Account Number 101-690.100-964.100 and close the
Local Energy Assurance Plan grant. |
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Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:05 pm |
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untanglingwebs
F L I N T O I D
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March 15, 2013 at 7:44 am
Flint repays more than $26K in federal grant money
By Associated Press
Flint — Cash-strapped Flint has repaid more than $26,000 related to a federal grant that was part of U.S. Department of Energy funding.
The Flint Journal reports that the city received the $1.1 million grant in 2009, but federal auditors and the FBI raided city hall two years later after concerns over how the grant was being used. The grant was suspended and then not reinstated the next year.
The city submitted a 2011 proposal for reinstatement, but the Energy Department found the proposal wasn't acceptable. The $26,000 closes out the grant. In 2011, auditors specifically had looked at how money for the weatherization of low-income housing was being spent.
Flint currently has a state-appointed emergency financial manager.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130315/METRO/303150399#ixzz2NehyLrlX |
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Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:56 pm |
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untanglingwebs
F L I N T O I D
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DOE Rescinds Flint, Michigan Energy Efficiency Grant
By Jeanne Roberts on November 16, 2011
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In another episode that seems to highlight the difficulties surrounding the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) allocation of loan and grant programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency, the city of Flint, Michigan just had its $1.1-million efficiency grant suspended for what the DOE is calling "serious mismanagement and misuse."
That, at least, is the wording in a letter the DOE sent to current Flint Mayor Dayne Walling. Flint’s grant is, like Solyndra’s federal loan, under investigation, and it’s hard to know who is more culpable in these failures; the DOE for handing out money so readily it has turned renewables and efficiency into a modern-day gold rush, or the city for failing to accurately document expenditures from the grant.
Not that a gold-rush in efficiency and renewables is bad. In fact, it’s the only way to get to President Obama’s clean energy economy and wean the nation off foreign oil. Unfortunately, failures like Solyndra and Flint set progress in achieving that future back exponentially.
In Flint’s case, according to the DOE, the city failed to follow grant guidelines, presumably by not selecting the lowest bid when choosing contractors, and failing to manage the work of subcontractors who performed the energy efficiency updates. No evidence of actual misappropriation has been presented.
The city’s finances were already in trouble, but that didn’t seem to prevent Mayor Walling getting re-elected. It did result in the state suggesting an emergency manager (as yet unnamed) – a move that some see as indicative of a potential state takeover.
The city council didn’t fight when a state review panel declared a financial emergency; it has said it will appeal the DOE’s suspension. In the meantime, the city is looking at how to repay the $214,991 in distributions under the grant which the federal agency has called “unsupported.”
Flint City Attorney Peter Bade has declined comment, but did submit a letter describing the issue as, “a pending legal matter under review with outside counsel.”
In an April 27 meeting, the Genesee County Board reviewed a recommendation from the Genesee County Community Action Resource Department, which administers block grants, to hire eight contractors under its DOE-ARRA funding for the rest of the program year (April 2011 through March 2012; see page  . The city of Flint is in Genesee County.
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Tags: USD, clean energy economy, energy efficiency grant, Flint, Genesee County Community Action Resource Department, Michigan, Solyndra, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Dayne Walling, energy, energy efficiency grant, Flint, Michigan, oil, Peter Bade, U.S. Department of Energy
Jeanne Roberts is a freelance writer on environment and sustainability issues. In her previous life, she worked as both a reporter and a communications specialist for a major public utility. Her most recent book, Green Your Home, approaches environmentalism from a consumer’s perspective.
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Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:32 pm |
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untanglingwebs
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Ananich's role in this debacle made me hesitate about his election to replace Gleason. He was the one who initiated the change in the vendor from a company with 17 years of experience to a company operated by Kate Fields. Ananich was a long time member of the board of directors for the Greater Eastside Community Association, in which Kate Fields was the Executive Director. Ananich served as the President of the organization until h was elected to the Flint City Council and yet he never disclosed tat relationship per HUD rules and charter requirements.
Bade refused to disclose these issues to council, citing it as a " pending legal issue." The city must have really done some finagling in order to reduce the payback so significantly. |
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Fri Mar 15, 2013 7:44 pm |
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