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Author    Post   untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Mayor's budget overstates revenue per Kincaid untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Council video shown today has kincaid saying Mayor was wrong on Newsmaker when he said Council had accepted his budget as proposed. Kincaid said Neeley was correct when he stated the budget was illegal as there was no funding for three departments as required by the charter. Also the budget has positions in the budget that are not funded. He also said the budget overstated projected revenue. Years ago Price Waterhouse Cooper did a revenue analysis and the study revealed projections were in excess of $11 million. This year we have got to get it right said Kincaid. Those interested in the budget should go to council on April 25th for the budget hearings. Post Sun Apr 17, 2011 1:22 pm Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:32 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Josh Freeman Vs Eason-1st round to Freeman untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D If you missed City Council today on Comcast 17, you missed a good one! Josh freeman asked Jesse Buchanan which blight control officer was caught with cocaine and were they still working. As the shock registered on Buchanan's face, he turned and walked several feet away and remained with his back to the camera. Eason walked up and told Josh that the individual did not possess drugs, but he had possessed drug paraphenalia. Eason stated the individual, the individual's supervisor and Eason discussed the matter and the individual admitted a drug problem. Eason stated he gave the person 72 hours in which to enter a drug treatment program. When Freeman pushed on whether the alleged drug user was in a union, Eason stated he believed he was. Freeman then dropped the hammer that the blight control was non union. F eeman continued to question Eason about City of Flint policies and procedures on drug testing and personnel rules on drug use. Flint does have a policy. This individual was not drug tested although as blight control, they probably drive a city vehicle. Eason continued to protest that he did not believe the possession of drug paraphenalia was a crime, so no police were called. Eason lashed out at Freeman and strongly implied that Freeman did not comprehend the issues because of his work . Freeman works for Brown and Sons automotive on Davison. Freeman coutered that he had never been sued for sexual harassment. When Eason said he had been sued, but never lost a decision, Freeman asked how much he settled the cases for. Lawler interjected and stopped the nastiness and told Eason to stop talking. Eason does not realize the city has the fastest grapevine, even faster than the county. When a decision was being implemented for a Flint Police Officer, it hit Flint Talk within an hour of implementation. Most in the mayor's office didn;t even know about it. When Freeman asked Eason why a District Court Judge was threatened in the city hall garage with having their car towed, all Eason would say was "no comment". Freeman smiled and noted the question was answered. Freeman discussed how he and others searched for parking for the judges when the one court room was moved to the north building. The Mayor even moved his car to another area of the garage. Post Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:55 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Monday night at 10:30 pm the story will be rebroadcast! Post Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:59 pm 00SL2 F L I N T O I D The individual "did not possess any drugs," he was videotaped purchasing "drug paraphernalia" and had "possession of drug paraphernalia." He was tested for drugs, and "tested positive" for drugs. The individual "admitted he had a problem" and as a result of the incident has entered treatment. Eason argued that he knew of no law or ordinance against possession of paraphernalia and knew of no one arrested for it. He also stated a police officer was fired because he tested positive for drug use. And, he stated the City of Flint has a drug problem because a high percentage of its employees are users. What I want to know is why the double standards? What is the City of Flint's policy about employee drug use? My opinion is there should be zero tolerance. Anyone testing positive for drugs should be fired. Jackie Poplar and some others believe individuals deserve a "second chance." Someone recently posted about a City of Flint truck weaving over the center line. If there's an accident, anyone gets hurt, including the employee, there's always a liability issue. Jackie Poplar insinuated someone on City Council is a user. IMO, that's why all candidates for office should submit to voluntary drug tests. _____________________________ Edited to add: Drug Paraphernalia defined http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-333-7451 _________________________ "Michigan doesn't prohibit simple possession of drug paraphernalia, but does prohibit its sale. But if the police finds drug paraphernalia in a car, they may well seize it and test it for trace amounts of drugs - any trace amounts translate into a drug possession charge...." --- Source: http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72680&page=1 ___________________________ Selling drug paraphernalia is a violation of city ordinance. Did Eason notify city attorney to follow up on the store selling it to employee? Last edited by 00SL2 on Mon Mar 28, 2011 7:55 pm; edited 1 time in total Post Sun Mar 27, 2011 3:24 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D OOSL Poplar should know as there have been allegations about her and drugs from a previous candidate. There have been allegations that another council person drinks too much. Poplar got a second chance from the feds when she was caught extorting money from party store owners of Middle eastern descent. Some local lawyers believed she was an informant because of her special treatment. Police and other city employess that are in the union are given an opportunity to clean up their act. The cop I believe he is referring to had PTSD and tested positive multiple times. City employees are furious that Eason made this allegation. There are exceptions, but the sweeping allegations made by Eason are untrue. Most city hall employees are good people just trying to make it. The truck driver that was pulled over was a water department employee who had been driving too long because of excessive overtime. Exhaustion and not drugs was the problem. Heavy equipment drivers are drug tested regularly. Post Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:25 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Once again Eason puts a totally untrue comment into the political commentary in order to protect a friend. If you read Jones comment, 10% or less have been tested for drugs and less than 10% of that group have tested positive. Once again Eason indicts a total workforce to bolster his position. This story took over a week to publish and I am sure the administration was hard pressed to come up with a response to Eason's baseless lies. Dispute over Flint worker kept on job puts spotlight on staff drug use Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 8:49 AM Updated: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 9:06 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — A top mayoral aide claims the city would have to fire half its workers if it cracked down on employees with drug problems. City Administrator Gregory Eason made the comment at a public meeting last week after a city worker remained on the job following a positive drug test and allegations that he was caught on tape buying drug paraphernalia at a local party store. Eason said there was no basis to dismiss the employee, and that if the city were to follow such protocol, “we would probably get rid of half the staff population here.” “We do have some problems with substance abuse,” he said. The situation and the public debate left some City Council members wondering how the city is enforcing its drug policy. The employee in question, whom officials did not name, works in the city’s blight elimination office and is not a union worker. He was not high when he was confronted by city officials, nor did he bring the items he purchased with him to work, Eason said. But he admitted to having a drug problem when asked and later tested positive before enrolling in a drug treatment program, Eason said. City officials would not say what he bought or confirm what drug he tested positive for. City Councilman Joshua Freeman said the employee, who drives a city vehicle on the job, should have been further disciplined for violating the city’s ordinance against possessing drug paraphernalia. However, a city spokeswoman said the city has no proof the employee bought the items for drug use. “He’s not on camera buying drugs,” Communications Director Dawn Jones said. “He’s on camera buying items that some say can be used for drugs.” Freeman also showed a copy of the employee’s time sheet, which showed the part-time employee was making $10.78 per hour working 40 hours a week as recently as March 18. Officials did not say when the employee failed the drug test, only that he still is working for the city. “I guess the message is if you screw up, you get rewarded with a full-time job,” Freeman said. The employee was caught on tape at a local convenience store, allegedly purchasing unspecified drug paraphernalia, Eason said. The store clerk sent the footage to City Hall, where the worker was questioned by Eason and the employee’s supervisor. The worker admitted to having a drug problem and was told that if he did not enroll in a drug treatment program, he would be dismissed, Eason said. He said the worker then “immediately” enrolled in an outpatient program. “We never found drugs on him,” Eason said. “When an employee admits on their own they do have a problem and is willing to go to a drug program, I don’t see any reason why you should punish them.” Freeman disagreed and asked for a list of all city employees who have tested positive for controlled substances. “These people are driving city-owned vehicles,” he said. “I guess the message is if you see a city vehicle coming at you, get off to the side of the road.” Following Eason’s comments, Jones said Wednesday about 50 to 75 of the city’s more-than 700 active employees have been tested for drugs, according to the Human Resources Department. Of those, fewer than 10 percent have tested positive, she said . “When you have a city with this many employees in 2011, there may be employees with substance (abuse) issues,” she said. Jones said the city has an established no-tolerance drug policy that includes drug testing. Under every union contract, the city has the ability to test for drugs given reasonable suspicion, but random testing is regulated differently in each of the union contracts. If an employee tests positive, “the first recourse is not firing, but that doesn’t mean we are tolerating,” she said. “(We want) to help these employees help themselves to get into some sort of treatment program,” she said. “If it becomes a bigger problem than a treatment program can handle, then other disciplinary action has to take place.” Some City Council members were split on the issue after the heated exchange between Freeman and Eason during the public meeting. Councilman Sheldon Neeley said he was concerned about the city’s liability if an employee who has tested positive for drugs makes a mistake. “My concern is solely ... to protect our treasury,” he said. Councilman Michael Sarginson suggested there should be a “small break in employment to assess the situation.” “That also might be a deterrent for these people,” he said. But others said the worker deserves another opportunity to prove himself, especially since he admitted he has a problem. “I don’t think any of us are that qualified that we should not be able to give someone a second chance,” council President Jackie Poplar said. “Drugs is a sickness, and it needs to be addressed.” Councilman Bryant Nolden said he had a problem with alcohol and substance abuse at one time but managed to turn his life around with assistance. “I figured out I had a problem and got help — my life is completely different,” he said. “I am all about giving a person a second chance. “If he comes back and it happens again, then we have to follow protocol and do what we need to do.” jacobsmith March 31, 2011 at 9:05AM Follow Time to drug test them all, do it unannounced, and do it on Monday morning so it busts the coke heads as well as just the pot users. If they decline the test, terminate them. Now, a non-union employee in blight, hmm that is usually where mayors hide the jobs for friends, that person needs to be eliminated yesterday and we should drug test the Mayor and Eason at the same time. shanedr March 31, 2011 at 9:08AM Follow So fire the half of the workforce that is using drugs then. You cannot solve problems by ignoring them. Eason needs to go because obviously he is not doing his job. Those city employees need to understand there are a lot of unemployed people in this city. There will be far more applicants to fill any vacancies then can possibly be accepted. Those who are on drugs need to stop using and get treatment. This issue is an example of why Flint is in such dire circumstances; very poor leadership at multiple levels. FLINTtownUNITE March 31, 2011 at 9:23AM Follow Let the people smoke their weed. FLINTtownUNITE March 31, 2011 at 9:24AM Follow High workers are good workers. robtjohnson March 31, 2011 at 10:00AM Follow Well this is one way to trim the budget and get good people working for the city. To have illegal drugs and Do them is wrong and they need to follow the zero tolerance policy. This is a Way to get people that do not do drugs working and To get rid of Many problems the city has had for years. It is time the people take a Stand and stop this drug Problem that has Hurt this city more than any other issue there is going on. To allow them to continue is to say it is ok to break the laws and that is Plain Wrong. And that is why my Brothers Murders are still on the streets they protect the Drug abusers and do not take them off the streets. I am Really sick of this Crap. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new sitango March 31, 2011 at 10:12AM Follow One local school district has a zero tolerance for a positive drug test. That includes alcohol. I say drug testing for all. It should be random for ALL government employes. If they fail, they are terminated. aka.Walter March 31, 2011 at 10:31AM Follow "test them all"......"trim the budget" Any clue what it cost to have a Lab do 700 drug tests??? I say test as needed, if there is reason to believe someone is under the influence, but to test them all sounds like an expensive undertaking. I understand it's for insurance reasons if something bad happens with an employee under the influence, I just don't think Flint could afford 700 drug tests. They should test for all drugs, no matter if prescribed by a doctor or not. I see many Zombie's on a daily basis under the influence of prescription drugs. It should apply to all drugs, legal or illegal. Group W Bench March 31, 2011 at 12:38PM Follow If the insurance companies didn't provide big discounts for employers having a drug testing policy, do you really think that most would implement these programs out of their own pocket? Probably not as long as you don't show up to work stoned. pavjo March 31, 2011 at 10:31AM Follow All City employees should have to take a drug test every year. There should be zero tolerance. If there is vehicile accident involving a City employee on duty or with a City owned vehicle any PI lawyer would be derelict for not suing the City. Here we go again more liability!!!!!! hlpflintplz March 31, 2011 at 10:42AM Follow Yes all city employees should be tested for drugs! but how can we expect them to do the rite thing and possibly save the city oh say millions? like the 2.5 million dollar settlement for basement floods on the south side .....one of the persons lied and lied and lied some more and never had to prove their side when the truth was they did not have the damages they claimed but the city never made them prove their damages and paid millions so it is the city's stupidity and fault not the peoples yet we are the ones who pay for their mistakes! after the settlement a reporter from the flint journal walked the neighborhood but was not interested in the TRUTH! moreed March 31, 2011 at 10:42AM Follow I say test them all as well , and get rid of anyone who doesn't pass the test. Plain and simple bphammer March 31, 2011 at 10:45AM Follow If half the workers are using , half the workers should be replaced.There are many qualified people looking for work in Flint.I am appalled by Mr Easons statement. undertakers78 March 31, 2011 at 11:19AM Follow Gregory Eason comments are unbelievable. This guy is a joke. What a terrible example he sets. Anyone with half brain here can connect the dots here and figure out what happened. Bottom line this person tested positive for illegal drug use. Mr. Eason said all the usual evading scumbag excuses as to what happened. Nice example the City of Flint Administrator is setting here. Let's get Gregory Eason out of his position immediately and get a no-nonsense forward minded individual in there to handle these matters. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new tdimhcs March 31, 2011 at 11:25AM Follow Wow........a comment from the Communications Director! First one of the year I have heard! So was the guy a crackheard or weedhead? Drug test EVERYONE! Did they no conduct a drug test before he was hired or was the hiring a political payback? There are enough people unemployed that could use a job! jacksondm March 31, 2011 at 11:50AM Follow I'm not part of the City workforce -- but was for a few years. I think Eason must have been high on something to make such an absurd statement ! Could it be 10% ? Maybe - - just like virtually every other industry / 10% is probably realistic. BUT (and I oppose any illegal drug use ) should the person who smokes a joint over the week-end in his own home be fired for drug use ? Arrested if caught in the act " Of course. Fired on Monday because he got high or drunk on his own time on Saturday? Hardly. The vast majority of city workers are decent / law abiding / hard working and good citizens. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:49 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Numero407 may be right. I believe the guy was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Murder in 1985. numero407 March 31, 2011 at 11:56AM Follow tdimhcs, I heard it was chore boy. And we all know this guy wasn't going to wash any dishes with it. Rumor around city hall is he is related to someone in the administration, hence he was not terminated. Considering some of the decisions that are made at city hall , I wonder how many of them are doing drugs. I watched a city council meeting a couple of weeks ago. Bryant Nolden nominated a guy to he city advisory board. This guy has been arrested numerous times for domestic assault and is suspected of committing a couple of murders. He also is suspected of selling drugs from his home. But he lives in Nolden's ward so he must be ok. If you associate with crooks then you are probably a crook yourself. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new fast200 March 31, 2011 at 12:17PM Follow Phoney righteousnous and a meaningless pay cut. With maybe 102,000 people left in Flint, city council still thinks Flint needs nine councilmembers. Where's their drug test? Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new davenport4lifefirst March 31, 2011 at 12:20PM Follow I do believe that all elected officials of the city, are city employees also, so shouldn't they be tested randomly also? As a matter of fact I believe All elected officials from the President on down should be drug tested, through the Hair testing process, that goes back 3 months. "Davenport for Mayor 2011" Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Royalcoachman March 31, 2011 at 12:36PM Follow Test from the Mayor down, including the city council. They are city employees right. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new 3gunmack March 31, 2011 at 12:37PM Follow "I just don't think Flint could afford 700 drug tests." Well, "I got five on it"...if you set up a fund and let citizens pay for it, it'd happen in no time... Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new morbidcorpse March 31, 2011 at 1:26PM Follow It's ok, folks. Everything will be fine, now that we have a new Logo for Flint stating the rise of our, "bright future!" Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new yokeonu March 31, 2011 at 4:36PM Follow Greg Eason is a fool. To make a statement like "have to fire half..." the workers due to drug problems. I am insulted. This employee was NOT a unionized city worker and did not go through the proper hiring process. Why, do you ask? Well, guess his name and you can track it to a pastor's son. Greg and Donna Poplar have been hiring many "friends". Besides, I doubt this person would of been able to pass the drug test based on his criminal drug history. The supervisor did the right thing and fired him. There are plenty of unemployed workers that could use that job. Unfortunately Greg trumped that decision and then put him at 40 hrs! Greg Eason needs to be drug tested. If there is no I need to die! in his system - well, there should be. His tantrums remind me of a 2 yr. old possessed by the devil. The concensus of the workers is that he should have been fired. Don't give the workers a bad name because of the favors that Greg Eason hands out. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new mr_db March 31, 2011 at 6:45PM Follow I couldnt have said it better myself. The journal doesnt even know half of what is going on in the City of Flint. Eason probally ment Half of the "temps" they hired in the last year probally couldnt pass a drug test. Eason should realize anybody who holds a CDL have ramdom drug tests, and 1 thing for sure is all permenant city employees value their job and are not that stupid to do jobs and face the consequences of getting fired or 29 days off. But this article is just a sample of how the current administration does things around here they make the rules as they go. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new rjriley5000 March 31, 2011 at 8:43PM Follow Flint has to clean up their act and this is a good place to start. Run the tests and pay for them out of the saving of created by canning those who are using drugs. There will not be any problems finding good replacements in today's economy. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new mr_db March 31, 2011 at 11:06PM Follow I totally agree!!!, And 1 more thing, if there are temporary positions they should be fairly posted, and fairly hired for all people who apply no more of these administraitions friends and families!!! Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new largehat March 31, 2011 at 11:49PM Follow This one incident is just the tip of the iceberg for the COF. If you are of the preferred race and connected you are fastracking into positions you are not even qualified for or capable of handling. This administration is the most incompetant to date. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new agp3075 April 01, 2011 at 3:01AM Follow All public paid by public funds officials and workers should be subject to pre-employment and random drug testing. I would also include the president of the US and all the way down to the guy or gal that cleans the public buildings. There are several of these employee's that drive a public vehicle while on the clock. The private sector employee's that drive a vehicle for business on public roads are subject to random physicals and drug testing. I would wish all senators, representatives and local officials to be subject to the same. I would be concerned of a substance abuser writing or enforcing the laws of our nation or local government. I am including the prescribed prescription drugs that they are on too. I know from experience that prescribed drugs can be worse than illegal drugs in altering the persons reasoning ability. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:09 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Freeman brought the ordinance where buying paraphenalia is illegal in Flint. Nice touch. Speaking of touch - does anyone know if the stories about Eason thumping Josh Freeman in the chest are true? Allegedly Eason was angrily shouting at Freeman and hitting him in the chest with his finger. I am told that some bystanders wasnted Freeman to file a complINT AGAINST eASON. Post Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:29 am 00SL2 F L I N T O I D Andy Heller nails it in his blog, "Half the city's workers are on drugs, we're told, but which half?" Published: Wednesday, April 06, 2011, 8:43 PM Updated: Wednesday, April 06, 2011, 8:48 PM By Andrew Heller | Flint Journal The Flint Journal http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/aheller/2011/04/half_the_citys_workers_are_on.html Resulting comments are on target, too. Post Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:38 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D It seems that Judge Dowd was on sick leave and Eason went off on the visiting judge who was taking her place for parking in the Cith hall garage. Judge Perry offered to trade parking spaces and Eason threatened to tow Judge Perry's car. Great way for the visiting Judge to remember Flint by. This series of events begs the question as to why does the Mayor keep this idiot Eason? Some in the community have suggested there might be blackmail but others say they are just 2 of a kind. In reality it appears everyone is stumped. Post Fri Apr 08, 2011 1:12 pm View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:46 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Smith Village idiocy untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Barry Simon posted in FLINTOIDS. Barry Simon 8:56am Mar 6 ... "Smith Village - Idiocy Defined" (Sunday's "Journal") .... So, the "government" will spend more than $190,000 per unit to build houses in an area that can't support a $30,000 price tag (but will sell them "at a subsidized price between $50 and $70 thousand"). And, it is doing so at a time when census data show a differential between housing units and households that's greater than 27,000 throughout the Flint area, while the workforce and population continue to shrink. .... While homeowners across Metro Flint have thousands of homes for sale, and thousands more taken off the market because their value as plummeted so low they can't afford to sell, the City and Land Bank want to add these subsidized units to compete with its own property owners ... Idiocy? Insanity? Or, do some "Flintoids" actually believe completion of "Smith Village" has merit? From FACEBOOk Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:49 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Smith Village Redevelopment Plan! Dec 15, 2010 ... Because of Metro. Community Development and the City of Flint's commitment to their master plan, Smith Village ... http://www.metro-community.org/attachments/article/364/smith-village-combined-web.pdf - - Cached - Similar pages City of Flint ready to begin $25M neighborhood stabilization ... Nov 28, 2010 ... A snapshot of the plan presented to the Flint City Council shows the ... Now, the city is using this opportunity to develop Smith Village ... http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2010/11/city_of_flint_ready_to_begin_2.html - 91k - Cached - Similar pages The Flint Spotlight 4-11-10 HUD to Flint; pay back one million of Smith Village grant. We were given a copy of the letter HUD sent to the City stating the Homeownership Zone ... http://www.flintspotlight.com/ - 53k - Cached - Similar pages Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:56 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The land bank and Flint arecooperating to spend $16 million to build 83 homes in Smith Village, of which half will be for low income with downpayment assistance, Barry Simon, a consultant with the Builders Association of Greater Flint has pointed out the obvious: *There are 27,000 vacant homes in the county, and there should be no more contributions to the housing stock. *Other genesee County communities are not building. ( Burton, Grand Blanc and other communities have unfinished subdivisions and can't sell the lots, some of which the community picked up through tax foreclosure when the builders failed.) The whole problem comes from the late 90's when University Park and Smith Village were first conceived. Flint did not stick to he blueprint and never built any low income housing with the federal money. The apartment building for low income was never built and University Park became market rate. Mott foundation helped finish the project and general fund, water and sewer money paid for most of the infrastructure. The University Park was in a Renaissance Zone and an Enterprise Zone with a tax abatement for most taxes until the last 3 years when the taxes increased gradually. Prospective buyers wanted the project completed and were shown on Channel 12 saying the whites had their subdisions and it was their (blacks) turn, There were problems with some homes and possibly some predatory lending as some residents have recently complained of double digit mortgage rates. A move by Carolyn Sims, former 5th ward Councilwoman, to extend the tax break never went anywhere. Since construction of University Park, the neighborhood towards downtown has deteriorated. The two apartment complexes by Doyle Ryder School have seriously slid downhill since their construction about 30 years ago. One has had two murders in the last year. University Park has their own crime watch, which they need to stop burgularies and other crime in their subdivision. They recently had an arson of one of the homes. These homes will have no tax breaks. Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:46 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I just watched City council and laughed to see Eason defend the decision to spend $30,000 in advertising for Smith Village in the CPSA Courier, produced by the Concerned Pastors for Social Action. This newspaper is free and distributed every Sunday in the Flint area churches and in some small businesses.This seems excessive for a newspaper claiming a distribution of 5,000 newspapers weekly. This amounts to an ad every week for about 30 weeks, long enough to get through the political season. Or is this a ploy to silence some critics in the Concerned Pastors. A $20,000 resolution for advertising with the radiofirm in Grand Blanc was cut because it was not widely listened to by African Americans. Minority owned Flint station WOWE and WFLT each got $5,000. That begs the question of who thw ads are targeting. Are we only targeting the African American community? are we encouraging residents to give up their Flint homes to move into these new homes as Jackie Poplar suggested. The only voice of reason was Josh freeman and I felt Poplar's laughing and attempts to berate him as offensive. In the 2006 census estimates Flint had a population that was 41.4% white and 53.5 % Black. Yet the council and the administration continually carries a predominately Black agenda. In the past the Journal carried a report showing that African Americans were leaving Flint and showing their increase in numbers in the suburbs, If these individuals left for better schools and a more secure environment, do you really hink they will return? Flint's schools were shown last week to be near the bottom of producing college ready students. Doyle Ryder, the school nearest to the new development aalready has the influx of students from University Park. University Park has berms and fences and only two entances, and yet they are besieged with attempted B&Es . How will Smith village deal with these crime issues? How does walling propose to ensure the safety of these proposed new residents? Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:00 pm Dave Starr F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: How will Smith village deal with these crime issues? How does walling propose to ensure the safety of these proposed new residents? Either pull officers out of other areas to concentrate on Smith Village, or ignore them completely. I'll bet on the latter. . Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:56 pm 00SL2 F L I N T O I D Feb. 28 council meeting aired today. Three separate resolutions for radio advertising, $10,000 each, to WOWE, WFLT and CUMULUS broadcasting. For Smith Village. Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:33 pm shintz62 F L I N T O I D Can't u guys come up with a way to do it with fewer negatives. The Village could be a path all over the city by Repairing the 27000 house. Come on guys lay out a 1. 2. 3. plan with costs figured. Present a plan right here and if it's good we will support it Post Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:21 pm Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Any plan considered must include palm greasing and kickbacks to be viable in Flint. . Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:06 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D quote: shintz62 schreef: Can't u guys come up with a way to do it with fewer negatives. The Village could be a path all over the city by Repairing the 27000 house. Come on guys lay out a 1. 2. 3. plan with costs figured. Present a plan right here and if it's good we will support it Sorry the metal thieves have left most of these (at least the Flint houses) with very little redemption. Don't you get it that the populstion has left and no one needs more homes. If Flint residents leave Flint homes for new Flint homes, then there is more glut on the market. What will the assessed value of these new homes be? And what will the impact be on the other new homes, the ones not subsidized. What impact will this have on University Park and Doyle Ryder School. Does the school have the capacity to absorb these students and does the school system have the money to reopen and rehab another school that was closed? Word is that Cook school was trashed when the school system rented it out to a church. Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:07 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I just pulled the city property lookup on the 2 MSHDA financed homes on Delaware. One has an assessed value of $24,500. This home cost over $150,000 to build and sold in the mid seventies. Today even the discounted sales price has lost over $25,000. University Park succeeded because they started with a new slate and they are having security issues despite fencing and berms. Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:25 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Construction at Flint's Smith Village due to start in the spring Smith Village construction in Flint due to start by spring Tags:housing, building and development, flint, local, joel feick Comment Now Email Print Report a typo Joel Feick More: Bio, E-mail, News Team FLINT (WJRT) -- (03/07/11) -- The only new subdivision expected to be built in Genesee County this year will be in the heart of Flint, near downtown. Ground is expected to be broken in a couple of months on Smith Village, just north of downtown off of Saginaw Street, across from University Park. Actually, construction on Smith Village started more than a decade ago, when about a half-dozen homes were built. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling says the neighborhood is being brought back to life with federal funds. The new homes will be heavily subsidized. They'll cost more than $175,000 to build, but will end up costing home buyers much less than that - perhaps just $50,000-$70,000. Unlike its neighbor, University Park, that sits across the street, Smith Village won't get big property tax breaks. Buyers will instead get the break up front in the form of purchase price. "We're looking to start this spring," Walling said. "We're working with the Land Bank, over 80 units, at a cost of $16 million. So it's a very substantial impact on our downtown area housing. Not everybody thinks this is a good idea. An official with the Builders Association of Metro Flint calls it "idiocy," saying there is no market for these homes. Barry Simon says there are upwards of 27,000 homes for sale in Genesee County, and that federal money should be used to reduce current inventory. Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:53 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I just spoke to some individuals who tried to help the CPSA Courier make their newspaper profitable as it continued to run in a deficit. Obviously the $30,000 from the City of Flint is a political move to help them. Usually an advertiser requires a proof of circulation. Personally I believe Eason bumped up the number of papers printed in an attempt to make the deal seem better, $1,000 a week for 30 weeks to the same church members each week does not seem like a good deal. Also the Flint ad has to be camera ready or I should say interenet ready. How much is being paid to create the ads? Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:58 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Years later, city of Flint still trying to create Smith Village subdivision Published: Sunday, March 06, 2011, 4:28 PM Updated: Monday, March 07, 2011, 9:57 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal lAfter a decade of little progress, Smith Village now consists of mostly vacant lots and a few homes on Root Street in Flint. Using $16 million, Flint officials plan to build 80 houses here in the only major residential building project in Genesee County this year. FLINT, Michigan — The failed Smith Village project started 13 years ago with good intentions and uplifting promises: luxury homes and a revitalized neighborhood in the heart of the city of Flint. But it never happened, apart from a lonely row of six homes built just off North Saginaw Street. Now, the city is trying for a do-over. Same good intentions and same promises, but hoping for a different outcome. The “new” Smith Village is expected to be the only new subdivision built this year in all of Genesee County — not surprising given the recession and depressed housing market. Using federal grant money, at least 83 new three- and four-bedroom homes are planned for the mostly vacant neighborhood just north of downtown Flint and across Saginaw Street from University Park Estates. The question is: Will anyone buy them? “With this particular housing market, I think that’s something you always have to be concerned with,” said Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land Bank. “But ... when you look at these particular houses, because they will be in the only real new subdivision, I think we’ll be drawing attention from people.” The city and Land Bank are partnering to spend more than $16 million in federal grant money to finish the development, hailed as a charming community complete with new driveways, sidewalks, light posts, trees and newly paved streets. At least half of the homes will be sold to low-income buyers and down-payment assistance will be available. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said the subdivision will help meet demand for housing within walking distance of downtown Flint. A study by the Downtown Development Authority showed a need for more than 250 housing units in the greater downtown area, he said. “The regional housing market is shifting and more students and professionals and seniors are looking for a downtown urban living environment,” he said. “The occupancy rates in all of downtown illustrate this demand is real.” But some say the problems that hindered Smith Village the first time around still exist — and might be even worse on the heels of a nationwide recession. There’s a surplus of 27,000 homes in the county and “the last thing government should be doing is adding to the housing stock,” said Barry Simon, consultant with the Builders Association of Metro Flint. Other communities have little to no new residential building going on. The city of Burton, for example, has had one residential new build permit so far this year. Flushing, Mt. Morris and Davison haven’t had any. Throughout the county, newer subdivisions sit partially finished because of the local economy, Simon said. "There’s no housing market. There’s absolutely zero housing market. It just does not exist,” he said. “Let’s get real: This is idiocy.” Housing values have fallen more than 30 percent since 2005, Simon said, and nearly 7,000 properties are sliding into foreclosure. Despite the skepticism, city officials are pressing forward with the project, in large part because Smith Village is more than just another new development. It’s another chance for the city to complete the government project, started in 1998 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city completed the nearby University Park with the grant funds, but didn’t sell the required number of homes to low-income families — which the city said it would do in the never developed Smith Village. Over the years, city officials talked of restarting Smith Village, but nothing ever happened. But now there’s an extra incentive. Unless the project is completed, the federal government is threatening to force the city to repay $1.3 million, some of the money originally given to the city for Smith Village. That’s money officials say the cash-strapped city can’t afford to pay. Flint resident Chris Del Morone isn’t happy that a large portion of the city’s $25 million federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program phase two grant money is being spent on Smith Village. “Money is being taken from other tracts of the city,” Del Morone told the Flint City Council recently. With or without the feds’ ultimatum, officials said the new subdivision still makes sense for Flint. “We can improve the core of the city,” City Administrator Gregory Eason said of the project. “There may be an opportunity for (city residents) to move into a better home that may not cost them more than what they’re living in right now.” The first phase of the Smith Village plan is already under way, led by project developer Metro Community Development, a Flint-based nonprofit. Officials hope to break ground in May, and have the first 43 houses built by December. The target end date is December 2012. The development is being touted as “high-quality” homes with picturesque streetscapes, front porches and rear patios. . Officials point to the success of University Park Estates, the 160-home subdivision started at the same time as Smith Village, as proof that the concept can work. But University Park buyers got different incentives for moving into the subdivision than prospective Smith Village buyers will. University Park homes were sold at market rate, but the homes were in a Renaissance Zone, meaning homeowners didn’t have to pay property taxes for 12 years. Smith Village buyers, on the other hand, would not get the advantage of the Renaissance Zone, since it’s expiring next year. But the homes will be sold for a subsidized price, expected to be about $50,000 to $70,000, depending on the size — although the cost of building the new subdivision equates to $195,000 per unit, according to the Metro Community Development website. “These homes are going to sell at very attractive prices,” Weiland said, adding that more than 1,000 homes were sold in Flint last year. “I recognize a lot of people are skeptical of these kinds of plans, but this was always planned to be a companion to University Park. “My expectation is Smith Village will be every bit as nice.” Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:09 pm View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote 00SL2 F L I N T O I D $60,000 in advertising for Smith Village is exorbitant for targeting only a certain low-income segment of the community. What will the taxable value be on the home--the sale price or the building value? How will any low-income owner be able to pay the taxes, insurance and mortgage? And what would "students and professionals and seniors" want with 3 and 4-bedroom homes? Post Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:34 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The taxable value cannot be higher than the ourchase price. When Flint spent $55,000 up to $112,000 remodeling area homes for low income, the taxable value had to remain the same or reasonably close. The remodeled homes in Smith Village were only supposed to cost up to $55,000 and that was to bring homeowners up to code and put siding, etc to help them fit in with the new homes. The problem with many of these homes was that they had been neglected for so long that structural problems arose. The agency failed to properly inspect homes for inclusion in the program, One wall collapsed and had to be corrected. Plus the entity doing the repair work named themselves the developer and violated many HUD rules. They did not ensure insurance was maintained n the homes and that taxes were being paid. One large home had the insurance lapse and a fire started where a new electric vent was installed. Five family members became homeless. Metro Housing did the income verifications for the two houses on Delaware. HUD officials were angered when one family did not show all of the family members and income. The other house went to a retired GM executive when it was meant for a family. Similar problems occurred in Smith Village. Total family income was not reported and not all of the persons living in the home were shown. It is a crime to lie on a federal application and it appeared that in some instances the agency doing the repair work helped perpetuate the frauds. Some house had other agencies do code work and repairs in the past. While the money was not intended for cosmetic work, that is what happened. Carpeting, flooring, kitchen remodeling, etc was done. The agency even carpeted a third floor attic because the resident liked to sit up there. Houses with rental units were not reflected in the specifications or counted. The ciity passed on repair work that clearly did not meet HUD standards. Upstairs windows were covered by vinyl siding. Upstairs windows were installed that did not allow a firefighter to ingress/egree in the event of a fire. The siding prevented one lady from opening her back door. A recently installed roof was replaced with one that leaked. No heat reached the upstairs bedroom in one home and the supposedly new furnace was not new. The old fuel tank was left in the basement and fumes could be smelled from upstairs. Then you have the HUD issue. One resident complained their house was not being remodedled because of a drug raid. The agency claimed they had to remodel it any way because the homeowner complained to HUD. The agencies disregard for cost led to 12 homes not being finished Remember the disaster with the HUD 235 homes? Eason announced the city is tearing down all of them in the area of Cloverlawn and Home Avenue. Habitant for Humanity has a much better program when it comes o housing for low to moderate income home buyers. The two new homes on Delaware are appraised way below the purchase price and I am sure it is because of the crappy neighborhood they are in. The housing market is not supposed to bottom out for at least 2 years. Post Tue Mar 08, 2011 7:45 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 7:57 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Smith Village idiocy page 2 JCARPENTER F L I N T O I D If you want to know what to do with Smith Village,just read my redevelopment plan and stop beating this dead horse. This admn. will continue to do what ever the hell they want to do because they are so much smarter than the rest of us. If you don't belive this, just ask them. Post Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:49 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Because Carolyn Sims and the Smith Village Citizens District Council was allowed to deep six two proposed redevelopment plans, HUD refused to put in writing the acceptance of any more redevelopment plans. They also grew weary of no progress. Look at some of the members of the CDC and it is easy to see the problem. Some owned many parcels of vacant land and wanted top dollars to sell. A redevelopment plan that optimized their value was the only ones acceptable to them. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:54 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:00 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: New District Court deal in the works-back in limbo untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D At one time the City Council wanted to bond $19 million to start the process of creating a new Flint District Court because they believed they were paying too much for the rent and other services. This court had been over budget for years. Plante Moran told council that was about the maximun they could bond at that time. There have been other problems with the court. Channel 4 in etroit had video of an administrator leaving to get her hair done and going shopping while on the clock. She was a disgraced magistrate from Detroit and once tried to receive mileage from her home in Detroit. Judge may be close to brokering deal on Flint District Court lease Published: Thursday, March 03, 2011, 4:21 PM Updated: Thursday, March 03, 2011, 4:21 PM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY -- Chief Flint District Court Judge Archie L. Hayman might be just the mediator to make peace between the county and the city of Flint and to help produce a new lease for Flint District Court. Hayman emerged from separate meetings with city and county officials today, saying he was encouraged by what he heard and said both sides could agree soon on a new lease for the court at the newly reopened McCree Courts & Human Services Building. Archie L. Hayman County and city negotiators appeared to be closing in on agreement in advance of the McCree reopening Monday, but talks broke down after the county increased its lease asking price by more than $200,000 annually. The county-owned McCree building also houses Genesee District Court and other county offices. It had been closed for more than five months as contractors repaired widespread water damage caused by a burst water pipe in the building. Flint's lease for its district court offices and courtrooms expired at the end of 2010. County officials have since claimed they needed Flint to pay much more to cover the cost of providing security in the building. In a Monday letter to the county Board of Commissioners, Walling called the county's proposed price increase "a deal breaker" and said the city was prepared to look elsewhere. But Hayman said there could be a compromise in the making. "I am pleased with parties on all sides," Hayman said, calling today's meetings "positive" and saying he expected Walling "may have an opportunity" to bring a proposed lease to the Flint City Council soon. Hayman said the county "Sheriff's Department has done an excellent job in coming back with a (new) proposal." Jamie Curtis, chairman of the county commissioners, also called his meeting with Hayman "very productive." Earlier today, Walling said he supported Hayman's efforts to "insure (Flint) District Court has appropriate, long-term facilities." Post Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:40 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The council allocates the funding for the District Court and the city has to pay for any cost overruns and deficits. Read Walling's response. Go to the City of Flint website as Freeman has put the monthly budget to actuals on there. This budget year does not end until June 30, 2011. The City did not prepare for the withdrawal of the Sheriffs crews and no one was at the temporary court recently for security. Judge Cathy Dowd wisely halted proceedings until security was in place. Judge says Flint and Genesee County have deal in principle on new Flint District Court lease Published: Friday, March 04, 2011, 4:36 PM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal Follow FLINT -- There's a proposed deal for Flint District Court to move back into the McCree Courts & Human Services Building, Judge Archie L. Hayman said today. Hayman, who met with Genesee County officials Thursday and Mayor Dayne Walling today, said the county, which owns the McCree building, and the city, which leases space for the district court, have a meeting of the minds on a new lease. "It's still left for the city council to approve (but there is agreement)," Hayman said after meeting with Walling and council President Jackie Poplar. The two side have been negotiating a contract for Flint District Court for several months but talks broke down just days before the McCree building reopened on Monday. Walling has said the county attempted to bump up charges for building security recently, a "deal breaker" for the city. Walling said Friday that he might be prepared to bring a new lease to the city council as early as Wednesday. He said a "slight increase" in security costs that he discussed with Hayman would be paid from the existing Flint District Court budget and have no effect of the city's general fund. "The city had every intention from the beginning to have (Flint) District Court back in the McCree building," he said. "The terms had to be fair and a reasonable market rate." The Flint Journal could not immediately reach Curtis for comment today, but the county board chairman had previously characterized his Thursday meeting with Hayman as productive. phillip March 04, 2011 at 5:04PM Follow Walling is very spineless. Read what he said above the increase cost for security is a deal breaker. He then in the next paragraph admits the cost for security is going up. Walling caved to the county. What a man of his word. Did he really work out a deal with the city council because the county did not want to hear it? Yes city of Flint you mayor is a caver. shanedr March 04, 2011 at 6:13PM Follow I don't much care for Walling, but you need to go back and read the article again. The difference in cost is supposedly going to covered out of the Flint District Court budget and would not come out of the city operating budget. But that raises the question: Where does the Flint District Court budget come from? I just checked both my Winter and Summer Taxes and neither has a millage for the court. This sounds like the court budget comes out of the cities operating fund millage or from the city income tax. If so, why is the court budget so high that money can be spared for increased rent but can't be reduced and the excess transferred for say public safety, a grossly underfunded necessity. How much subterfuge is going on with the money received from the city income tax? Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new DWCBOB March 04, 2011 at 6:15PM Follow It won't be official until Mayor Eason approves it, not Figurehead Walling. Post Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:51 pm whiteknight F L I N T O I D OK the roof on the north building was just done last summer (the old court house) So why don't we reopen it again? why pay rent to the county? If we have money to pay for "increased cost for security" to the county why not keep the money in our own house? Politicians can't seem to grasp the concept of real money and how us common folk have to work with a budget with the money we have and how to prioritize what we spend. When money gets tight we hunker down and keep the money @ home. Not waste it and hiding our head in the sand. What is the amount that the county wants a month, how much could we save by reopening the court house and how could this help public safety. And lets not forget about the Impound Yard fiasco, how much has this political favor cost us as citizens? REALLY am I just a genius? Because these idea just seem like really simple ways to be fiscally responsible. Post Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:16 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D To reopen the former Court House means moving and relocating 4 offices when there is no room in City hall. Only the City Council, by ordinance, can allocate space and then only at Budget time, which does not start until about May. Kurtz removed the Ombudsman office to the Phoenix Building and then moved them back. City paid for that office space even when vacant. Major Grants has been moved about 5 times and each move means a greater risk of losing and misplacing documents needed for HUD and compliance issues. One move was made by giving city employees in other departments the HUD paid for furniture and giving Major Grants some relics. This resulted in a HUD finding that took years to resolve. Peter D from Finance tried that play a second time and luckily the auditors "headed him off at the pass". With all of our HUD problems, do we really want to compound them with another move? Kincaid once wanted to move them to the Great lakes Technology Center. Parks and rec has a lot of unused space. The back room was once used for drafting, etc and may have once been a planning office. Old chemicals (leaking) were stored in a cabinet . Maybe the drafting tables, etc could be sold at auction. The union office is also on the second floor and both Parks and this office can be reached by a back staircase from the courthouse days. The union office was remodeled when it was an Ombudsman office and the current Ombudsman office on the first floor was remodeled twice. All new courtrooms would have to be construted. The North building could house four courtrooms at most and i believe there are five judges. Plus you need space for the court clerks office, the prosecuting attorney, the administrator, the guards and file storage. File storage is a huge space, but older files could be stored in an off site, necessitating storage expenses and retrieval costs. Prisoners would have to be transported from Jail to the lockup and then to the Court, so you would have to maintain and clean the lockup and incur transport costs. Several years ago the City Council decided their cubicles were not private enough, so they usurped a portion of the City Attorneys office and remodeled it into private office space with computers for all council. Not all of the council can even use a computer. There were remodeling costs for this renovation and moving of the attorney into a space previously used for major grants and remodeling that space. The current court room in City Hall was intended to be a training space and already had been partially remodeled. Don't forget that the State has to approve any arrangements made. Post Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:58 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The five officers brought back did not go to guard the courts. That is angering some Flint police and other officials. One returned officer is Jesse Carpenter, who is back running the PAL program. Who is working security for the Court. Post Thu Mar 10, 2011 4:53 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Did Walling and Eason renige on the settlement to move back to the McCree building? Some think so as there has been no movement in that direction. Is Walling trying to save money by keeping things as they are? County officials will only say they had an agreement. The council committee last Wednesday was revealing. Some on council want the county to take over the functions of the 68th District Court and combine them with the 67th. That way the county and the state would finance the courts, leaving the city out of the mix. All revenues generated would then go to the county, but revenue projections were never realized in the past. What about city ordinances. Budget projections on revenue were partially predicated on the assumption the mechanism would be in place to enforce these ordinances. However the city eliminated a vital part time attorney, a magistrate and until recently all code enforcement. There is no way to enforce city ordinances without these in place. The county is in a deficit themselves, so I don't see the county taking on this burden Post Mon Mar 28, 2011 9:13 am 00SL2 F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: The five officers brought back did not go to guard the courts. That is angering some Flint police and other officials. One returned officer is Jesse Carpenter, who is back running the PAL program. Who is working security for the Court. Two men in Flint Police uniforms were at the 68th District Court in the Great Lakes Tech Center last Thursday morning. Judges Marable and Crawford are there for civil cases. The other three (Perry, Dowd, and Collier-Nix) hold court in the basement of City Hall. Post Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:12 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D quote: That way the county and the state would finance the courts, leaving the city out of the mix. All revenues generated would then go to the county, but revenue projections were never realized in the past. nicely said. millions in unreceived fines and fees. Chief Judge and Court Administrators have done little or nothing to recoup funds. OOps. I forgot. They no longer accept checks. The one place a person should be most afraid to write a rubber check. People are so afraid of our courts they write the courts bad checks. Just think of the millions the courts could re coupe if they just hired a collection agency. 70 percent of nothing is still nothing. Or how about hiring laid off police officers to collect fines and fees? Someone has got to have a better idea than what we've had for years. Post Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:26 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D It is not tthe job duties of the court to recoup fees. When Tachelle Young was the City Attorney, she and her staff worked to put teeth in the ordinances as many had no financial penalties.Add a magistrat to deal with ordinance violations and a part time city attorney and you are in business. I believe they even added a person who was to work on collection. Then you have a council take code enforcement out of the budget as well as a magistrate and a part time attorney, and you have successfully axed the program mechanism. If you had been at all council meetings, you would have heard Jessie Buchanan speak about the $289,000 plus in fines stuck in the process because of no part time city attorney to process the cases. Judges and Court Administrators do not make those kind of decisions. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:08 am Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D that kinda makes sense. however.Why a magistrate? With half the case load of 2005 and too many judges. Why not have A Judge or even all of them working on it. The courts in Flint used to be set up like the majority of other district courts. Where all the judges heard all different types of cases. Flint is one of only a hand full of courts that assign only Criminal, or only Small claims etc to certain judges. It used to run by Whatever the next case was coming in went to the next judge. So all the judges got to hear all the different types of cases. Code enforcement hasn't been done in Years. If i remember Just before the flood they finally decided to attempt to hear code enforcement but I don't know if it's being heard now. But the back log was immense. I still a little fuzzy on what City Council has to do to get fines and fees recouped by the courts. That doesn't make sense to me. I could just be stupid. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 10:42 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D There is a legal process that must be followed. I went to fight an ordinace issue years ago and went to a magistrate prior to having a court date set. I was able to prove the issue was bogus but I had to go through that system. Back then even traffic tickets went to a magistrate first before going to a judge. Magistrates cost less and don't jam the courts up. Blight officials write the tickets and there must be a method for appealing the tickets. Flint needs the equivalent of the out county prosecuting attorney and every community has one. Without a city attorney to prosecute the offenders who don't pay, the ticket is in limbo. Buchanan (Jesse) told council that over $280,000 in previous fines because there was no mechanism in place to take these individuals to court. Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 5:12 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D Well this is what is throwing me off? So are you saying that since the court's inception they've never been bale to collect on Fines and fees? When I went to court for my bogus speeding ticket. I agreed to pay a fine to have the ticket dropped without getting points. (My speedometer was actually off while the car was all OE except for the stereo.. weird the bigger speakers in the dash threw off the speedo) (But back on topic) I paid the fine as I was leaving the court. Are you saying had I not paid the ticket. I wouldn't have had to pay the fine? Because the court has no process (EVER) to collect if I don't pay? I feel like I'm missing something here??? That's keeping me from understanding the big picture? Post Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:16 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D No I am saying that many ordinances regarding blight enforcement were not properly written originally and they had to be revised in order to be properly enforced. It was discussed intensely during council meetings and council should have known that the cuts they made meant enforcement of these ordinances was being made a moot point. Post Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:15 am Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D i can buy that.. but blight enforcement doesn't account for the millions in unpaid fines over the years. Post Tue Apr 05, 2011 6:16 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D They had a collections person. I don't know if they still do. Post Tue Apr 05, 2011 7:08 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:13 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: New District Court deal in the works-back in limbo page 2 Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D I was told they were laid off awhile ago.... But I could be wrong. I am tempted to blame city council. However, They just set the budget. They don't tell the court how to spend the money. Post Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:34 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The court has nothing to do with this. The law dept pays the part time attorney. The council reviews the budget request and cuts where they want. No funding for a magistrate and there is no magistrate. Don't forget they have been doing line item budgets so their just setting the budget is a fallacy.. The court had a problem with handicap issues that had to be resolved. Council complained about the costs from the sheriff and the rent as issues. Post Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:24 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D I did some checking.. Yes Flint city court did have people that went after people that didn't pay their fines. And a magistrate was not needed to do this. That office was cut and then cut again. Until they couldn't do the job and then completely phased out. If the office was productive and collected fines. They shouldn't have needed to lay them off. They'd be paying for themselves. Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:39 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D That is why the ordinances were reworked. Talk to Jesse Buchanan. They were beginning to make progress. Council for the 2008-2009 budget barely gave depts a chance to present their needs. Council can sit on their a**es and do nothing, but they are sinking into a bigger hole. All of the court records are sitting in the county basement. City hall has no room for them. What if the county hits them up for a storage bill? Are we using the clerk space in the county? How are we pulling the required records? THE COUNTY OFFICIALS ONLY SHAKE THEIR HEADS AND REFUSE TO COMMENT ON THE CITY BELIEF THE COUNTY WILL TAKE THEM OVER. They too have a deficit and will not take over another one. Perhaps the state needs to step in and take over the court. People need to pay attention to who they elect. Look at the story about the judge who gave the tenant another month (probably rent free) and the tenant returned and literally destroyed the property. I can guess who that judge was. Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:22 am 00SL2 F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: Council can sit on their a**es and do nothing, but they are sinking into a bigger hole. All of the court records are sitting in the county basement. City hall has no room for them. What if the county hits them up for a storage bill? Are we using the clerk space in the county? How are we pulling the required records? I'm curious as to which county building basement you think city court records are being stored in. 67th District Court basement at McCree building was flooded. Though repairs are complete and 67th has returned, 68th District Court hasn't returned to that location yet. Circuit Court records older than certain date (listed on their website) are stored off site. Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:38 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D According to the 68 th District Court judges, their records come from the Mc Cree building. The allegedly recovered most of the records. Genesee County 67th District Court does not keep records older than 10 years. I found that frustrating when I attempted to FOIA them. Yes Circuit Court records of a certain age are in off site storage. I get frustrated that Ted doesn't understand that everything is a process. There must be an ordinance that specifies a penalty, There must be an attorney to act in the role of prosecutor for ordinance violations. There must be an appeals process. After the appeals process then it can go to the judge, For people who don't pay their fines, there must be further penalties and a collections process. It took time to get that process up and running and it was barely up when it was dismantled. Yet it is the very same council people that dismantled the system that now complain about blight. Do we really need 5 judges and would it be cheaper to have 4 judges and a magistrate? Why do people keep electing judges that obviously have problems. Jim Kiertzner was in town this weekend and he says he remembers visiting and one District Judge had former Judge Ransom assisting him in court as ordered by those in charge of the courts. Ted claims it never happened but he would know if he had asked the other judges. One former magistrate was charged with misconduct. Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:06 pm 00SL2 F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: Do we really need 5 judges and would it be cheaper to have 4 judges and a magistrate? At this time I would say yes. Sit in each of the judge's courtrooms for one day to see for yourself why. quote: Why do people keep electing judges that obviously have problems. There are not enough qualified challengers. Here are the November 2000 and November 2006 ballot results; November 2006 - Vote for not more than 2: William H. Crawford, II. . . . . . 17,159 38.61 Herman Marable, Jr. . . . . . . . 15,901 35.78 Lynette M. Ward . . . . . . . . 11,322 25.48 November 2000: - Vote for not more than 2: RAYMOND J. BRANCH 16363 27.60% WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, II 24891 41.99% HERMAN MARABLE, JR 18029 30.41% quote: ...one District Judge had former Judge Ransom assisting him in court as ordered by those in charge of the courts. Ted claims it never happened but he would know if he had asked the other judges. It is true. He could have visited the courtroom and seen for himself. Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:01 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint, Genesee County district court merger under discussion Published: Thursday, April 14, 2011, 7:10 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — The cash-strapped city is talking about merging its district court operations with Genesee County’s to save money. The idea still is in the discussion phase, but city Councilman Scott Kincaid says consolidation needs to be considered in the face of the city’s year-after-year structural deficit. “There’s duplication in a lot of areas that maybe we can consolidate,” Kincaid said. “If we put it all under one (court), it would be more efficient, I believe. It’s something that absolutely should be looked at.” Putting the city’s 68th District Court under the umbrella of Genesee County’s 67th District Court is possible, said Marcia McBrien, spokeswoman for the Michigan Supreme Court. As more local governments are looking for ways to cut their budgets, district court mergers increasingly are being considered, especially around Detroit and in Oakland County, she said. “It doesn’t surprise me, based on the (state) budget cuts,” she said. “It’s something a lot of the district courts in the metro area are looking at.” The city and county courts each have annual budgets of about $5.2 million. The county’s court has six judges who work in seven locations, while the city’s has five judges. The latest state report on judicial resources shows the city’s district court could do without at least one of its judges, based on the caseload. The report, issued in 2009, also shows county judges need part-time help. Some City Council members were concerned that a merger would mean city judges would be elected countywide, possibly undercutting the city’s judicial representation. But Kincaid said that wouldn’t be the case. “The judges would still be elected in their districts,” he said. Kincaid said the city hasn’t approached the county about the idea yet. The council is expected to discuss the issue and the consolidation process at its committee meetings Wednesday. At least two Genesee County commissioners also are talking about consolidating the county’s internal district court operations but haven’t moved beyond talking yet. This week, Commissioners John Northrup and Omar A. Sims, both Flint Democrats, balked at paying for new carpet and paint at Burton District Court, suggesting it might be time to close outlying courts and centralize those operations in the McCree Courts and Human Services Building in Flint. The city and county are in the middle of working out a new lease agreement for the McCree building in downtown Flint, where the city and county district courts are located. Negotiations have stretched on because the county wants to raise the city’s rent to cover security. The county maintains satellite courts in Flushing, Davison, Burton, Mt. Morris, Fenton and Grand Blanc. “We could save some money there,” said Sims, who asked for a report on the cost of operating those courts. County Corporation Counsel Ward Chapman said state law requires the county to maintain courts in those areas now and would have to be changed to close the outlying courts. Staff writer Ron Fonger contributed to this report. intheknow767 April 14, 2011 at 7:24PM Follow Judge Marable should be the first to go. And, there isn't enough space in this column to list the reasons why other than he does NOTHING but small claims cases because he has been deemed incompetent to do ANYTHING else. He is a total waste of resources and burdens the other judges with the things he should be, but cannot do because of his incompetence. He cannot, however, be fired because he is an elected official that continues to dupe the public into voting for him. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Flint MI USA April 14, 2011 at 7:44PM Follow Mr Chapman states, "state law requires the county to maintain courts in those areas now and would have to be changed to close the outlying courts." We understand the Law; however, what happens if the City/County do not have the funds to maintain, operate their respective Courts? Are those particular cases automatically moved to adjacent Court? Are there conditions which if met, terminate or modify the Law? If yes, for how long? It is a legitimate question during the tough economic times. I applaud Mr Kincaid and City Council for reviewing this issue. I applaud Mr Sims and Mr Northrup for balking on addtl funds for outlying Courts. Its time for the City and County to consolidate the operational aspects of the Courts. We do NOT need this many Courts in our County, as a whole, any longer. We can not afford it. Centralize to whatever degree we can in the core of the City...we must concentrate our resouces in a more centralized geographic region to get the most "bang for our buck" overall. Its the smart thing to do, the logical thing to pursue. Thank you all for reviewing this objectively. Post Thu Apr 14, 2011 7:03 pm View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D Well I become frustrated that untanglingwebs too often gets lost on the details and can't seem to connect the dots. Yes, for collecting fines on ordinance violations there needed to be a process put in place. Just as when the DDA couldn't enforce parking tickets, Because there was no process. THis has nothing to do with the fact that there used to be an office in 68th district court that did collections of fines and fees owed to the City. Flint courts fine people for more than just City ordinance violations and parking tickets. untanglingwebs seemed to be stuck on their processes as the only fines and fees that need to be collected. Or untanglingwebs is purposely ignoring that in the responses. 00SL2 quote: quote: ...one District Judge had former Judge Ransom assisting him in court as ordered by those in charge of the courts. Ted claims it never happened but he would know if he had asked the other judges. It is true. He could have visited the courtroom and seen for himself. Responding to this. I have gone down to the Courts and sat in on Judges Cases. Not once have I run into Judge Ransom sitting in the courtroom with any of the Judges. Maybe I'll run down there on Monday and Check again. It's just more of a pain in the butt since courts are in two different buildings. Now I do know there is a judge that is a go between for the Chief Judge and one of the judges. But this judge doesn't sit in the courtroom nor does he give advise or training. Now on your other comments. I've been saying for years now that Flint District Court has too many judges. Now if In 2005 The Judicial Resources Recommendations "D68 – City of Flint -1.37 Eliminate one district judgeship by attrition" And in 2005 the case load was almost double what it is now. I would have assumed that they would have more recently recommended almost three by attrition. But nope they actually recommended -1.21 for 2009. With a net 50 percent caseload reduction since 2005. I'm wondering why this year they only want one gone? Hmmm interesting isn't it? 2005 Total Caseload 79,671 2009 Total Caseload 44,812 BTW I believe but can't remember where I put it that 2010's caseload was much smaller than this. With an actual 50percent less caseload than 2005 So how does the state determine that in 2005 with twice the workload we needed 1.37 less judges but in 2009 with a 43.75 percent decrease in caseload. http://courts.michigan.gov/scao/resources/publications/reports/summaries.htm#judres Post Sat Apr 16, 2011 9:51 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Judge Ransom sat in on Judge Marable for a long time as required by the higher court supervisor. This was in response to the complaints about Marable. Post Sun Apr 17, 2011 10:39 am Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D Interesting.. Judge Ransom still stops in and sits in his court. But it's not a daily thing and it's not because of the reasons you have already claimed. I'm not going to keep digging into this because it is clear you're on a smear campaign. Has nothing to do with the Truth and the Whys. You're helping to skew the facts. Post Sun Apr 17, 2011 4:12 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D That is not what the other Judges say! What about your smear campaign on Hayman!? Post Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:46 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D Smear Nothing. You still have yet to prove anything I stated as not being factual. I pointed out when the Chief Judge made each "EXPLANATION" and how each time it changed. I provided all the information pertaining to caseloads and the states recommendations. I will not reveal my sources. Which I figured two attorney's and two news agency's and two Non-Profit representatives and one City Councilman that i would trust. Were enough for me. When these people all gave similar responses that increasingly changed the same way. I knew I was correct. Also, It wasn't a smear. I have pointed out verbatim what the Law states. I proved over and over that Even after he claimed over and over public-ally that Ms. Favalla Terry was approved by Council (She wasn't) and that she was not a registered elector. I proved that the Chief Judge knows how to appoint a magistrate correctly. I that the one before Ms. Terry was voted down by City Council. There was no appointment of a magistrate by the State Court Administrators Office as they do not get involved in the appointment of a magistrate. That is totally up to the JUDGES in that court and is appointed by the chief Judge and approved by the Governing body. NOW. the obvious. City Council would have voted down a Magistrate. WHY? First off because of budget issues (they were already on record for refusing the last one) Second the Candidate did not meet the qualifications by law to hold the position. I only found one case that was ever adjudicated and it wasn't even close to the same or similar circumstances. And according to the City attorney's office. They were pursuing the issue legally. However, When Ms. Terry Moved out of state. There was nothing left to adjudicate. And the city felt it expedient and cost effective to let it drop. Problem was solved. The City attorney didn't drop it until after she was gone. Oh and like you mentioned about the Code enforcement. The whole process was screwed up and it couldn't be done because of no appeal etc.. When Ms. Terry was a magistrate. They couldn't do code enforcement anyway. The process still wasn't in place. What was the reason again why she was appointed? At which time? So many holes in the reasons that none of them would hold water. But would have made sense had they been the reasons givin at the beginning of the issue coming to public. Instead of hind sight figuring out a logical reason. Post Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:16 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint district court expenses coming due from McCree building flood Published: Thursday, May 05, 2011, 8:01 AM Updated: Thursday, May 05, 2011, 9:35 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Matt Dixon | The Flint JournalWorkers restore a basement courtroom in February at McCree Courts & Human Services Center in downtown Flint. FLINT, Michigan -- The city of Flint's pocketbook is feeling the effects of last September's flood in the McCree Courts & Human Services Building downtown. The city most recently received a bill for $610,000 from the company that rescued the city's soaking wet 68th District Court documents from the flood, city benefits manager Bob Erlenbeck told the Flint City Council at its meeting Wednesday. The documents had to be freeze-dried within 72 hours to make sure they didn't deteriorate from the water, he said. The process involves freezing the documents so the water can't further damage them, then transforming the ice from its solid state into a gas. "That was the only way to secure those records," Erlenbeck said. Because the city is self-insured, it has to cover the costs from the flood. Erlenbeck said the city is looking into whether Genesee County, which owns the building, or its insurance policy would be liable for any of the costs. "We don't have an answer yet," he said. "We are investigating it." In the meantime, Erlenbeck said the company that saved the documents has agreed to spread the payment out over 2.5 years with no interest. City council members said they're still concerned about the payments, since the city is expecting a multimillion-dollar deficit this fiscal year. In other district court news, the city and county are still negotiating terms of a lease for the city to move 68th District Court back into the McCree Building, which also houses the county's 67th District Court. City and county leaders met Wednesday afternoon with judges and representatives from the state court administrator's office in an effort to come to an agreement within the next several days. Post Thu May 05, 2011 2:32 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Records for court have been stored at the county building-will they charge the city storage fees? Post Thu May 05, 2011 2:34 pm Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:21 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo page 3 Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Heard on the news that Jamie Curtis said the 68th has 2 weeks to move back in, or the invitation will be withdrawn. . Post Thu May 05, 2011 6:15 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D Withdrawal already. Post Thu May 05, 2011 8:39 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D County sent over a proposed contract and added costs for the city to help pay for the demolition of the county parking deck! Post Thu May 19, 2011 8:00 am Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D They just built a new parking downtown not two years ago. I'm confused. Didn't we need more parking? Thus the building of a new deck. Now, they want to tear down that one? Can we waste anymore money? Next thing ya know they will want to build a parking deck next to the Genesse Towers. Because that is an empty lot and they produce study that shows it will make more money in that location than behind the courthouse. Can we figure out another way to waste tax payer dollars?? Post Thu May 19, 2011 8:16 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The ccounty has had debates on whether or not to fix the unsafe parking deck next to the courthouse. But since the county owns the building and the parking, why is the city as a tenant responsible? Post Thu May 19, 2011 10:11 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Genesee County official says additions to Flint District Court lease 'never should have happened' Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 9:47 AM Updated: Friday, May 20, 2011, 9:47 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Matt Dixon | The Flint JournalElectronic Restoration Services workers string new cables for the audio system in a basement court room at McCree Courts & Human Services Building in downtown Flint in February. FLINT, Michigan — Genesee County and Flint remain at odds over a downtown homecoming for Flint District Court. County officials acknowledged mistakes after Flint City Council members knocked the county’s proposed lease for the city to move back into the McCree Courts & Human Services Building downtown. City Council members say the proposal omitted some important items and added at least one potentially costly measure that was not discussed during the lengthy negotiation process. The lease included a provision that would have the city pay for 17 percent of the cost if the county decided to demolish the McCree building’s parking deck, which had some council members threatening Wednesday to vote against the lease. But on Thursday, county commissioners said the demolition clause should not have been included in the lease. “It’s being taken out right now as we speak,” Commissioner Jamie Curtis, D-Burton, said Thursday morning. “We knew what we agreed to, and that was never a part of it.” The city’s District Court was displaced in September after the McCree building flooded, and negotiations to move the city back in have been ongoing for months. The county sent the amended lease back to the city with the hope that the council will approve it at its Monday meeting. But at least one council member still was stinging from the ordeal. Councilman Scott Kincaid said he’s disappointed because council members spent a lot of time in lease negotiations with representatives from the city, the county, district courts and the state court administrator’s office. He said council members left the meeting thinking the lease would be satisfactory. “You don’t put stuff like that in there as a mistake,” Kincaid said. “To me, this was underhanded.” Kincaid said the lease also didn’t include provisions for secure parking for the judges and administrative staff, which he said was discussed during negotiations. According to a letter sent to the city Thursday, parking spaces will be included in the amended lease. However, council members have asked city officials to ready a “Plan B” in case the council decides not to move back to McCree. “I’m probably not going to support the lease,” Kincaid said. “I’ve got what they’ve given me. We just need to move forward and do what we need to do.” The Flint District Court is operating at Flint City Hall and the Great Lakes Technology Centre. Curtis said the county was not trying to be sneaky, and he hopes the city will consider the amended lease. “It happened because our corporation counsel didn’t give it to me to proofread,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. It never should have happened.” Sponsored Links Post Sat May 21, 2011 6:38 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Genesee County commissioners will fix support beam, consider bigger investment in 'biggest rathole the county has' Published: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 10:00 AM Updated: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 12:19 PM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- The county Board of Commissioners plan to spend $14,850 to repair one beam in the McCree Courts & Human Services Building parking ramp but some members said they are tired of making piecemeal fixes on what one called "the biggest rathole the county has." The downtown parking garage has been on the county's to-do list for years, but commissioners still aren't sure whether to try extensive repairs -- reinforcements estimated to cost about $5 million -- or whether to demolish or replace it at a cost of about $13 million. Archie Bailey The county board voted unanimously Wednesday to spend now on the beam,, knowing a bigger bill is on the horizon. "I regret putting money into that structure. I actually get nervous driving through there," said Commissioner Archie Bailey, D-Flushing. "I'd like to see this county make 2012 the year we make a decision (about what to do)." County officials say the parking structure, which was built in the early 1960s, is safe but is deteriorating and needs to be demolished or reinforced before too long. A collection of small repairs have cost more than $2 million in the past two decades, officials said. "It is probably at the end of its useful life," said county Controller George Martini. "It's still a very safe ramp but it's starting to ... cost us a lot of money to keep the ramp usable." Bailey called the concrete parking structure "the biggest rathole the county has." "The more money we put into the building, the more money we are wasting," Bailey said. Beam repairs will be completed by RAM Construction, according to a memorandum to commissioners from Martini. The county solicited a proposal from RAM because of past experience with the parking ramp, the memo said. Thu May 19, 2011 1:32 pm Post Sat May 21, 2011 6:49 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint District Court to stay at city hall; City Council votes against lease with Genesee County Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:12 AM Updated: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:12 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFlint City Hall FLINT, Michigan — The city of Flint is ending a 20-year partnership with Genesee County for its district court. The Flint City Council voted 8-1 on Monday night against renewing a lease to house the Flint District Court at the county’s McCree Courts & Human Services Building downtown. Flint District Court will continue to operate in the basement at Flint City Hall and at the Great Lakes Technology Centre while the city renovates the North Building at city hall, where the court was located before it moved to McCree 20 years ago. Council members say the move will cost some money in the first year, but ultimately will save money in rent in the long run. The city paid about $740,000 a year to the county in the last lease. “I’ve been wanting to go our own way for a long time,” Councilman Joshua Freeman said. Housing its own district court means the city likely won’t be pink slipping police officers that had been called back from layoffs to secure district court at city hall and the tech center. The city’s District Court was displaced in September after the McCree building flooded. Several hang-ups stalled an agreement on a new lease and negotiations to move the city back to McCree have been ongoing for months. The final straw for many council members came last week, when the county’s proposed lease included a last-minute clause that said the city would have to pay for 17 percent of the demolition costs if the county razed the McCree parking deck. County officials removed the clause, which they said was added by mistake, but council members still said it’s time for the city to go its own way. “It’s time that we just deal with this issue and move on,” Councilman Scott Kincaid said. Council members asked City Administrator Gregory Eason to get the ball rolling on the new courtrooms at the North Building. “We have to have a plan that will please the (State) Court Administrator’s Office,” Councilman Delrico Loyd said. “We can’t waste any time.” Councilman Sheldon Neeley was the lone “yes” vote on the county’s proposed lease. He said it will take too much time and money to get the North Building courtrooms operational. “I think it’s important to get an effective judicial system up and running,” he said. “Time was the biggest issue for me.” Post Tue May 24, 2011 12:56 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Genesee County unsure what it will do with vacant Flint District Court space, wants loaned equipment back Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 12:59 PM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- No hard feelings, but the county wants its stuff back after a messy divorce from the city of Flint over the future location of Flint District Court. County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jamie Curtis said today he doesn't fault the Flint City Council's decision Monday not to renew a lease at the downtown, county-owned McCree Courts & Human Services Building. Jamie Curtis But Curtis said the city needs to give back or start paying to lease video equipment, podiums and benches that have been on loan from the county for several months. Flint District courts have been in makeshift courtrooms in the basement at Flint City Hall and at the Great Lakes Technology Centre since a broken water pipe and resulting flooding closed the McCree building during the 2010 Labor Day weekend. By the time the building reopened in February, the city's lease had expired. And while negotiations appeared to be progressing earlier this year, the Flint City Council voted 8-1 Monday against renewing a lease to stay in McCree. Council members say the city can save money in the long run by using its own property to house the courts. Many said the deal's fate was sealed last week when the county’s proposed lease included a last-minute clause that said the city would have to pay for 17 percent of the demolition costs if the county razed the McCree parking deck. County officials removed the clause, which they said was added by mistake, but council members had apparently had enough. "They made a business decision," Curtis said. "I appreciate what they do. They know their business." Curtis said the county is giving the city the rest of this week to give back the borrowed equipment or make arrangements to lease it. The board chairman said he considers the City Council's decision as final and said commissioners will have to decide what to do with the space it had proposed to lease to Flint for about $771,000 annually. "I take that as a final decision," said Curtis, who said the county "met every demand" made by the city during negotiations on a new lease. "We tried really hard to get them in there," he said. Post Tue May 24, 2011 12:58 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D 68th District Court remains homelessUpdated at 05:12 PM today Tags:68th district court, mccree building, flint, local Comment Now Email Print Report a typo Ilse Lujan-Hayes FLINT (WJRT) -- (05/24/11) -- While Flint is being called the most violent city in the nation, ABC12 News has learned that some criminal cases coming before judges are actually being dismissed. That's because there is nowhere to conduct a jury trial. Last night Flint City Council members voted down a deal with Genesee County to move the 68th District Court back into the McCree Building in downtown Flint. That means the 68th District Court remains displaced. You may remember that a flood last Labor Day damaged the 68th District Court, forcing it to move into Flint City Hall. The council voted last night 8 to 1 not to take a two-year lease agreement, which included a plan to oversee the attached parking structure. This deal had been revised, removing the 17 percent of demolition costs that the city would have been responsible for if the county decided to get rid of the building. Council members also wanted safer parking for judges and the administration staff, so the county added that to the agreement. In the end, there was still no agreement. Currently, civil cases are conducted at the Great Lakes Tech Center on Saginaw Street and criminal cases being heard at City Hall. Council member Scott Kincaid tells us he voted against it because five police officers currently providing security at the temporary court locations would be let go. But council Member Sheldon Neeley, the only one who voted for the two-year lease, said those five officers weren't patrolling the streets of Flint, only the buildings. Post Tue May 24, 2011 6:02 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Looks to me that council, except Sheldon Neeley, made a bad decision when they rejected the move back. Acccording to tv 12, the Judges of the District Court stated the sate inspected the current arrangement and saiud none of the courtrooms are capable of having a jury trial. Because of this some court cases are being dismissed and revenues from fines,etc are being lost. The move back into the north building will take a considerable amount of time. Other departments must be moved and the spaces remodeled once more! The moves will cost time and money, whether by ovetime or moving companies. The remodeling will cost money which the city is currently short on. How long will this take and how much revenue will be lost before it is completed. Where is the State Court Administrator in all of this process? Why were the courts moved in the first place? Where will the court clerk offices be and where will the records be stored. When will the city remove the records. Where will court personnel and those going to the court park? The parking ramp was built on the other side of the city. Post Tue May 24, 2011 6:16 pm Ted Jankowski F L I N T O I D untanglingwebs.. You got it there. Where has the State Court Administrator been? Considering 68th's Implementation of their "disaster plan". Which appeared to be more of Reaction plan than a thought out following of the directions for what to do when a disaster happens. I've only talked to more than one reporter about the Flint courts not holding jury trials. Hell I've posted it here and on mlive many times since the courts were reopened. I doubt the Journal or TV12 or Channel 5 have even set foot in any of the new court rooms. I've gone down a couple of times to Both the Basement in City hall and the Tech Center. Took the tour while they were moving and after they got all set up. Don't think I didn't try to ask the State Court Administrators office about it This move will cost more money. It sure would have made better sense to start moving into our own building back when the flood first happened. But this is typical of Flint government. No matter who is in Power. (would have sure liked to have a copy of that disaster plan) (I'm betting that even after all of this it still hasn't been updated, but I could be wrong). Post Wed May 25, 2011 2:50 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Ted - remember when council wanted to bond out and move the courts before the lease expired. Nothing happened! Now when we are in a crisis mode, they want to move back into a space that may not accommadate all of the courts. Are they merely going to keep part of the courts here and the rest will stay in the Tech center. Remember kincaid wanted to move DCED to the Tech center. (Probably because Kildee and the Land bank needed tenants at the time) Chief Flint District Court judge disappointed by move from McCree building, says current temporary courts 'a real bad situation' Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 3:35 PM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Chief Flint District Court Judge Archie Hayman says he understands the Flint City Council's decision not to continue leasing part of the McCree Courts & Human Services building. But Hayman said he would have preferred the city have agreed to a short-term lease to get Flint District courts out of temporary homes in the basement of City Hall and at the Great Lakes Technology Centre. Archie Hayman "We're in a real bad situation," Hayman said today. "We can't see continuing this even for a short time." The Flint City Council voted 8-1 on Monday night against renewing a lease to house the Flint District Court at the county’s McCree building and today, Jamie Curtis, chairman of the county Board of Commissioners, said he wants equipment loaned to Flint District Court returned by next week. Hayman said temporary courtrooms in use now pose security concerns and can't be used for trials. The judge said he's also concerned by how long it will take city officials to create a permanent home for the courts in the North Building at City Hall, where the court was located before it moved to McCree two decades ago. "We can't see continuing this even for a short time," he said. Post Wed May 25, 2011 5:57 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I saw Sims on the news last night and he made perfect sense. Genesee County commissioners say they've lost trust in city of Flint officials after failed lease deal Published: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 10:35 AM Updated: Wednesday, May 25, 2011, 10:35 AM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- The city of Flint's decision not to continue leasing district court space from the county has left some members of the Board of Commissioners reluctant to partner with the city on another project. Commissioners today sent away a representative of the Flint Area Reinvestment Office without signing onto a compact that included the city of Flint. FILE | THE FLINT JOURNALJamie Curtis FARO is coordinating an effort to win grant funds to target lead paint abatement. The organization says its mission is assist the community in developing a regional strategy to further develop economic recovery activities, with particular emphasis on public-private collaborations. The Flint City Council voted Monday not to continue a 20-year history of leasing district court space inside the county-owned McCree Courts & Human Services Building after part of the building was redesigned according to the city's wishes. Flint officials say they can save money in the long term by moving back into their own building and blame county officials for attempting to change a lease proposal at the last minute to potentially charge them more. "Our good faith has cost the county a lot of money," said Commissioner Ted Henry, D-Clayton Twp. " There's a little tension in the air." Commissioner Joseph Graves, R-Argentine Twp., said the effort had a potential to be "good intentions, bad results" because of the involvement of Flint elected officials. "Flint did not get to where they are today because they made wise choices," Graves said County board Chairman Jamie Curtis suggested FARO provide commissioners with more information and come back at a later date. "We don't want to do our (part) and we're waiting for (Flint) to do theirs," Curtis said. "They don't have a good record of follow-through." Commissioners are considering what to do with the space in the McCree building in light of the Flint City Council decision to leave the building and renovate a part of city hall for use as district court space in the future. Curtis said Tuesday that the city needs to return video and other equipment it has been loaned by the county or start paying to use it after this week. Commissioner Omar Sims, D-Flint, said he doesn't trust Flint Mayor Dayne Walling's administration. "We can't work with somebody who can't work with us," Sims said. Post Wed May 25, 2011 10:35 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D JohnofGB May 25, 2011 at 10:52AM Follow With an 8-1 vote by the city council, it would seem that any reconciliation is unlikely on the court leasing. It would appear the city's looking for a less expensive way to run their court. The financial base of the city is less broad than that of the county but it appears that the commissioners lack the understanding of that. And by leaving out Flint of FARO , which bears Flint's own name, seems to be a punitive reaction to the city council's court leasing decision. "Good faith" has nothing to do with it. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John- The city has known for several years that they wanted out of the leasing agreement with the county. Council is into game playing at this point and mislead county representatives when they pretended to negotiate in good faith. Sims and Neeley have it right. Post Wed May 25, 2011 10:39 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:30 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: New District Court deal in the works-back in limbo page 4 untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D County is calling a special meeting tomorrow morning (9 am I believe) and you can bet the City will be on the agenda and feeling the heat. The city has had over 2 years to find a solution before the contract expired and they sat on their duffs. State Court Administrative Office: Temporary Flint District Court locations 'grossly inadequate' Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 8:00 AM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan -- If the city of Flint sticks by the decision not to lease district court space inside the McCree Courts and Human Services Building, it won't be because of encouragement from the State Court Administrative Office. A report from the administrative agency of the Michigan Supreme Court says two temporary courtrooms that have been used since September by the city are"grossly inadequate," presenting "significant challenges to public and employee safety." The SCAO released its assessment of the temporary courts -- located in the basement at Flint City Hall and at the Great Lakes Technology Centre -- in response to questions from The Flint Journal. The report says the city should accelerate "as quickly as possible" the process for renovation of the North Building of the Flint City Hall complex or return to the McCree building, which "offers significant advantages" to other options. The Flint City Council voted 8-1 against a proposed new lease at McCree, which is owned by Genesee County and which reopened in February after having been closed since September because of flooding, caused by a broken water pipe under the building. Chief Flint Circuit Court Judge Archie Hayman has also called the temporary courtrooms a "bad situation" because of security concerns and the layout of the available space. Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid said the SCAO can't force the city to move back into McCree and said city officials realize they are making due with less than ideal arrangements until they can build more suitable court facilities. Council members said they voted down the lease at McCree because the city will save money in the long term by renovating the North Building and asked City Administrator Gregory Eason to move quickly on construction plans. "The city is trying to move forward ... Our whole focus is on building the trial courts ... ," Kincaid said. County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jamie Curtis said city officials will find out they have chosen a more expensive option than coming back into McCree. "They are going to find out they can't do it cheaper," Curtis said. County and city officials continued to talk late last week about changes in a new McCree lease that would satisfy both sides. The city paid about $740,000 a year to the county in the last lease and there have been multiple proposals exchanged throughout this year. County officials have said the city signed a letter of intent to return to the building, prompting them to make more than $50,000 in building changes requested for the Flint District courts during flood repairs. Flint officials were angered when one proposed lease from the county earlier this month included a new clause providing for the city to pay for 17 percent of the demolition costs if the county razed the McCree parking deck. County officials removed the clause, which they said was added by mistake. 90220 May 31, 2011 at 8:11AM Follow Everything ran by city of flint is 'grossly inadequate' MomOf1 May 31, 2011 at 8:32AM Follow That is right, don't fix a building so they may pocket the money. Sure sounds like Flint to me! jacobsmith May 31, 2011 at 8:43AM Follow I lost the fear, uncertainty and doubt being spread by the counties ignorati, Jamie Curtis is one of the worst people in the area for condemning the city while doing his best to shelter the Caucasian suburbs. Has he even been to Flint without a police escort? The statement that "Temporary" Flint District Court locations are 'grossly inadequate' is attributed to an office rather than an individual because no one was willing to put their name on a statement that woefully stupid. doinit4me May 31, 2011 at 8:56AM Follow While I will agree that the 68th District Court is far from ideal today, why not give the city a little break on this one. The current administration is not the group that got Flint into this situation. Woodrow Stanley is the one that spent $1.8 million revovating the north building for use as space for the mayor's offce. I find the irony amusing. On the one hand the state is telling Flint to get it's act together or they will be taking over and on the other hand they, probably at the county's behest, are telling Flint to spend money to fix up the court area. Everybody already knew this. Sounds like the county is using big brother to strong arm poor Flint into signing an expensive lease. Don't forget, the county was probably banking on the rent from the McCree building to cover expenses in other areas so they are not going to go away quietly. Give Flint a little time to make the necessary renovations so that they can have some oversight and hopefully provide the same service for less money. It is important that Flint's current administration be forthright, honest and diligent and keep the future in mind by coming up with an intelligent plan to retain control over such a large amount of money by providing the courtroom space themselves. Politics should not have a dog in this fight because it is usually the taxpayers that get mauled. numero407 May 31, 2011 at 9:45AM Follow So the Judges, Lawyers, and other get a taste of what Flint citizenry has to deal with on a daily basis. That's too bad. Officers got tired of taking arrests to the downtown courthouse only to find that Court personnel and one Judge and his secretary had parked in the spaces reserved for Law Enforcement. ( Are you listening Judge Marable?) There were Lawyers who regulary parked in those spaces also. I guess its allright to represent the accused but they don't want to parked their cars amongst them. Besides , why should the City some back downtown when the County overcharged them for rent for the past 20 years under the old lease agreement. JohnofGB May 31, 2011 at 9:46AM Follow If Flint wants to have its own court building, then how about the abandoned Social Security office across from the main Flint Fire department. Its close to the city offices and the county jail. I am sure the federal officials would lease it to Flint at a very attractive rate. Post Tue May 31, 2011 1:36 pm View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D It appears a resolution to te court issue has been made, Key parties met last Friday and allegedly had an agreement. It will go to council and then to the county. I am sure the state had something to do with this turnabout. Post Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:52 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I was just told the resolution is no longer an option. Post Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:41 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D City Council to reconsider moving Flint District Court back to McCree Building downtown Published: Monday, June 06, 2011, 5:04 PM Updated: Monday, June 06, 2011, 5:13 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Ryan Garza | The Flint JournalWorkers take a look at one of the newly restored court rooms in the McCree Courts & Human Services Building in downtown Flint in this 2011 file photo. FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council is expected to reconsider moving its Flint District Court back to the McCree Courts & Human Services building downtown. The council voted against the move last month, deciding to renovate the court's original offices at Flint City Hall. Now, it appears the council will reconsider a lease to move back into a McCree. The measure is on tonight's meeting agenda. The city’s District Court was displaced in September after the McCree building flooded, and it temporarily operated out of the basement at City Hall and the Great Lakes Technology Centre. Several hang-ups stalled an agreement on a new lease for McCree and negotiations to move the city back to McCree had been ongoing for months before the city council voted against it. Recently, a report from the administrative agency of the Michigan Supreme Court said the city's temporary courtrooms are "grossly inadequate" and present "significant challenges to public and employee safety." The city council's special meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at Flint City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw St. Post Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:18 pm Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Tabled until the Wednesday committee meeting. . Post Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:48 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: I was just told the resolution is no longer an option. Is council playing games? Flint City Council postpones Flint District Court discussion Published: Monday, June 06, 2011, 8:22 PM Updated: Monday, June 06, 2011, 9:01 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council tonight postponed discussion around moving the Flint District Court back into the McCree Courts & Human Services Building downtown. The matter was pushed back to Wednesday, when the council is expected to reconsider a lease with Genesee County to move the court back to McCree. The council had voted against a lease for McCree last month, and was preparing to renovate the North Building at Flint City Hall to make room for the court. But an amended lease for McCree appeared on tonight's meeting agenda before the matter was postponed. The amended lease is expected to be discussed at the council's finance committee meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 1101 S. Saginaw St. Post Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:23 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D The council announces a budget, then postpones a decision on what has to be a pretty large budget item. Is this another "assumption" like hoped for state revenue sharing dollars? How can you have a budget when you don't know what all your income and expenses will be? Do the council critters base their household budgets on assumptions? Post Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:49 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Breaking news on Channel 12 at noon: There may be a settlement in the court battle and the courts may be moving back to McCree. It now moves to the county for approval. Post Tue Jun 28, 2011 1:42 pm Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:37 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Wendy Johnson screws up again! untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D It is required that the City of Flint safeguard any and all assets purchased with or used to leverage federal grants. Wendy Johnson refused to do so and because of that disregard, significant assets are now at risk for vandalism and loss. I don't want to publicize the exact asset, because to do so will certainly put it in jeopardy. Her failure to pay significant bills and transfer allocated monies may cost the city CDBG funding if these assets are damaged and/or stolen! Post Sat Apr 16, 2011 1:49 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D First Wendy doesn't ensure the phone bill is paid to safeguard the asset, now the heat is off. But she is said to require at least one staff person to be in that unheated building daily. Punishment ? Thank God summer is coming. Post Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:11 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D A new board is being put in place, probably a puppet board that will hire who Eason wants. Atleast they can pay the bills, that is if Wendy ever sends the money allocated. Then maybe the alarm system will be able to work with the phone back on! *The building was the Flint Area Enterprise Community on Welch Blvd. The board was for the Flint Area Investment Fund Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:45 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: CITY OF FLINT GRAPEVINE- FBI IN DCED! page 1 untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D THE CITY OF FLINT GRAPEVINE HASN'T BEEN THIS EXCITED IN A LONG TIME! THE ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HAS SAID THE FBI WAS IN THE DEPARTMENT TODAY AND SHE WAS ORDERED TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTS FOR THEM! SINCE MORE THAN ONE IMPROPRIETY IS GOING ON IN THAT DEPARTMENT, IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE FOCUSING ON. Post Wed May 25, 2011 7:33 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Talked to some more people. There may have been more than one federal agency in DCED. They were said to have pulled HUD documents, e-mails, etc. as well as the Department of Energy documents. Flint's grapevine is usually right on! Post Wed May 25, 2011 8:22 pm Steve Myers Site Admin Wow!? _________________ Steve Myers Post Wed May 25, 2011 8:27 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D The Ryan Eashoo Show also reported this. He got it from 3 different city employees. He reported they also took computers,etc. Post Wed May 25, 2011 8:41 pm Ryan Eashoo F L I N T O I D Reason #423 not to re elect Dayne Walling Post Wed May 25, 2011 8:42 pm ConcernedCitizen F L I N T O I D Bravo!!! It's about time to hold the people accountable who think it is OK to use our tax dollars for their own gain! Post Wed May 25, 2011 8:43 pm Adam F L I N T O I D http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/05/federal_investigators_at_flint.html Post Thu May 26, 2011 12:21 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D I hope Walling's got plenty of medication for the dizziness he's experiencing from all the spinning he's doing to the media. Post Thu May 26, 2011 7:47 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Feds investigate Flint City Hall; Mayor says administration cooperating with ongoing federal probes Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 12:07 AM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 8:12 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan -- Federal officials were at Flint City Hall today as part of a number of ongoing investigations, the mayor confirmed this evening. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling declined to comment on what federal agencies the investigators came from, but said his administration is "fully cooperating with a number of ongoing federal investigations." He wouldn't say whether the federal officials took any documents or items from City Hall. Walling said he is not a subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint," he said. In the past, the city has been the subject of reports from the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development related to misspent grant funds. It was unknown whether today's investigation was related to any of the OIG's previous findings. This article has been updated to include a correction. Post Thu May 26, 2011 8:05 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Walling should be a subject of the investigation for letting Easpn run everything. Iwouldn't be surprised to see KIncaid, Jackie poplar and perhaps Delrico Loyd involved in the mix. They entered into agreements to have the new federal buildings being built use a lot of local contractors. Did someone steer contracts towards friends and are there kickbacks? Complaints have been filed about the Department of Energy grant as well as HUd funds. I am sure there have been multiple agencies there. poplar may even join the mix as word is she has been using discretionary hiring practices which allow her to increase at will a temporary employees salary. Post Thu May 26, 2011 8:17 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Since the HUD monitor for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program was at the raid, you can rest assured the investigation will revolve around the Walling administration, The Department of Energy and Office of Inspector General were there with the FBI. Post Thu May 26, 2011 8:28 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D I'm watching the articles on Mlive, waiting for Jacob Smith to blame it all on Williamson. So far, he hasn't been heard from. Also waiting for reports from city hall about Eason tantrums. . Post Thu May 26, 2011 8:44 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D walling is planning a press conference and has been collaborating with Eason and Poplar on how to best spin it. His radio show today should be a fun time. The story is on the AP wires and is traveling even now. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:02 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D FBI, federal energy agency officials investigate Flint City Hall Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 7:40 AM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 8:31 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan -- FBI investigators and federal energy officials were at Flint City Hall on Wednesday as part of an ongoing federal probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General were accompanied by the FBI during the visit, said the source, who asked not to be named. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling on Wednesday confirmed that "federal entities" were at City Hall, but declined to identify what agencies. He said his administration is "fully cooperating with a number of ongoing federal investigations," and he is not a subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint," he said. It's unknown what documents or items, if any, were taken from City Hall. Flint was awarded a $1.1 million federal energy grant in 2009. In the past, the city was the subject of reports from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General related to misspent housing grant funds. It was unknown whether the federal probe is related to the OIG's housing grant findings or the energy grant. Sponsored Links Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:07 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D With federal Grants, the documents must be shown to them and they can demand access to anything they need related to the grant. It is usually written into the grant agreement. FBI confirms agents were at Flint City Hall on Wednesday, but did not execute any search warrants Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 10:03 AM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 10:03 AM By David Harris | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — The FBI was present at Flint City Hall on Wednesday, but did not execute any search warrants, a spokeswoman said today. Sandra Berchtold, spokesperson for the FBI Detroit office, declined to comment any further, saying it was an ongoing investigation. Mayor Dayne Walling confirmed that "federal entities" were at city hall, but did not elaborate. A source told The Flint Journal that federal energy officials accompanied the FBI as part of an ongoing federal probe. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:12 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:57 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: CITY OF FLINT GRAPEVINE- FBI IN DCED! Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next Untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Remember this! Flint officials outline tentative plans for $1.1 million energy grant Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 1:20 PM Updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 5:00 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Follow Editor's note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to include a correction. FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council has approved tentative plans for how to spend a $1.1-million stimulus grant on energy efficiency improvements. During a five-day energy summit last week, city officials and community leaders heard presentations from green experts on topics ranging from job creation to brownfield use to alternative fuels. Now, city officials say they will take the best recommendations from the summit and turn them around to benefit Flint and its residents. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling has said it's the city's first steps in embracing the green movement and becoming more modern. The city spends more than $2 million a year on electricity, and needs to save money in the face of looming budget cuts, he said. The energy upgrades will be made possible through a $1,147,900 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The first $250,000 will go to Flint-based energy specialists Advanced Solutions Group, which organized the summit and will develop the final plan for the energy efficiencies. Advanced Solutions is run by Kate Fields, formerly of the Greater Eastside Community Association. The nonprofit community development group led the way in building and rehabilitating energy-efficient homes in the city, Fields said. Fields will also help implement a new energy Web site for the city. The balance of the funds are tentatively planned in the following way, as provided in a spreadsheet at Monday's council meeting: • $75,000 for the plan's administration, which is to be determined, officials said. • $120,000 for revolving loan funds for homeowners to retrofit their homes for energy efficiency. The funds would provide 12 grants at $10,000 each. • $130,000 for revolving loan funds for recycling entrepreneurs. • $50,000 to perform energy audits of 100 homes. The funds can also be leveraged with federal Community Development Block Grant funds. • $125,000 to build automation program for IT and efficient lighting in City Hall. • $15,000 for services and software to track greenhouse emissions by the city of Flint. • $232,913 for professional services for city of Flint "All Waste Facility." • $150,000 toward project management and facilitation for four main projects: traffic and street light LED retrofit; city of Flint all waste facility; green purchasing policies; and Flint-Genesee energy coalition. Last edited by untanglingwebs on Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:59 am; edited 1 time in total Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:17 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 1:44PM Follow Politics as usual at Flint city Hall. The same Kate that has no resume of energy expertise, but got $250,000 to set up the Summit is going to get another $325,000 for finshing the work the first $250,000 was to cover and set up a website! Is this the change we asked for? Why does the City Council not have to vote on this expenditure? Why does she not have to demonstrate some kind of energy expertise? These are OUR tax dollars you are throwing around to your friends and cronies, Mr. Mayor. Please, Flint Journal, do more than report this waste. Do some real investigation and find out what skill sets, other than being the "significant other" of Alex Harris, this woman has to be able to get over $500,000 in ARRA funds to do little more than set up a Summit attended by a group that has yet to be identified and set up a web site. Does anyone else out there smell what I am smelling? oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 2:52PM Follow Here is the link to the original post that very clearly states that the $250,000 was to cover the organizing of the Summit and the development of the plan after it was completed.http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/11/city_of_flint_hosts_green_summ.html And this is the link for the project to recovery.gov http://www.recovery.gov/transparency/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=34536&AwardType=Grants Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 2:58PM Follow You bet!! This reeks of the "same old politics" and cronyism at it best...or should I say its worst. Where are the fed's when you need a good 'ole sting. This should be investigated at the highest levels and a grand jury investigation started. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Kristin Longley | Flint Journal November 24, 2009 at 3:12PM Follow oldflintguy, Just to clarify, the $250,000 you're referencing is included in the $325,000 total referenced in this story. According to the information provided at the meeting, the $250,000 is for organizing the summit and completing the plan and the spreadsheet notes an additional $75,000 administration cost. Kristin Longley The Flint Journal Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 3:22PM Follow There was more spent on "organizing and administration cost" than will ever be spent on any real green savings. This is waste and paybacks plain and simple. The people reaping all the money on the front end of this thing have about as much 'energy efficiency engineering' expertise as MLIVE has in journaling the news. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:25PM Follow Thanks for posting Kristin, but OFG's point is valid (as was pointed out on a post last week on this matter.) What exactly is Ms. Field's curriculum vitae and experience in the area of energy, green or otherwise? She's my age -- graduated from CHS in '66 -- and on LinkedIn she says she graduated from UofM-F in 2000; on Facebook the college years are listed as '97-'07. Something is not right here. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:28PM Follow (Hit send too soon.) Perhaps Ms. Fields should come forward and defend the expertise that warrants this amount of remuneration. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new DWCBOB November 24, 2009 at 3:36PM Follow Advanced Solutions is run by Kate Fields, formerly of the Greater Eastside Community Association. The nonprofit community development group led the way in building and rehabilitating energy-efficient homes in the city, Fields said. ............................................................. How many houses? Where? When was this done? Was there any documentation to show actual energy savings? Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:43PM Follow From a Google search last week I noted that in an energy audit RFP for the GCMPC, Advanced Solutions was in competition with many local architectural and engineering firms -- ya know, consulting business entities that actually have documented experience and professional license on energy matters relating to buildings and municipalities. Kristin -- I wonder what these licensed professionals might have to say about Advance Solutions. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 3:59PM Follow Kristen, Thanks for the clarification, but it really serves to raise more questions than answers. If the original grant was to provide the various administrative, marketing and organizational efforts to both organize the Summit and provide a report after its comclusion; how can she possibly justify an additional $75,000 in administration costs? Her sub contract from the City was for $250,000. If there was a cost overage, whe eats it unless there was provision made in the award to cover such things. In reviewing the award, was there such provision made? I can't see it, can you? And, as other posters have echoed, what is her qualification in this arena? Even if she ran a group that rehab'd homes, that in no way qualifies her to be an expert on municipal energy efficiency. Since this is federal funding that was used, maybe a few notes to the recovery.gov folks from concerned citizens are in order. I know my complaint will be sent in the morning unless suitable answers are made in the manner suggested by soon to be six two. Otherwise, there needs to be an investigation into the mishandling of federal funds by this administration and it needs to be initiated quickly before any more such criminal activity can be taken. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 4:07PM Follow By the way...have you noticed on the grant that the only employee of this company is Kate herself? Just scroll down and note the five highest paid employees field. Only Kate is listed. That says that there is no staff cost other than what she pays herself. Much like the manure that this resembles, the deeper you dig in the pile the more stench that comes from it. Please take note Kate, and administration officials, that there is a U.S. Attorney's office available to order investigations into such things. You were elected because of the promises for change. The office was opened because of a recall based, in part, on claims of improper conduct. Tell us, again please, what has changed. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 4:11PM Follow OFG...you are absolutely right on target with this. The fed's need to know about this fraud. Why weren't such skill sets in organizing such an effort bid pursuant to professional and ethical practices? I am certain there are those who ARE QUALIFIED who would have liked the opportunity to bid on this project and rake in a quick $350,000.00. This is blatantly obvious political payback. This new administration is fraught with unqualified "loose cannons' who only know how to waste the taxpayer's dollar. I too will be making a call to the the funding source and let them know of this abuse. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 4:18PM Follow For anyone who has interest in trying to get accountability into this process, here iw the process to follow...a) use the link provided here to go to the contract award detail. http://www.recovery.gov/transparency/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=34536&AwardType=Grants b) go to the upper right hand corner and hit the report fraud waste and abuse button. I will be waiting till tomorrow in order to give Kate a chance to respond here. If satisfactory, then no report. If not, I wncourage all citizens who care about misuse of THEIR money to report this one. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:26 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Walling's press conference at 11 - Mlive will liveblog. Will he use the Sgt. Shultz defense? "I know nothing!" . Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:34 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Kristin Longley | Flint Journal November 24, 2009 at 5:02PM Follow Hello all, I received notice from the city that the administration of the plan is yet to be determined, therefore the costs should not be included in the total going to Advanced Solutions. I updated the story to include the correction. Sorry about any confusion. Kristin The Flint Journal Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 5:31PM Follow Kristin -- or rather, Kristin's editor -- y'all are missing the point. What exactly is Advanced and/or Kate Field's track record in the area of energy efficiency that justifies this kind of money? Tis a simple inquiry re Kathleen Nell Fields if one is willing to do the leg work. (One might wish to start at the Reg of Deeds website re GECA names.) pwtnos November 24, 2009 at 5:34PM Follow If the Ombudsman wants to save her job and her office, maybe she should sink her teeth into investigating this contract. roaring40s November 24, 2009 at 5:36PM Follow This why you need a free press and concerned citizens. Hopefully the FJ will give Kristin some latitude to follow up concerns raise by OFG, Soon to be and others. If something wrong is going on usually the last thing a person would want is to draw attention from the press. The press has the leverage to shine light on it and force accountability to the public. With a promise of "change" from the mayor and not "doing business as usual" I'm sure he would be just as interested in seeing the most qualified group managing the city's meager resources, right mayor? All's it takes to do the right things is....courage. Dave R oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 6:06PM Follow Kristen, If you are able to get the update from the administration that you used to correct the the story, you should also be able to give us the credentials that make Kate and her new company (formed last year and spelled wrong at that) qualified to do the work for which she is being well compensated by OUR tax dollars. This appears wrong on several levels and your investigation would be very much appreciated by your followers. 1. Why was such a large contract granted without bids being taken? 2. Is that allowed under the City Charter? 3. Did the City Council have approval over the initial contract, so that they are complicit in whatever wrong is discovered by investigation? 4. If she stated she was qualified to do the work, was she vetted and verified by the City prior to the contract being granted? Can you see where we are going here Kristen? Can you help us understand why we should not report this whole sorry episode as misuse of federal funds? Thanks. DWCBOB November 24, 2009 at 6:08PM Follow I doubt that there'll be any followup by the Journal. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 6:15PM Follow DWC - I hope you are wrong, but that is precisely why WE need to take the step of reporting this abuse to the proper authorities. Remember that the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. It is itme for US to take back OUR government if the ones to whom WE entrusted it are not being honest and forthright. This is not their city but OURS! Government is to be of, by and for the PEOPLE. I for one, am upset enough to report them if there is no satisfactory explanation made yet this evening. They should have listened to all of us last week on this issue. cabertosser November 24, 2009 at 8:10PM Follow Please all of you keep this in mind when the admin asks local 1600 and 1799 to take cuts!!!!! When the workers who maintain the buildings and run the equipment day in and day out are not even asked how we could save our resources!!!! Instead money is being handed out to whoever....... I am sure the city employees could come up with better ideas than any of the above noted, and the moneys used to implement them ideas instead of lining someones pocket. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:38PM Follow cabber - I agree 100%. I am surprised that they were not involved in the summit. Maybe we need to ask who was there and what was suggested. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new mheegan2 November 24, 2009 at 8:27PM Follow OFG raises interesting issues about qualifications and criteria used to award the grant. In doing a little investigation about Advanced Solutions, I went to the State web site to do a business entity search: http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp/sr_corp.asp and found that the original organization documents were filed 12/9/08 and corrected 11/16/09. Kathleen Fields is listed as the CEO and Registered Agent and it was formed to engage in ANY activity and is suppose to be managed by Members of the LLC who are not identified, if any, other than Ms.Fields. There is a document filing pending, but it is not on the web site as of tonight. I am tired of the same old way of the City doing things and the cronyism that is rife within this city. The people need to become their own Ombudsmen and question everything, report everything, and make government ACCOUNTABLE! oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:36PM Follow mheegan - the pending filing is the same as the correction for spelling error. It will be deleted in a few days. I certainly applaud you for doing your own investigation. I have found that Kate has complained publicly that contracts were not advertised for bid the way she thought they should be. I have also begun a very thorough review of her property transactions, with particular interest in the number of properties given to her by the City and Land Bank. http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/rod/SimpleQuery.asp I strongly recommend that every poster who cares about this city report this award by either online filing or toll free call. I also intend to call the Council President to inquire why she was given this contract. WE need to take action before even worse things take place because this one worked. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:51PM Follow hey, all, take a look at the industry group Kate filed under - Electronic parts and equipment. http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_79bfbm Wow, just think how much better it would have looked if she had filed as a consulting firm with expertise in energy efficiency. Kate might want to remember that everything is out there for us to find when we get upset enough to look for it. At this point, we have at least 250,000 reasons to look. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 10:08PM Follow How strange that the business is showing up in D&B as a retail establshment dealing in Electronic Parts and Equipment: http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_79bfbm That's even where she shows up in the Yellow Pages. This gets better and better! Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:42 am View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D geeduh November 25, 2009 at 7:17AM Follow HEY, CORRUPTION AT WORK...THATS HOW OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE SPENT. wasit4sure November 25, 2009 at 7:35AM Follow I for one have heard and seen enough. Between this and the corrupt purchasing director and city council in their award of the towing contract to Complete even though they weren't the highest bid, I will be report this mismanagement, abuse, corruption, fraud, and cronyism to the fed's today. oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 8:26AM Follow wasit - Good for you and the rest of us that are going to take this step. This "company" is a) unqualified to perform the services contracted; b) registered in a completely different business segment than what the grant addresses (she is a retail store specializing in electronic parts and equipment not an energy consultant); c) the process of contract award was not in conformance to rules established for grants of this size; etc. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new DWCBOB November 25, 2009 at 9:00AM Follow OFG, it's not hard to figure out. Being listed as a retail store specializing in electronic parts & equipment means her "solution" will be to buy new products from her business. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new I oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 10:10AM Follow dwcbob - I have no doubt you are right. She won't be happy with "only" $325,000 of OUR money. I completed my online filing of fraud a few minutes ago. I hope they take this administration down over this flagrant statement that WE are too stupid or complacent to notice!! wasit4sure November 25, 2009 at 10:58AM Follow flintguy...glad to see you reported as well. Hopefully, the more complaints received the more attention the fed's will pay to the investigate. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new roaring40s November 25, 2009 at 2:14PM Follow Soon to be six two November 25, 2009 at 3:01PM Follow Yo Dave, Wade-Trim -- excellent firm with a track record in energy matters. (Their appreciation of older staff could use some re-eval, though.) Rowe is also an excellent firm on energy matters as is THA. Kathleen Nell (Humphrey)(Sprague) Fields -- lecturer in the MPA program at U of M Flint. Record in energy matters -- well.....as former director of GECA, acted as administrator in the construction of a couple homes on the east side. Saw to it that public monies were dispensed to architect and builder -- ya know, the folks who were actually responsible for constructing energy-efficient dwellings, the former with a professional license, the latter with a state-monitored occupational one. This is not a new phenomenon, by the way. For the entirety of my forty-one year career in engineering, I have seen many instances where university faculty have deigned to dabble in the private sector as an LLC, Partnership, Corporation, what have you, with the argument being that their positioni at the university lends enhanced credence to their expertise. Too many times municipalities are sucked into this charade. oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 4:56PM Follow Soon and Dave - another very interesting bit of information about our home-grown energy efficiency expert can be found in the data of the Register of Deeds. Did you get a chance to look at the transactions reflected there? I was even more amazed to find how loudly she complained about every 'i' being dotted and every 't' crossed on contracts she did not get. Of course, that was when the administration in power was not the one in which she has influence. I intend to make an appointment next week with the U.S. Attorney for the Flint area and take him quite a package of information, care to come along? By the way, Soon to be, I am also amazed at the depth of your information on this and other topics. You must have been invaluable in your working days. Let me know if you ever want to come out of retirement. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:48 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:11PM Follow Take a look at this - who is this Leclair guy? http://watchdog.net/ein/383231982/greater-eastside-community-association Also, isn't it interesting that Jim Ananich and Josh Freeman are also listed as the Registered Agents and Officers of GECA over the years? Oh, and their 2009 Annual Report is late. Kate is not following the rules! Soon to be six two November 25, 2009 at 7:23PM Follow OFG -- brings up an interesting point re GECA. How can a non-profit 501C "which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)" be housed at the same address as a for-profit LLC, i.e., "Advanced Solutions Group Llc 2804 N Franklin Ave, Flint, MI." Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:24PM Follow I may have to visit the old Courthouse next week too. I just wondered if there is anything you knew about the action. I tried to find them but it was hard with only a (248) area code for their attorney. I intend to have as much questionable data about Kate and all her business dealings as possible when I go to the U.S. Attorney. Given the record of property transfers I found and her obvious ties to both the adminstration and members of the Council, there should have been both red flags and abstentions on any voting for her contract. Any bets on whether there were such trivial attentions paid to propriety? oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:30PM Follow Soon to be - ever hear of ACORN? They did it too. Although, in the instant case, the questions will revolve around the ability of Kate to serve as the CEO of both organizations without even the possibility of the mingling of funds. I certainly hope that records have been kept showing the use of her time for the various tasks involved. Such a log may be required for the Court dates I intend to push hard to get scheduled for her future. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:55 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D untanglingwebs November 26, 2009 at 7:25PM Follow Kate Fields lives with her mother (Humphey) on Maryland. She married Sprague before she went to California and obviously married Fields there. Oddly enough her URESA child support case is missing from the Genesee County Clerks office. While the land bank evicts others for nonpayment of their land contracts, Kate and GECA got a pass at least twice. Kildee always made arrangements. She once wanted to work it off at an exorbitant amount of money doing counseling for people in danger of losing their properties. She did not take the low bidder on her two houses on Delaware. There was to be five. MHSDA alleged Kate gave Agree construction an unfair advantage in the bid process. They relented because Arrow had a conflict of interest (Electrical Inspector Jesse Buchanan was their electrical contractor) and MAR withdrew. [b]She added so many extras that the houses had about a 50% subsidy rate. MSHDA declined to finance any more houses and refinanced the 2 houses so Kate did not have a problem with HUD monies. There was an issue with the sale of the houses. One woman did not show her exhusband residing with her and the other owner was a GM executive retiree. Gamblin was furious (former HUD chief)because the home were intended for moderate income families. MHSDA said she overbuilt for the area. DUH! The lawsuit referenced against GECA was the BIngo supply company attempting to get payment for about $39K in Bingo supplies given to the company. GECA 990's revealed losses from the fundraising activities. (guidestar.com) A settlement was reached but GECA quit paying so the settlement was recently thrown out. GECA refused to work with the Land Bank and had troubles paying their taxes. Despite over $3,000 in taxes owing MHSDA gave GECA money to renovate 3 houses, 2 on Delaware and 1 on Burns. After over a year on the market, Shelter of Flint bought the houses. Ananich signed as GECA President for a $100k loan on the bank building on Franklin across from St Vincent De Paul. It was later refinanced and was recently signed over to the lender. GECA has not filed a 990 since their 2005, and that was over a year late. They received a fine. GECA was sued by Flint over three properties. HUD says construction on HOME properties must be started within one year orthe grant must be amended. Kate had spent nearly all of her administrative money and had not started construction. Two of the homes on Maryland were open and vacant. GECA did not secure them and they were condemned after they were heavily vandalized. GECA did not reveal the third house had been sold on a land contract and GECA was buying it back from the land contract purchaser. No money had been spent on the house, so the money had to be returned to the City of Flint. Also GECA's contract had a clause requiring them to disclose any tax or other liabilities to the city. They did not and DCED did not check. GECA had rummage sales to try to save the organization. As previously noted they are late filing this years MIchigan nonprofit report. Kate campaigned heavily for Walling and even did a TV 17 show for his campaign. oldflintguy November 26, 2009 at 11:19PM Webs - very impressive, indeed. May I assume that you are not opposed to my taking the above information to the U.S. Attorney along wiht the items I found previously? You are either an excellent researcher, a quasi-insider, or a mixture of both. In either event, thanks for caring enough about our once fair city to assist in cleaning up this mess. oldflintguy November 26, 2009 at 11:52PM Follow By the way, Webs, I did find the 1979 URESA Support case in a search of the Circuit Court records yesterday evening. I am not sure why it was dismissed in 1983, and there is little in the way of information to be gathered from the online summary - http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/cgi-bin/gweb.exe Soon to be six two November 27, 2009 at 9:45AM Follow Untangling -- wow!!!! Now THAT was a post!!!! OFG -- sure hope you can figure out a way to report back to us in the event the FJ does their usual, i.e., no follow-up. oldflintguy November 27, 2009 at 9:55AM Follow Not to worry, Soon to be, I will make sure to get info out on the meeting with the U.S. Attorney and on the Inspector General's investigation. I am amazed at the audacity of the Walling team paying off a political debt to anyone with such recent difficulties in her dealings with other federal agencies. [b]We have an office in the DC area and I will be sure to have someone making the rounds with this issue. untanglingwebs November 29, 2009 at 3:39PM Follow oldflintguy- I too will file complaints with the OIG but not with US attorney. I will file with the FBI. Did you notice her partners are not shown in the Limited Liability Corporation documents. Ananich did the same thing with his campaign strategy group. Usually these documents are longer. Could Freeman be her partner? Did you notice in the Register of Deeds how the GECA 501(c)3 was used as a pass through of property to Ben Agree? Oh and thanks for the link on the recovery funds. oldflintguy December 01, 2009 at 9:44AM Follow webs - yes, that fact caught my eye as well. There is more than just a few missed commas and dotted i's in the way in which this lady has transacted her "business" for what appears to be a long time. I am of the opinion that she was deluded into thinking that local collusion would dispel any threats of federal investigation. I fully intend to bring all these issues to the attention of the proper authorities and press for a full investigation of GECA, Advanced Solutions, the Walling administration and the many individuals who seem to have been involved in transactions that just do not seem to pass the initial "snoff test". Between all of us, perhaps we can start to both make a difference and put on notice those that seek to abuse public funds for private gain. Post Thu May 26, 2011 10:03 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Walling showed up 15 minutes late for hbis press conference. Read a statement saying the Feds took a large amount of paperwork & data from the energy office. Stated he is not a target of THIS investigation, then left immediately. Very productive, huh? Post Thu May 26, 2011 10:20 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Everyone is commenting on how rough and unpolished he looked. Must have had a bad night. Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:37 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint City Council not involved in federal investigation of energy grant, council president says Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 3:24 PM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 3:25 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council hasn't been a part of the federal investigation into the city's energy grant funds, council President Jackie Poplar said today. Poplar said she hadn't been aware that the FBI and auditors from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General visited City Hall on Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, she said. Auditors took volumes of archived documents as well as electronic information, Mayor Dayne Walling said today. Poplar said she wasn't questioned by federal officials. "Nobody asked me anything," she said, adding that council approves the grants but doesn't administer them. "I didn't know about it." Councilman Scott Kincaid also said he wasn't aware of the investigation before auditors visited the city. "I really don't know what they're looking at and I'm hopeful there's no wrongdoing by anyone at the city," he said. shanedr May 26, 2011 at 3:31PM Follow Of course not, its the mayor's office that is responsible for administering grants. But it's Flint's citizens that will be held hostage for any malfeasance or criminal acts. phillip May 26, 2011 at 4:18PM Follow Criminal acts by the people in charge? No not again! Not AGAIN! Really not Again! He was such a good boy. So much promise, I can hear his mother saying that can't you? Poor Walling. DWCBOB May 26, 2011 at 4:21PM Follow Looks like the Sgt. Schultz defense will be used often. "I know nothing!" phillip May 26, 2011 at 4:50PM Follow Like the Rasco guy of Flint. They were great at filling out forms, but when the people passing out the money show up it all hits the fan, right? It is just the same look on the governers face as was on Wallings the other day that look of surprise surprise surprise Sgt. Carter! mccguy66 May 26, 2011 at 5:00PM Follow Wow more problems under Wallings watch Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new adamford May 26, 2011 at 5:25PM Follow Flint City Council does have investigative powers. Maybe someday they will use them. untanglingwebs May 26, 2011 at 5:44PM Follow Has everyone forgotten when Eason told council in a committee meeting that he was under investigation by the OIG and it was council's fault because they changed a contract! That was the Operation Unification and NSP. Council also changed te department of Energy Gant. When will someone look at the towing contract? Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:51 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint energy grant under investigation by federal auditors Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 12:34 PM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 1:16 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal View full sizeJoseph Tobianski | The Flint JournalFlint Mayor Dayne Walling, flanked by City Attorney Peter Bade (left) and City Administrator Gregory Eason (right), said the city is cooperating with ongoing federal investigations at a press conference at City Hall on Thursday morning. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General is auditing the city's use of federal energy efficiency grant funds, a department spokesman said. FLINT, Michigan — The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Energy is auditing the city's use of federal energy grant funds, a federal official confirmed today, following reports that federal officials are investigating Flint City Hall. The DOE's Office of Inspector General has investigators in the city of Flint examining how a federal grant for weatherization of low-income housing is being spent, said Rick Hass, deputy inspector general for audits and inspections. The investigators will look at a number of issues, including the quality of work being done and whether the city has adequate controls over how the money is spent, Hass said. It's also routine for auditors to look at how city employees paid with grant funding are spending their time to confirm they're working on grant-related programs, he said. "That's what we would do in all cases," he said. "We would look at the allocation of their time across different activities." Hass said he couldn't immediately confirm any FBI involvement in the audit. A city source said the federal energy agency officials were accompanied by the FBI on Wednesday. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed today that investigators were at City Hall, but the FBI did not execute any search warrants. She declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. The city was asked to provide the federal auditors with information and documents related to the investigation. City officials within 24 hours turned over all the requested information, including archived paper and electronic information, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said at a press conference today. Walling did not take any questions from reporters. City Communications Director Dawn Jones said the ongoing probe limits the mayor's administration from giving details about the investigation. Walling said he is not the subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud from Flint," he said. Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:57 pm ConcernedCitizen F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: Flint Mayor Dayne Walling on Wednesday confirmed that "federal entities" were at City Hall, but declined to identify what agencies. He said his administration is "fully cooperating with a number of ongoing federal investigations," and he is not a subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint," he said. Dayne, 1) If you were fully "committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint", then you would have fulfilled you campaign promises to interview people for positions, getting the most qualified people without "baggage and questionable pasts". Instead you appointed people from Flint with some of the most questionable ethics and "baggage". 2) You hired people that were in violation of the Flint City Charter and did not have their pay approved as required by the Charter, yet you say that you are committed to rooting out waste! Better start in your own office! 3) When Wendy Johnson was hired, I posted about her lack of accountability in the Metawananee Hills Block Club and that Keep Genesee County Beautiful would not give them any more grants because the money was not accounted for and had disappeared. Wendy even had the nerve to try and blame members who had no access to Block Club records, let alone access to any moneys the Block Club received. Now Wendy Johnson is a major subject in this investigation and you have the nerve to say that you are "committed" to "rooting" out fraud in Flint. You brought it into your own house with open arms. Hell, you invited her in and paid her on top of it. 4) If you were not part of the investigation, then why were your computers seized? Why were you and Greg Eason kept separate from each other so you could not collaborate on a story to cover up? Mr. Walling, do you think we are all so naive? 5) In your press conference, you said that this was just to go over the accounts. Sorry, but accountant come in to go over the accounts. FBI shows up when the account are questionable. This is past just going over the accounts. Hey Dayne, how do you look in orange? Post Thu May 26, 2011 6:10 pm Adam F L I N T O I D From Bryanna McGarry: Dear Friends, Dayne asked me to send you a brief note based on the most recent activities at City Hall with federal authorities. Here are a couple of facts: Dayne is not the target of any investigation. In fact, he has taken specific steps to cooperate fully with the proper authorities in order to speed up the investigation and its eventual outcome. Because of the respect for the process, there is not more he can say right now, but we all know that there are a number of old messes in Flint that have to be fixed. This is one more challenge among many and it is important that we support Dayne through this. You can hear the conviction in his voice when you talk to him. He is fully committed to rooting out any waste and fraud in Flint. Also, an individual posing as a volunteer gained access to Dayne’s email list during the last campaign. We apologize that you are receiving emails now in this person’s effort to smear Dayne and encourage you to unsubscribe. Please understand that Dayne will continue to work to make sure that our successes with job growth, grant funding, and neighborhood stabilization continue. Working together, we have come this far and there is much more to be done for our community. Thank you for your commitment to see this through. Sincerely, Bryanna McGarry The Walling for Mayor Team P.S. We really need your help in the next couple of months. Every day we are out knocking on doors and making phone calls to voters. We also are planning several fundraisers. For more information on how to get involved, call me anytime at (810) 233-9190 . Post Fri May 27, 2011 8:57 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D "You can hear the conviction in his voice when you talk to him. He is fully committed to rooting out any waste and fraud in Flint." I don't care about his voice, I want to see action. And so far I haven't seen any. Waste? What about a mostly invisible communications director, reportedly paid out of the police budget? Why does a city on the verge of bankruptcy need a "Green Coordinator"? What about his hiring, or approving the hiring of, people with very questionable backgrounds; Eason, Poplar, Johnson, etc.? Why is his ONLY answer to declining revenues and financial difficulties is to cut law enforcement, making Flint one of the most unsafe cities to live in? Why, as a supposed Democrat, is he so bent on breaking and destroying the police & fire unions? Where are the "Blue Badge Volunteers"? Has anyone seen them on the streets? Has the Hurley ministation ever been opened? Is any ministation open? I haven't seen one open, except for a weekly meeting, in months. What's going on with the "Cease Fire" & other loudly touted initiatives? I'm tired of his talk; where's the action? Post Fri May 27, 2011 9:21 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Adam- This is Walling's mess and not an "old mess" that needs to be taken care of. The deparment of Energy Grant and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program were implemented beginning with temporary Mayor Michael Brown and mostly under Walling and Eason. So Walling can try to blame the former Mayors, but he is only lying. Post Fri May 27, 2011 1:13 pm Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:08 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: CITY OF FLINT GRAPEVINE- FBI IN DCED! Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Remember this! Flint officials outline tentative plans for $1.1 million energy grant Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 1:20 PM Updated: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 5:00 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Follow Editor's note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to include a correction. FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council has approved tentative plans for how to spend a $1.1-million stimulus grant on energy efficiency improvements. During a five-day energy summit last week, city officials and community leaders heard presentations from green experts on topics ranging from job creation to brownfield use to alternative fuels. Now, city officials say they will take the best recommendations from the summit and turn them around to benefit Flint and its residents. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling has said it's the city's first steps in embracing the green movement and becoming more modern. The city spends more than $2 million a year on electricity, and needs to save money in the face of looming budget cuts, he said. The energy upgrades will be made possible through a $1,147,900 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The first $250,000 will go to Flint-based energy specialists Advanced Solutions Group, which organized the summit and will develop the final plan for the energy efficiencies. Advanced Solutions is run by Kate Fields, formerly of the Greater Eastside Community Association. The nonprofit community development group led the way in building and rehabilitating energy-efficient homes in the city, Fields said. Fields will also help implement a new energy Web site for the city. The balance of the funds are tentatively planned in the following way, as provided in a spreadsheet at Monday's council meeting: • $75,000 for the plan's administration, which is to be determined, officials said. • $120,000 for revolving loan funds for homeowners to retrofit their homes for energy efficiency. The funds would provide 12 grants at $10,000 each. • $130,000 for revolving loan funds for recycling entrepreneurs. • $50,000 to perform energy audits of 100 homes. The funds can also be leveraged with federal Community Development Block Grant funds. • $125,000 to build automation program for IT and efficient lighting in City Hall. • $15,000 for services and software to track greenhouse emissions by the city of Flint. • $232,913 for professional services for city of Flint "All Waste Facility." • $150,000 toward project management and facilitation for four main projects: traffic and street light LED retrofit; city of Flint all waste facility; green purchasing policies; and Flint-Genesee energy coalition. Last edited by untanglingwebs on Wed Nov 16, 2011 9:59 am; edited 1 time in total Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:17 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 1:44PM Follow Politics as usual at Flint city Hall. The same Kate that has no resume of energy expertise, but got $250,000 to set up the Summit is going to get another $325,000 for finshing the work the first $250,000 was to cover and set up a website! Is this the change we asked for? Why does the City Council not have to vote on this expenditure? Why does she not have to demonstrate some kind of energy expertise? These are OUR tax dollars you are throwing around to your friends and cronies, Mr. Mayor. Please, Flint Journal, do more than report this waste. Do some real investigation and find out what skill sets, other than being the "significant other" of Alex Harris, this woman has to be able to get over $500,000 in ARRA funds to do little more than set up a Summit attended by a group that has yet to be identified and set up a web site. Does anyone else out there smell what I am smelling? oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 2:52PM Follow Here is the link to the original post that very clearly states that the $250,000 was to cover the organizing of the Summit and the development of the plan after it was completed.http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/11/city_of_flint_hosts_green_summ.html And this is the link for the project to recovery.gov http://www.recovery.gov/transparency/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=34536&AwardType=Grants Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 2:58PM Follow You bet!! This reeks of the "same old politics" and cronyism at it best...or should I say its worst. Where are the fed's when you need a good 'ole sting. This should be investigated at the highest levels and a grand jury investigation started. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Kristin Longley | Flint Journal November 24, 2009 at 3:12PM Follow oldflintguy, Just to clarify, the $250,000 you're referencing is included in the $325,000 total referenced in this story. According to the information provided at the meeting, the $250,000 is for organizing the summit and completing the plan and the spreadsheet notes an additional $75,000 administration cost. Kristin Longley The Flint Journal Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 3:22PM Follow There was more spent on "organizing and administration cost" than will ever be spent on any real green savings. This is waste and paybacks plain and simple. The people reaping all the money on the front end of this thing have about as much 'energy efficiency engineering' expertise as MLIVE has in journaling the news. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:25PM Follow Thanks for posting Kristin, but OFG's point is valid (as was pointed out on a post last week on this matter.) What exactly is Ms. Field's curriculum vitae and experience in the area of energy, green or otherwise? She's my age -- graduated from CHS in '66 -- and on LinkedIn she says she graduated from UofM-F in 2000; on Facebook the college years are listed as '97-'07. Something is not right here. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:28PM Follow (Hit send too soon.) Perhaps Ms. Fields should come forward and defend the expertise that warrants this amount of remuneration. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new DWCBOB November 24, 2009 at 3:36PM Follow Advanced Solutions is run by Kate Fields, formerly of the Greater Eastside Community Association. The nonprofit community development group led the way in building and rehabilitating energy-efficient homes in the city, Fields said. ............................................................. How many houses? Where? When was this done? Was there any documentation to show actual energy savings? Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 3:43PM Follow From a Google search last week I noted that in an energy audit RFP for the GCMPC, Advanced Solutions was in competition with many local architectural and engineering firms -- ya know, consulting business entities that actually have documented experience and professional license on energy matters relating to buildings and municipalities. Kristin -- I wonder what these licensed professionals might have to say about Advance Solutions. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 3:59PM Follow Kristen, Thanks for the clarification, but it really serves to raise more questions than answers. If the original grant was to provide the various administrative, marketing and organizational efforts to both organize the Summit and provide a report after its comclusion; how can she possibly justify an additional $75,000 in administration costs? Her sub contract from the City was for $250,000. If there was a cost overage, whe eats it unless there was provision made in the award to cover such things. In reviewing the award, was there such provision made? I can't see it, can you? And, as other posters have echoed, what is her qualification in this arena? Even if she ran a group that rehab'd homes, that in no way qualifies her to be an expert on municipal energy efficiency. Since this is federal funding that was used, maybe a few notes to the recovery.gov folks from concerned citizens are in order. I know my complaint will be sent in the morning unless suitable answers are made in the manner suggested by soon to be six two. Otherwise, there needs to be an investigation into the mishandling of federal funds by this administration and it needs to be initiated quickly before any more such criminal activity can be taken. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 4:07PM Follow By the way...have you noticed on the grant that the only employee of this company is Kate herself? Just scroll down and note the five highest paid employees field. Only Kate is listed. That says that there is no staff cost other than what she pays herself. Much like the manure that this resembles, the deeper you dig in the pile the more stench that comes from it. Please take note Kate, and administration officials, that there is a U.S. Attorney's office available to order investigations into such things. You were elected because of the promises for change. The office was opened because of a recall based, in part, on claims of improper conduct. Tell us, again please, what has changed. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new wasit4sure November 24, 2009 at 4:11PM Follow OFG...you are absolutely right on target with this. The fed's need to know about this fraud. Why weren't such skill sets in organizing such an effort bid pursuant to professional and ethical practices? I am certain there are those who ARE QUALIFIED who would have liked the opportunity to bid on this project and rake in a quick $350,000.00. This is blatantly obvious political payback. This new administration is fraught with unqualified "loose cannons' who only know how to waste the taxpayer's dollar. I too will be making a call to the the funding source and let them know of this abuse. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 4:18PM Follow For anyone who has interest in trying to get accountability into this process, here iw the process to follow...a) use the link provided here to go to the contract award detail. http://www.recovery.gov/transparency/pages/RecipientProjectSummary508.aspx?AwardIdSur=34536&AwardType=Grants b) go to the upper right hand corner and hit the report fraud waste and abuse button. I will be waiting till tomorrow in order to give Kate a chance to respond here. If satisfactory, then no report. If not, I wncourage all citizens who care about misuse of THEIR money to report this one. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:26 am View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Walling's press conference at 11 - Mlive will liveblog. Will he use the Sgt. Shultz defense? "I know nothing!" _________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now. Pushing buttons sure can be fun. When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way. Paddle faster, I hear banjos. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:34 am View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website Reply with quote untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Kristin Longley | Flint Journal November 24, 2009 at 5:02PM Follow Hello all, I received notice from the city that the administration of the plan is yet to be determined, therefore the costs should not be included in the total going to Advanced Solutions. I updated the story to include the correction. Sorry about any confusion. Kristin The Flint Journal Soon to be six two November 24, 2009 at 5:31PM Follow Kristin -- or rather, Kristin's editor -- y'all are missing the point. What exactly is Advanced and/or Kate Field's track record in the area of energy efficiency that justifies this kind of money? Tis a simple inquiry re Kathleen Nell Fields if one is willing to do the leg work. (One might wish to start at the Reg of Deeds website re GECA names.) pwtnos November 24, 2009 at 5:34PM Follow If the Ombudsman wants to save her job and her office, maybe she should sink her teeth into investigating this contract. roaring40s November 24, 2009 at 5:36PM Follow This why you need a free press and concerned citizens. Hopefully the FJ will give Kristin some latitude to follow up concerns raise by OFG, Soon to be and others. If something wrong is going on usually the last thing a person would want is to draw attention from the press. The press has the leverage to shine light on it and force accountability to the public. With a promise of "change" from the mayor and not "doing business as usual" I'm sure he would be just as interested in seeing the most qualified group managing the city's meager resources, right mayor? All's it takes to do the right things is....courage. Dave R oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 6:06PM Follow Kristen, If you are able to get the update from the administration that you used to correct the the story, you should also be able to give us the credentials that make Kate and her new company (formed last year and spelled wrong at that) qualified to do the work for which she is being well compensated by OUR tax dollars. This appears wrong on several levels and your investigation would be very much appreciated by your followers. 1. Why was such a large contract granted without bids being taken? 2. Is that allowed under the City Charter? 3. Did the City Council have approval over the initial contract, so that they are complicit in whatever wrong is discovered by investigation? 4. If she stated she was qualified to do the work, was she vetted and verified by the City prior to the contract being granted? Can you see where we are going here Kristen? Can you help us understand why we should not report this whole sorry episode as misuse of federal funds? Thanks. DWCBOB November 24, 2009 at 6:08PM Follow I doubt that there'll be any followup by the Journal. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 6:15PM Follow DWC - I hope you are wrong, but that is precisely why WE need to take the step of reporting this abuse to the proper authorities. Remember that the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. It is itme for US to take back OUR government if the ones to whom WE entrusted it are not being honest and forthright. This is not their city but OURS! Government is to be of, by and for the PEOPLE. I for one, am upset enough to report them if there is no satisfactory explanation made yet this evening. They should have listened to all of us last week on this issue. cabertosser November 24, 2009 at 8:10PM Follow Please all of you keep this in mind when the admin asks local 1600 and 1799 to take cuts!!!!! When the workers who maintain the buildings and run the equipment day in and day out are not even asked how we could save our resources!!!! Instead money is being handed out to whoever....... I am sure the city employees could come up with better ideas than any of the above noted, and the moneys used to implement them ideas instead of lining someones pocket. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:38PM Follow cabber - I agree 100%. I am surprised that they were not involved in the summit. Maybe we need to ask who was there and what was suggested. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new mheegan2 November 24, 2009 at 8:27PM Follow OFG raises interesting issues about qualifications and criteria used to award the grant. In doing a little investigation about Advanced Solutions, I went to the State web site to do a business entity search: http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp/sr_corp.asp and found that the original organization documents were filed 12/9/08 and corrected 11/16/09. Kathleen Fields is listed as the CEO and Registered Agent and it was formed to engage in ANY activity and is suppose to be managed by Members of the LLC who are not identified, if any, other than Ms.Fields. There is a document filing pending, but it is not on the web site as of tonight. I am tired of the same old way of the City doing things and the cronyism that is rife within this city. The people need to become their own Ombudsmen and question everything, report everything, and make government ACCOUNTABLE! oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:36PM Follow mheegan - the pending filing is the same as the correction for spelling error. It will be deleted in a few days. I certainly applaud you for doing your own investigation. I have found that Kate has complained publicly that contracts were not advertised for bid the way she thought they should be. I have also begun a very thorough review of her property transactions, with particular interest in the number of properties given to her by the City and Land Bank. http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/rod/SimpleQuery.asp I strongly recommend that every poster who cares about this city report this award by either online filing or toll free call. I also intend to call the Council President to inquire why she was given this contract. WE need to take action before even worse things take place because this one worked. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 9:51PM Follow hey, all, take a look at the industry group Kate filed under - Electronic parts and equipment. http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_79bfbm Wow, just think how much better it would have looked if she had filed as a consulting firm with expertise in energy efficiency. Kate might want to remember that everything is out there for us to find when we get upset enough to look for it. At this point, we have at least 250,000 reasons to look. oldflintguy November 24, 2009 at 10:08PM Follow How strange that the business is showing up in D&B as a retail establshment dealing in Electronic Parts and Equipment: http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_79bfbm That's even where she shows up in the Yellow Pages. This gets better and better! Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:42 am View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D geeduh November 25, 2009 at 7:17AM Follow HEY, CORRUPTION AT WORK...THATS HOW OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE SPENT. wasit4sure November 25, 2009 at 7:35AM Follow I for one have heard and seen enough. Between this and the corrupt purchasing director and city council in their award of the towing contract to Complete even though they weren't the highest bid, I will be report this mismanagement, abuse, corruption, fraud, and cronyism to the fed's today. oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 8:26AM Follow wasit - Good for you and the rest of us that are going to take this step. This "company" is a) unqualified to perform the services contracted; b) registered in a completely different business segment than what the grant addresses (she is a retail store specializing in electronic parts and equipment not an energy consultant); c) the process of contract award was not in conformance to rules established for grants of this size; etc. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new DWCBOB November 25, 2009 at 9:00AM Follow OFG, it's not hard to figure out. Being listed as a retail store specializing in electronic parts & equipment means her "solution" will be to buy new products from her business. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new I oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 10:10AM Follow dwcbob - I have no doubt you are right. She won't be happy with "only" $325,000 of OUR money. I completed my online filing of fraud a few minutes ago. I hope they take this administration down over this flagrant statement that WE are too stupid or complacent to notice!! wasit4sure November 25, 2009 at 10:58AM Follow flintguy...glad to see you reported as well. Hopefully, the more complaints received the more attention the fed's will pay to the investigate. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new roaring40s November 25, 2009 at 2:14PM Follow Soon to be six two November 25, 2009 at 3:01PM Follow Yo Dave, Wade-Trim -- excellent firm with a track record in energy matters. (Their appreciation of older staff could use some re-eval, though.) Rowe is also an excellent firm on energy matters as is THA. Kathleen Nell (Humphrey)(Sprague) Fields -- lecturer in the MPA program at U of M Flint. Record in energy matters -- well.....as former director of GECA, acted as administrator in the construction of a couple homes on the east side. Saw to it that public monies were dispensed to architect and builder -- ya know, the folks who were actually responsible for constructing energy-efficient dwellings, the former with a professional license, the latter with a state-monitored occupational one. This is not a new phenomenon, by the way. For the entirety of my forty-one year career in engineering, I have seen many instances where university faculty have deigned to dabble in the private sector as an LLC, Partnership, Corporation, what have you, with the argument being that their positioni at the university lends enhanced credence to their expertise. Too many times municipalities are sucked into this charade. oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 4:56PM Follow Soon and Dave - another very interesting bit of information about our home-grown energy efficiency expert can be found in the data of the Register of Deeds. Did you get a chance to look at the transactions reflected there? I was even more amazed to find how loudly she complained about every 'i' being dotted and every 't' crossed on contracts she did not get. Of course, that was when the administration in power was not the one in which she has influence. I intend to make an appointment next week with the U.S. Attorney for the Flint area and take him quite a package of information, care to come along? By the way, Soon to be, I am also amazed at the depth of your information on this and other topics. You must have been invaluable in your working days. Let me know if you ever want to come out of retirement. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:48 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:11PM Follow Take a look at this - who is this Leclair guy? http://watchdog.net/ein/383231982/greater-eastside-community-association Also, isn't it interesting that Jim Ananich and Josh Freeman are also listed as the Registered Agents and Officers of GECA over the years? Oh, and their 2009 Annual Report is late. Kate is not following the rules! Soon to be six two November 25, 2009 at 7:23PM Follow OFG -- brings up an interesting point re GECA. How can a non-profit 501C "which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi)" be housed at the same address as a for-profit LLC, i.e., "Advanced Solutions Group Llc 2804 N Franklin Ave, Flint, MI." Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:24PM Follow I may have to visit the old Courthouse next week too. I just wondered if there is anything you knew about the action. I tried to find them but it was hard with only a (248) area code for their attorney. I intend to have as much questionable data about Kate and all her business dealings as possible when I go to the U.S. Attorney. Given the record of property transfers I found and her obvious ties to both the adminstration and members of the Council, there should have been both red flags and abstentions on any voting for her contract. Any bets on whether there were such trivial attentions paid to propriety? oldflintguy November 25, 2009 at 7:30PM Follow Soon to be - ever hear of ACORN? They did it too. Although, in the instant case, the questions will revolve around the ability of Kate to serve as the CEO of both organizations without even the possibility of the mingling of funds. I certainly hope that records have been kept showing the use of her time for the various tasks involved. Such a log may be required for the Court dates I intend to push hard to get scheduled for her future. Post Thu May 26, 2011 9:55 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D untanglingwebs November 26, 2009 at 7:25PM Follow Kate Fields lives with her mother (Humphey) on Maryland. She married Sprague before she went to California and obviously married Fields there. Oddly enough her URESA child support case is missing from the Genesee County Clerks office. While the land bank evicts others for nonpayment of their land contracts, Kate and GECA got a pass at least twice. Kildee always made arrangements. She once wanted to work it off at an exorbitant amount of money doing counseling for people in danger of losing their properties. She did not take the low bidder on her two houses on Delaware. There was to be five. MHSDA alleged Kate gave Agree construction an unfair advantage in the bid process. They relented because Arrow had a conflict of interest (Electrical Inspector Jesse Buchanan was their electrical contractor) and MAR withdrew. [b]She added so many extras that the houses had about a 50% subsidy rate. MSHDA declined to finance any more houses and refinanced the 2 houses so Kate did not have a problem with HUD monies. There was an issue with the sale of the houses. One woman did not show her exhusband residing with her and the other owner was a GM executive retiree. Gamblin was furious (former HUD chief)because the home were intended for moderate income families. MHSDA said she overbuilt for the area. DUH! The lawsuit referenced against GECA was the BIngo supply company attempting to get payment for about $39K in Bingo supplies given to the company. GECA 990's revealed losses from the fundraising activities. (guidestar.com) A settlement was reached but GECA quit paying so the settlement was recently thrown out. GECA refused to work with the Land Bank and had troubles paying their taxes. Despite over $3,000 in taxes owing MHSDA gave GECA money to renovate 3 houses, 2 on Delaware and 1 on Burns. After over a year on the market, Shelter of Flint bought the houses. Ananich signed as GECA President for a $100k loan on the bank building on Franklin across from St Vincent De Paul. It was later refinanced and was recently signed over to the lender. GECA has not filed a 990 since their 2005, and that was over a year late. They received a fine. GECA was sued by Flint over three properties. HUD says construction on HOME properties must be started within one year orthe grant must be amended. Kate had spent nearly all of her administrative money and had not started construction. Two of the homes on Maryland were open and vacant. GECA did not secure them and they were condemned after they were heavily vandalized. GECA did not reveal the third house had been sold on a land contract and GECA was buying it back from the land contract purchaser. No money had been spent on the house, so the money had to be returned to the City of Flint. Also GECA's contract had a clause requiring them to disclose any tax or other liabilities to the city. They did not and DCED did not check. GECA had rummage sales to try to save the organization. As previously noted they are late filing this years MIchigan nonprofit report. Kate campaigned heavily for Walling and even did a TV 17 show for his campaign. oldflintguy November 26, 2009 at 11:19PM Webs - very impressive, indeed. May I assume that you are not opposed to my taking the above information to the U.S. Attorney along wiht the items I found previously? You are either an excellent researcher, a quasi-insider, or a mixture of both. In either event, thanks for caring enough about our once fair city to assist in cleaning up this mess. oldflintguy November 26, 2009 at 11:52PM Follow By the way, Webs, I did find the 1979 URESA Support case in a search of the Circuit Court records yesterday evening. I am not sure why it was dismissed in 1983, and there is little in the way of information to be gathered from the online summary - http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/cgi-bin/gweb.exe Soon to be six two November 27, 2009 at 9:45AM Follow Untangling -- wow!!!! Now THAT was a post!!!! OFG -- sure hope you can figure out a way to report back to us in the event the FJ does their usual, i.e., no follow-up. oldflintguy November 27, 2009 at 9:55AM Follow Not to worry, Soon to be, I will make sure to get info out on the meeting with the U.S. Attorney and on the Inspector General's investigation. I am amazed at the audacity of the Walling team paying off a political debt to anyone with such recent difficulties in her dealings with other federal agencies. [b]We have an office in the DC area and I will be sure to have someone making the rounds with this issue. untanglingwebs November 29, 2009 at 3:39PM Follow oldflintguy- I too will file complaints with the OIG but not with US attorney. I will file with the FBI. Did you notice her partners are not shown in the Limited Liability Corporation documents. Ananich did the same thing with his campaign strategy group. Usually these documents are longer. Could Freeman be her partner? Did you notice in the Register of Deeds how the GECA 501(c)3 was used as a pass through of property to Ben Agree? Oh and thanks for the link on the recovery funds. oldflintguy December 01, 2009 at 9:44AM Follow webs - yes, that fact caught my eye as well. There is more than just a few missed commas and dotted i's in the way in which this lady has transacted her "business" for what appears to be a long time. I am of the opinion that she was deluded into thinking that local collusion would dispel any threats of federal investigation. I fully intend to bring all these issues to the attention of the proper authorities and press for a full investigation of GECA, Advanced Solutions, the Walling administration and the many individuals who seem to have been involved in transactions that just do not seem to pass the initial "snoff test". Between all of us, perhaps we can start to both make a difference and put on notice those that seek to abuse public funds for private gain. Post Thu May 26, 2011 10:03 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Walling showed up 15 minutes late for hbis press conference. Read a statement saying the Feds took a large amount of paperwork & data from the energy office. Stated he is not a target of THIS investigation, then left immediately. Very productive, huh? Post Thu May 26, 2011 10:20 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Everyone is commenting on how rough and unpolished he looked. Must have had a bad night. Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:37 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint City Council not involved in federal investigation of energy grant, council president says Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 3:24 PM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 3:25 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal FLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council hasn't been a part of the federal investigation into the city's energy grant funds, council President Jackie Poplar said today. Poplar said she hadn't been aware that the FBI and auditors from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General visited City Hall on Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation, she said. Auditors took volumes of archived documents as well as electronic information, Mayor Dayne Walling said today. Poplar said she wasn't questioned by federal officials. "Nobody asked me anything," she said, adding that council approves the grants but doesn't administer them. "I didn't know about it." Councilman Scott Kincaid also said he wasn't aware of the investigation before auditors visited the city. "I really don't know what they're looking at and I'm hopeful there's no wrongdoing by anyone at the city," he said. shanedr May 26, 2011 at 3:31PM Follow Of course not, its the mayor's office that is responsible for administering grants. But it's Flint's citizens that will be held hostage for any malfeasance or criminal acts. phillip May 26, 2011 at 4:18PM Follow Criminal acts by the people in charge? No not again! Not AGAIN! Really not Again! He was such a good boy. So much promise, I can hear his mother saying that can't you? Poor Walling. DWCBOB May 26, 2011 at 4:21PM Follow Looks like the Sgt. Schultz defense will be used often. "I know nothing!" phillip May 26, 2011 at 4:50PM Follow Like the Rasco guy of Flint. They were great at filling out forms, but when the people passing out the money show up it all hits the fan, right? It is just the same look on the governers face as was on Wallings the other day that look of surprise surprise surprise Sgt. Carter! mccguy66 May 26, 2011 at 5:00PM Follow Wow more problems under Wallings watch Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new adamford May 26, 2011 at 5:25PM Follow Flint City Council does have investigative powers. Maybe someday they will use them. untanglingwebs May 26, 2011 at 5:44PM Follow Has everyone forgotten when Eason told council in a committee meeting that he was under investigation by the OIG and it was council's fault because they changed a contract! That was the Operation Unification and NSP. Council also changed te department of Energy Gant. When will someone look at the towing contract? Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:51 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint energy grant under investigation by federal auditors Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 12:34 PM Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 1:16 PM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal View full sizeJoseph Tobianski | The Flint JournalFlint Mayor Dayne Walling, flanked by City Attorney Peter Bade (left) and City Administrator Gregory Eason (right), said the city is cooperating with ongoing federal investigations at a press conference at City Hall on Thursday morning. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General is auditing the city's use of federal energy efficiency grant funds, a department spokesman said. FLINT, Michigan — The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Energy is auditing the city's use of federal energy grant funds, a federal official confirmed today, following reports that federal officials are investigating Flint City Hall. The DOE's Office of Inspector General has investigators in the city of Flint examining how a federal grant for weatherization of low-income housing is being spent, said Rick Hass, deputy inspector general for audits and inspections. The investigators will look at a number of issues, including the quality of work being done and whether the city has adequate controls over how the money is spent, Hass said. It's also routine for auditors to look at how city employees paid with grant funding are spending their time to confirm they're working on grant-related programs, he said. "That's what we would do in all cases," he said. "We would look at the allocation of their time across different activities." Hass said he couldn't immediately confirm any FBI involvement in the audit. A city source said the federal energy agency officials were accompanied by the FBI on Wednesday. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed today that investigators were at City Hall, but the FBI did not execute any search warrants. She declined to comment on the ongoing investigation. The city was asked to provide the federal auditors with information and documents related to the investigation. City officials within 24 hours turned over all the requested information, including archived paper and electronic information, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said at a press conference today. Walling did not take any questions from reporters. City Communications Director Dawn Jones said the ongoing probe limits the mayor's administration from giving details about the investigation. Walling said he is not the subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud from Flint," he said. Post Thu May 26, 2011 4:57 pm View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote ConcernedCitizen F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: Flint Mayor Dayne Walling on Wednesday confirmed that "federal entities" were at City Hall, but declined to identify what agencies. He said his administration is "fully cooperating with a number of ongoing federal investigations," and he is not a subject of the investigation. "I am committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint," he said. Dayne, 1) If you were fully "committed to rooting out waste and fraud in Flint", then you would have fulfilled you campaign promises to interview people for positions, getting the most qualified people without "baggage and questionable pasts". Instead you appointed people from Flint with some of the most questionable ethics and "baggage". 2) You hired people that were in violation of the Flint City Charter and did not have their pay approved as required by the Charter, yet you say that you are committed to rooting out waste! Better start in your own office! 3) When Wendy Johnson was hired, I posted about her lack of accountability in the Metawananee Hills Block Club and that Keep Genesee County Beautiful would not give them any more grants because the money was not accounted for and had disappeared. Wendy even had the nerve to try and blame members who had no access to Block Club records, let alone access to any moneys the Block Club received. Now Wendy Johnson is a major subject in this investigation and you have the nerve to say that you are "committed" to "rooting" out fraud in Flint. You brought it into your own house with open arms. Hell, you invited her in and paid her on top of it. 4) If you were not part of the investigation, then why were your computers seized? Why were you and Greg Eason kept separate from each other so you could not collaborate on a story to cover up? Mr. Walling, do you think we are all so naive? 5) In your press conference, you said that this was just to go over the accounts. Sorry, but accountant come in to go over the accounts. FBI shows up when the account are questionable. This is past just going over the accounts. Hey Dayne, how do you look in orange? Post Thu May 26, 2011 6:10 pm Adam F L I N T O I D From Bryanna McGarry: Dear Friends, Dayne asked me to send you a brief note based on the most recent activities at City Hall with federal authorities. Here are a couple of facts: Dayne is not the target of any investigation. In fact, he has taken specific steps to cooperate fully with the proper authorities in order to speed up the investigation and its eventual outcome. Because of the respect for the process, there is not more he can say right now, but we all know that there are a number of old messes in Flint that have to be fixed. This is one more challenge among many and it is important that we support Dayne through this. You can hear the conviction in his voice when you talk to him. He is fully committed to rooting out any waste and fraud in Flint. Also, an individual posing as a volunteer gained access to Dayne’s email list during the last campaign. We apologize that you are receiving emails now in this person’s effort to smear Dayne and encourage you to unsubscribe. Please understand that Dayne will continue to work to make sure that our successes with job growth, grant funding, and neighborhood stabilization continue. Working together, we have come this far and there is much more to be done for our community. Thank you for your commitment to see this through. Sincerely, Bryanna McGarry The Walling for Mayor Team P.S. We really need your help in the next couple of months. Every day we are out knocking on doors and making phone calls to voters. We also are planning several fundraisers. For more information on how to get involved, call me anytime at (810) 233-9190 . _________________ Adam - Mysearchisover.com - FB - Jobs Post Fri May 27, 2011 8:57 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D "You can hear the conviction in his voice when you talk to him. He is fully committed to rooting out any waste and fraud in Flint." I don't care about his voice, I want to see action. And so far I haven't seen any. Waste? What about a mostly invisible communications director, reportedly paid out of the police budget? Why does a city on the verge of bankruptcy need a "Green Coordinator"? What about his hiring, or approving the hiring of, people with very questionable backgrounds; Eason, Poplar, Johnson, etc.? Why is his ONLY answer to declining revenues and financial difficulties is to cut law enforcement, making Flint one of the most unsafe cities to live in? Why, as a supposed Democrat, is he so bent on breaking and destroying the police & fire unions? Where are the "Blue Badge Volunteers"? Has anyone seen them on the streets? Has the Hurley ministation ever been opened? Is any ministation open? I haven't seen one open, except for a weekly meeting, in months. What's going on with the "Cease Fire" & other loudly touted initiatives? I'm tired of his talk; where's the action? . Post Fri May 27, 2011 9:21 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Adam- This is Walling's mess and not an "old mess" that needs to be taken care of. The deparment of Energy Grant and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program were implemented beginning with temporary Mayor Michael Brown and mostly under Walling and Eason. So Walling can try to blame the former Mayors, but he is only lying. Post Fri May 27, 2011 1:13 pm Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:15 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: CITY OF FLINT GRAPEVINE- FBI IN DCED! Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next PatClarkPGH F L I N T O I D ...I'm from Pittsburgh, PA. Grew up in a small Michigan town called Morenci, got my first taste of Flint when I went to see Jimmy Carter speak the night before his election. Over the years I've gotten to know some folks from Flint, including my best buddy here in PGH, and some folks still living there in Flint who are doing their best to make the city a better place. I'm no expert on your town, but at least I can say I've had a Torch Burger or two. My experience in Pittsburgh and a lot of the surrounding towns has taught me quite a bit about the places that struggle with the realities left behind when industry and residents flee for greener pastures. In terms of elected officials, I see a lot of them in these towns who seem content to spend all their time fighting over political turf and re-election, while the places they supposedly represent swirl down the tube. I'm guessing you've seen some of that up around Flint, too. From my humble perspective, however, Dayne Walling sure as hell isn't that kind of man. I don't know pay close attention to what he's done as mayor, but I can tell you that my opinion is based first hand through experience on the work he's done to ensure that democracy works for all Americans. He's the kind of guy whose motivation is to the core going to be about making his city a better place. I decided to sign up and post to this account after somebody - "Flint Political News" - thought it was appropriate to spam me yesterday with some innuendo-filled screed that was as rude as it was poorly written. I had never signed up for their little list-serve, but seeing as they were so rude as to presume to share their unsolicited thoughts with me, and listed this blog at the bottom of their little e-mail, I figured this was as good a place as any to give them my own two cents' worth. I've had the supreme pleasure of working closely with Mayor Dayne Walling on non-partisan voting initiatives since 2004. His work with the November 2 project ensured that folks all over the Midwest were better informed and motivated to exercise their right to vote in the critical 2004 Presidential Election. His work down in Detroit on behalf of State Voices helped people like me, out here in states like Pennsylvania, ensure that people in our own communities could exercise their critical right to vote, and protect their neighbors' right to do the same. In my experience, Dayne was stand-up, worked hard, delivered on what he said he would, and always went out of his way in his efforts towards the greater good. If Mr. Flint Political News had the opportunity to work first-hand with Dayne as I have, he might be a bit more enlightened as to your Mayor's character, and hopefully not so quick as to call it into question. He might also understand why Dayne's good work would motivate some guy from Pittsburgh to step up to his friend's defense when their integrity questioned. Because I have absolutely no question that if there was a battle to be undertaken, I'd want Dayne with me in the foxhole. He's got the sort of character that a city should be proud to have in its mayor. Because he's the kind of guy who's going to work first for his city and put his efforts into making Flint a better place, not pissing about in the usual political turf wars. Of course, this is just some guy's posting on a blog, letters on a computer. Let me say this, though - if somebody needs a clearer statement on the good work that I've seen Dayne do, I'd be glad to hop in the F150 and make the 7 hour drive up to deliver the message in person. That goes especially for Mr. Flint Political News. But just one thing, Mr. News; do me the favor you didn't offer me before sending me your poorly spell crapline - just ask first. Post Fri May 27, 2011 2:28 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I doubt if anyone on this site is the Flint political News- I know I have never heard of them! Dayne claimed someone previously involved in his earlier campaigns has his e-mail addresses from that election. But since the Department of Energy grant occurred on his watch and he put in place those monitoring it, Therefore if it is thesubject of the investigation, the buck stops with him. Flint has been awarded at least $1.1 million in federal energy grants since 2009 Published: Friday, May 27, 2011, 8:30 AM Updated: Friday, May 27, 2011, 8:45 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal View full sizeFlint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan — The city has been awarded at least $1.1 million in stimulus grant funds from the Department of Energy since August 2009. Auditors from the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General are currently reviewing the city's federal grant funds. The auditors were accompanied by the FBI to Flint City Hall on Wednesday, when they removed volumes of archived documents and electronic information. The city was allocated a $1,147,900 Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant in the summer of 2009. A portion of the grant was later awarded to Advanced Solutions Group, a consulting firm run by Kate Fields, former executive director of the Greater Eastside Community Association. Fields was paid $250,000 to prepare an energy efficiency and conservation strategy, which was submitted to the Department of Energy in December 2009 and resulted in the city being awarded the balance of the $1.1 million grant in March 2010. Fields declined to comment Thursday on whether she was questioned by investigators, but said she’s confident in the work she did for the city. “I fully document all of my work and I have no concerns about the work my agency has done,” she said. The grant also funds a portion of the salaries of some employees in the city’s Department of Community and Economic Development. As part of the audit, the city was asked to provide federal authorities with information and documents. City officials within 24 hours turned over all the requested information, including a large volume of archived paper and electronic information, Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said. Post Fri May 27, 2011 3:14 pm PatClarkPGH F L I N T O I D ...but I'm curious. The Flint Journal is the local paper of record, and I didn't find a definite story on this issue. Could you perhaps list a link that might be helpful. I did note an article on a recall effort, but it was from Sep 17, 2010. I presumed that matter was decided, however. Thanks in advance for your consideration. Post Fri May 27, 2011 4:57 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Sometimes it took the Journal a long time to print stories on things that happened in council. I am not sure why, but I suspected the reporter did not recognize the issues and the players. Reporters are switched and it sometimes takes time to come up to speed on the hidden agendas. I am not sure if the Journal wrote any stories on the issue of the energy grant in the early days. You would have been able to find the original resolutions on the City of Flint - city council website, but for what ever reason they are no longer available. A number of us either attended these meetings or obtained the documents prior to their being removed from the website. Williamson resigned in February 2009 and the issue first came to the council agenda during the Brown administration. It was held up and changed during the Walling administration. The Neighborhood Stabilization grants were also initiated during the Walling administration. Post Fri May 27, 2011 5:11 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D ***** Pat- Go to the City of Flint website and then city counccil and then agendas. They have removed the council meetings (of course how better to hide stuff when they have add on resolutions). Pull up the minutes for the July 13 and July 22, 2009 finance Committee meetings. July 13- Page 3- resolution # 090709 A one year contract for Clean Energy Coalition (CEC) and Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) for the Dept of Energy Grant not to exceed $227,229.00 that was given through the ARRA. Just states discussed and then indicates entire council wants both bidders including Advanced Solutions to make presentations on July 22, 2009 under a special order. Motion made by Ananich and seconded by Gonzales. Absent were Sims and Hill. Ananich absent on the day presentations made. Sims makes motion to postpone, seconded by Poplar. Note: Both Sims and Poplar had made references to helping kate with federal money. Nancy Jurkiewicz and others were blown away (shades of Granholm) when Sims demanded that the DCED find money for poor kate fields. This was following a land bank meeting where Kate pled her case for leniency on her seriously delinquent land contract with the Land Bank.. I have a recording of the meeting and kate was given a revised contract. She blamed the city for not giving her any more federal money although she had ceased requesting money and had not filed her IRS 990 as required . On August 19th the resolution for Clean Energy was dropped. Motion made by Gonzales, seconded by Loyd with Nelson and Hill absent. Walling was mayor then and both he and Eason were shown as present. The Federal Government strives to prevent collusion, contract rigging, croneyism and other forms of contract fraud requires grant recipients to have a written procurement procedure. The initial resolution was after that process had occurred and Fields did not win the grant. When she initially applied Greg Eason' s resume was in the packet as her future CEO. Obviously he could not be after he became City Administrator. Ananich has a long history with kate. His father, former Ombudsman Jim Ananich and now deceased, was involved with kate in a number of social concerns after Ananich mother died. Both Councilman Ananich and the woman he has referred to as his mother served lengthy terms on the GECA board. When James Campbell died jim Ananich took over as President of the Board. This was a position he held until he was elected 7th ward president, when Josh freeman took over. During his tenure as President of GECA, Ananich signed a $100,000 loan (Register of deeds) for the former bank property on Franklin near Davison Road. He also signed the papers to geant a tax waiver on this property stating it was used for storage. GECA could not continue paying the taxes and had over $3,000 in tax arrearages. Without the minutes of council meetings you will have a hard time following the trail. I have them and will go to my files for the dates. Post Sat May 28, 2011 7:49 am Nick Singelis F L I N T O I D PAT CLARK, be careful, you might show up in Flint and get shot at and robbed like the folks from New York. Post Sun May 29, 2011 9:14 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D That doesn't show much loyalty to the city where you were an employee of the Chamber of Commerce. . Post Sun May 29, 2011 9:43 am Nick Singelis F L I N T O I D The point was, Pat is clueless and I'd hate for him to drive 7 hrs to get shot at by thugs. Post Sun May 29, 2011 9:48 am PatClarkPGH F L I N T O I D "Pat is clueless and I'd hate for him to drive 7 hrs to get shot at by thugs." Say what you will about whether or not I might have a clue, but when the first thing you have to say to somebody about your town is something about getting shot, that tells me a lot about you. It may not be a threat, but it sure doesn't say much for the City or you as a representative of its citizenry. I greatly prefer working with folks who maintain a sense of pride about the place where they live - and I'm presuming that you actually live in Flint, not just nearby in Genesee County - no matter the challenges faced by the city they call home. None the less, I've said my piece, I'd be glad to discuss more about my experiences with your Mayor, won't presume to speak to the issues of your city, about which I may well be clueless. Keep it on the positive. Because that's the only way communities are actually able to rebuild amongst all the bitching from the sidelines. Post Sun May 29, 2011 11:56 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Nick- I sincerely doubt that Pat Clark is clueless. You obviously did not read his earlier post. Pat Clark-I hope your work with our mayor will be in the area of community development, because we certainly need it. However, I suspect you are coming in for the election process. Good luck to you. Last edited by untanglingwebs on Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:21 am; edited 1 time in total Post Sun May 29, 2011 6:45 pm PatClarkPGH F L I N T O I D I've actually never done election work in Flint, but I did show up last year for a press event with your local Congressman and Candidate Walling last year, it was a pleasure being in the house. Had breakfast at a great joint around the corner from Dayne's campaign office, really dug it. In terms of community development work, it'd be a pleasure to be able to work in the communities of Flint/Genesee County. But the first rule of working in communities is that you never come in unless invited, otherwise you're as likely to get a boot in the ass as you are a handshake when you come in. Happy Memorial Day - or Decoration Day, as we called it down in the hometown - to everybody, even if they happen to hate my politix. We all owe courtesy at least to the folks who fought & were willing to die for our right to vote and live in this free country. Post Mon May 30, 2011 1:08 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D I can't believe it, but the grapevine in City Hall is eerily quiet. But, having said that, some juicy tidbits are escaping. Grand Jury may be starting July 2nd. Documents taken involve contracts from companies like Advanced Solutions (Kate Fields) CIG and others. Procurement documents such as Requests for Bids or Requests for Proposals, evaluations, bid specs, etc. Greg Eason's computer and possibly 3 others. Word is Greg called the Police chief and tried to stop the feds from taking his computer. Time sheets and employment contracts. Did Donna Poplar use her position and right to assign discretionary pay levels to give inexperienced people higher pay than experienced staff. By the way the Civil service Hearing for the staff in DCED may be June 16th. I say may because it has been postponed and held up by the city for so long. Post Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:31 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D some targets of the investigation are obvious, but I wonder if some are Flint City council. Post Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:55 am Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:25 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: LB admits violations of law? (Land bank) theboyzmom F L I N T O I D Interesting article in the Flint Journal today. Apparently the assessors in this county are not doing their jobs or constitutional duties. http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2011/04/gems_among_the_junk_county_get.html Post Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:48 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Gems among the junk: Genesee County gets seven properties worth more than $400,000 each Published: Monday, April 11, 2011, 7:30 AM Updated: Monday, April 11, 2011, 10:06 AM By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal The Flint Journal GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Tax assessors valued seven properties that the county has taken through tax foreclosure at $400,000 or more, but the executive director of the county Land Bank Authority says the parcels are likely worth half their market value or even less. "All the higher value stuff -- if you can get near (half the market value) you are doing well," said Land Bank Executive Director Doug Weiland. "Particularly commercial and industrial properties (are worth less because) they aren't assessed as often as residential properties." The county foreclosed last week on 2,999 properties where owners failed to pay back taxes. Those properties could be headed to auction later this year or they could end up the property of the Land Bank or the cities or townships where they are located. The highest value property on the foreclosure list is in on Jimbo Drive in Burton, 9 acres of land and three buildings valued at more than $2 million in 2010. The Burton property had been owned by a reportedly bankrupt foundation, SeedAmerica Foundation. In Davison Township, undeveloped residential property on Rivershyre Parkway is also among the foreclosures and was valued at $1.7 million in 2010. The owner, Great Lakes Broker Funding, was operated by Kurt W. Heintz, who is serving a federal prison sentence in Montgomery, Ala., after pleading guilty to bank fraud in 2009. Weiland said Land Bank officials are looking those higher value properties, trying to decide a strategy for what the agency should do with each. The Land Bank as well as cities and townships can take any of the properties in advance of auctions by paying for back taxes and penalties owed the county. The Land Bank also ends up with properties that aren't sold at auction, holding them in trust or selling them later . Last year, the Land Bank resold about $2.5 million worth of real estate, accounting for a significant portion of the agency's budget. Other properties worth at least $400,000 in 2010 and lost through foreclosure this year are: Undeveloped commercial land at 5320 Pierson Road in Mt. Morris Township. The former Clark's Store Fixtures building at 1830 S. Dort Highway in Flint. Undeveloped commercial land on North Irish Road in Davison Township. Undeveloped commercial land at 2517 Stanley Road in Mt. Morris Township. Undeveloped residential land on Woodfield Parkway in Grand Blanc Township. mushmorton April 11, 2011 at 1:02PM Follow IF these properties are worth less than half of what they were assessed at , why was the government taxing them at twice the retail value against Michigan tax law? First thing that needs to happen is to get Dougy Weiland, former Genesee County Democratic Party Chairman, out of the governmental real estate business. The next thing that needs to happen is to assess ALL Genesee County real estate at what the CURRENT market value of these properties and tax them at 50% of market value just like the law demands,, then maybe the owners can afford to pay the taxes. Anytime you let unqualified Democratic/UAW Party hacks to be involved in Genesee County financial affairs there is bound to be rip-offs and pure incompetance at the taxpayer's expense. +_ April 11, 2011 at 2:27PM Follow All Non Homestead properties Should be current on Taxes .. This includes Rental Properties... Landlord Wait 3 Years to pay the taxes for the first year in Error.. and still have 2 Yrs in error While they are milking The properties untill the city Condems them... They Walk away . and go to The county and the land bank to Pick up New properties to milk.... Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new mushmorton April 11, 2011 at 3:36PM Follow The only entity doing the milking is the government on these overtaxed pieces of property. This is what happens when the UAW forces bankruptcy on Delphi and GM and eliminates all the jobs. People have no reason to pay any amount of property taxes because they are unemployed or under employed. Why do you think Doug Weiland is working for the goverment? Doug doesn't have the private sector skills to to do anything other than what he is doing poorly now. What the Genesee County governmental dumbos fail to realize is you can't force anybody to pay property taxes if they don't want. What are you going to do, take their overtaxed and worthless property? Go ahead take the property! This is the scenario which is now being played out. Inappropriate? Alert us.Reply Post new justicesearc April 11, 2011 at 8:44PM Follow What Weiland is saying is that the assessors have been violating the law and the state constitution. Both say that property should be assessed at 50% of the true cash value. Clearly they are not doing that. Did the City and County not learn anything from the Genesee Tower fiasco? Post Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:41 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Previous allegations against Land Bank employees revolved round their stripping vehicles at the oak Business Center and stripping houses in the neighborhoods. Now on facebook I am seeing allegations that the Land Bank employees stole property from the New York couple on Baltimore. When is the administration of the Land bank get it together Also, the land bank violates their own policies when it comes to land sale. Post Sat May 28, 2011 11:47 am Sat May 02, 2015 5:21 pm  untanglingwebs El Supremo Topic: Walling wants consent agreement to change labor contracts untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint considering asking state for financial review under revised emergency financial manager law Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 8:00 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan — The city of Flint is considering asking the state to review its finances, a first and giant step in the review process established under the state’s recently revised emergency financial manager law. Flint Mayor Dayne Walling is hoping the process ends with a so-called “consent agreement,” which would grant him or the city council the power to change expired union contracts, which would apply to the four public safety unions . But the process also could end with the appointment of an emergency financial manager. The city’s police unions have said an attempt to put new contracts in place without collective bargaining will be challenged . Walling is expected to ask Flint City Council on Wednesday to approve a joint request for a preliminary financial review by the state. “There’s an ongoing, severe financial crisis that can’t be swept under the rug,” Walling said Friday. “The changes need to be made as soon as possible, either with voluntary concessions or a consent agreement.” Walling pledged not to lay off public safety employees next year, but said he plans to trim the budget with employee concessions, among other measures. He has said he wants concessions in place by July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Police union officials say the police offered concessions, but the city wasn’t cooperative. City leaders have said the proposed concessions didn’t meet the double-digit threshold the mayor requested from all employee unions. Sgt. Rick Hetherington, president of the police sergeants union, said he would welcome a financial review by the state. As for the possibility of a consent agreement, he doesn’t believe new contracts can be put in place because the city and police have entered into arbitration. “We would like a review team to see the efforts that we’ve made,” he said. “We’re not convinced the city’s being forthright with its financial situation anyway.” If a preliminary review is granted by the state treasurer’s office, the governor can then appoint a financial review team of state officials “if a finding of probable financial stress” is made. The review team would then report its findings to the governor, who has several options, including granting a consent agreement between the state and city officials on a plan to resolve the severe financial problems. The law says that, under a consent agreement, a local government is not subject to “collective bargaining requirements” after 30 days for expired contracts. Existing contracts would not be affected.[/b ]But the governor could also start the process toward a state takeover of the city’s finances — which would turn the operation of the city over to an emergency financial manager. Walling said the state has had the ability to start that process, but hasn’t done so. He said he’d rather put a consent agreement in place. “My goal is to keep our community in control of its own destiny,” he said. The financial review process would be monitored by the state treasurer’s office and the review team, if one is appointed, said Caleb Buhs, treasury department spokesman. A community can’t just request a preliminary review and expect to be granted expanded powers under a consent agreement, he said. “The steps are to ensure that due process takes place,” Buhs said. The city would likely be the second municipality to request a preliminary financial review under the overhauled emergency financial manager law, which was revised under Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s new administration. The treasurer’s office received a review request last month from the city of Jackson’s mayor. [b]Flint City Councilman Joshua Freeman said he’s not opposed to requesting the preliminary financial review, but the matter will be discussed further at the council meeting Wednesday. “I’ve said for a long time we need to address our structural problems,” said Freeman, chairman of the council’s finance committee. “Maybe we can’t do it without this process.” Post Sat May 14, 2011 8:15 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D For a self-proclaimed Democrat, Walling sure seems to hate unions. Or, is it just the Police union? After Minnesota & DC, maybe he has a thing about law enforcement. That could explain all the Police layoffs. . Post Sat May 14, 2011 8:46 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D quote: Dave Starr schreef: For a self-proclaimed Democrat, Walling sure seems to hate unions. Or, is it just the Police union? After Minnesota & DC, maybe he has a thing about law enforcement. That could explain all the Police layoffs. He seems to march to the Republican agenda! This text is part of the larger publication: Reconsidering Michigan's Public Employment Relations ActSuspending Contracts in Financial EmergenciesBy Paul Kersey | Feb. 14, 2011 The state has a legal process for managing local governments and school districts that are approaching bankruptcy. This law, the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act, calls for examination of local finances by state officials, and in the case of a financial emergency, the appointment of an “emergency financial manager.”[48] This EFM has fairly broad powers over government operations and may rework the local government’s budget; approve or reject expenditures, including the hiring of new staff; consolidate departments; sell off unneeded government assets; and contract with nearby governments for the provision of essential government services, such as police and fire. The EFM also takes over the local government’s role in collective bargaining and may ask to have current collective bargaining agreements renegotiated.[49] As broad as the EFM’s authority may be, the act still leaves union officials in a position to delay and perhaps undermine the EFM’s work. The EFM may need to remove an unaffordable wage or benefit provisions from a city’s collective bargaining agreement. The sooner he or she is able to do so, the sooner the city can have its budget balanced and begin its return to financial and economic health. Yet under the law, the EFM must still engage in good-faith bargaining, while the union continues to draw dues payments that it can use to reverse the EFM’s changes later on, either through collective bargaining or through the political process. The EFM has other tools at his or her disposal. As long as nearby governments are willing to contract to provide services to the troubled municipality, the contracting-out power may allow an EFM to dispense with collective bargaining and effectively purchase services elsewhere. The consequence of this is likely to be layoffs, however — layoffs that can often be avoided by the prompt restructuring of wages, benefits and work rules. If a city, county or school district is truly facing an emergency in fiscal terms, then the situation should be treated as an emergency. In an emergency, necessary decisions are not negotiated; they are made and implemented. Collective bargaining is a privilege, not an inalienable right, and it is entirely reasonable that privileges that complicate the resolution of an emergency should be suspended until the emergency has passed. The Legislature should revise PERA or the Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act to provide that all collective bargaining and collective bargaining agreements are automatically suspended for the duration of the emergency. Among other things, this would suspend the local government’s collection of union dues. Such a rule may seem harsh, but the interest of taxpayers in the prompt and thorough resolution of the financial emergency and the continuation of city services must take precedence over the interests of union officials or government employees in the continuation of collective bargaining. This rule would also have the salutary effect of providing union officials with a strong incentive to monitor the economic health of the communities where their members work and the fiscal strength of local governments and school districts with whom they bargain. Furthermore, it provides the unions with disincentives against making contract demands that cannot be sustained over the long term. Again, abuse the privilege, lose the privilege. At a minimum, the EFM should have the authority to rescind or amend collective bargaining agreements. Such a rule will allow EFMs to act quickly to void the most expensive collective bargaining agreements while keeping more reasonable contracts in place. This in turn will make it easier for EFMs to provide relief to taxpayers without disrupting services or laying off workers unnecessarily. Next page: II. Overhauling PERA: Voluntary Local Unionism and Bargaining This text is part of the larger publication: Reconsidering Michigan's Public Employment Relations ActDownload PDF of the larger publicationPublication: Post Mon May 16, 2011 6:22 am View user's profile Send private message Edit/Delete this post Reply with quote untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Reconsidering Michigan's Public Employment Relations ActRestoring Balance to Public-Sector Labor RelationsBy Paul Kersey | Feb. 14, 2011 Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act requires local governments and school districts throughout Michigan to bargain collectively with unions representing their employees. The collective bargaining process is a creation of the state Legislature, which also has the power to repeal or amend it. No area of public policy in Michigan is more in need of fresh thinking than the relationship between government and its employees. With Michigan’s recurring government budget struggles, and with a new Legislature and governor espousing a commitment to performance, efficiency and accountability in government, a new labor law for government employees is imperative. This report outlines a variety of ways the Michigan Legislature can address the damaging impact of PERA. Post Mon May 16, 2011 6:24 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Executive SummaryBy Paul Kersey | Feb. 14, 2011 Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act requires local governments and school districts throughout Michigan to bargain collectively with unions representing their employees. The collective bargaining process is a creation of the state Legislature, which also has the power to repeal or amend it. In an earlier Policy Brief, “Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act: Public-Sector Labor Law and Its Consequences,” we reviewed several negative effects that the 1965 law has had on Michigan government and the economy. For example, PERA has inadvertently granted public-sector unions, in their role as the representatives of government workers who implement local laws and policies, an effective veto power over many laws that have been passed by residents or their elected representatives. In addition, PERA has permitted local government employee unions to collect mandatory “agency fees” from government workers who do not wish to join, empowering those unions to become a permanent, subsidized lobby for big government. No area of public policy in Michigan is more in need of fresh thinking than the relationship between government and its employees. With Michigan’s recurring government budget struggles, and with a new Legislature and governor espousing a commitment to performance, efficiency and accountability in government, a new labor law for government employees is imperative. This report outlines a variety of ways the Michigan Legislature can address the damaging impact of PERA. These options range from modest, targeted reforms to an outright ban on collective bargaining in local units of government. Among the targeted reforms to correct at least some flaws in the law are the following: •Establish additional statutory limits on the subject matter of collective bargaining, backed by a strong enforcement mechanism, to ensure that the public retains control over important policy decisions. At a minimum, the state Legislature should require that collective bargaining agreements conform with state laws and local ordinances. •Suspend collective bargaining privileges and agreements when government employee unions flagrantly violate PERA by going on strike. Collective bargaining for government employees is a privilege, not a right. “Abuse the privilege, lose the privilege” is a sound rule. •Bar agency fees from public-employee collective bargaining agreements — in other words, an “open government employment” rule — to end what has essentially become a taxpayer subsidy of union politics. A more substantial overhaul of PERA would begin by withdrawing the mandate that local governments bargain collectively, leaving them free to bargain with unions at their discretion. If state policymakers choose this option, they should also provide some basic rules to protect workers and taxpayers, including a prohibition on agency fees, a nullification of contracts that contradict state or local laws, and the retention of both secret-ballot certification elections and the members’ power to decertify their unions. It is settled law that the Legislature could prohibit collective bargaining at the local level altogether. It is not at all clear that government employees need collective bargaining to protect their influence, given their civil service protections and given their unique knowledge of government operations and their regular contact with decision-makers — assets that are particularly valuable in the political context. It is also unclear that collective bargaining improves employee morale. In any other context where two parties bargain to reach an agreement, including private-sector collective bargaining, it is understood that all parties are free to break off negotiations if they wish — a principle of “win-win or no deal.” PERA is unique and problematic in insisting that unions and governments bargain. This inflexible mandate has resulted in the creation of numerous contracts that are not in the public’s long-term best interest. If government exists to advance the public interest, then the law ought not to enshrine any procedure that detracts from the public interest. Ideally, the Legislature would repeal PERA and ban public-sector collective bargaining in local government, ensuring that local governments overcome the numerous problems associated with mandatory collective bargaining and that the state makes a clean break from an era of undue public-sector union influence over government. If legislators are uncertain about that step, they should repeal PERA’s collective bargaining mandate and leave public-sector collective bargaining — with basic protections of the public interest — at the discretion of local government. At the very least, the Legislature should undertake targeted reforms like those mentioned above. In any event, the Legislature should act, and act decisively. Public officials in local government and school districts should no longer be pressured into signing contracts that are not in the best interests of the public they were elected to serve. Next page: Introduction: Problems and Premises Post Mon May 16, 2011 6:26 am Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Executive Summary By Paul Kersey Feb. 14, 2011 I guess Paul Kersey is a lot more talented than he showed as the hero of the Death Wish movies. Walling + consent agreement = Fox + hen house. Post Mon May 16, 2011 8:25 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D So this is why they wanted to cancel the request for the consent order! Council gets a copy of the budget-to-actuals every month, so didn't they see this coming? Flint officials planning to borrow another $12 million to cover deficit Published: Friday, May 20, 2011, 9:28 AM Updated: Friday, May 20, 2011, 10:06 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan — The ink is barely dry on the city’s recent $8 million bond issue, but already Flint leaders are planning to borrow another $12 million to cover the rest of the budget deficit. Officials said cuts in state aid and reduced property tax revenue are mostly to blame for Flint’s $20 million budget hole — and they say cutting their way out of it just isn’t an option. So the new deficit reduction strategy hinges on another $12 million bond issue in two years, assuming the state approves it. “For us to cut another $12 million, it would be very difficult for us to not hinder the services that are minimal now,” Finance Director Michael Townsend said. “It was unrealistic.” This year, the state rejected the city’s request to borrow $20 million to cover the entire deficit. The state eventually approved an $8 million fiscal stabilization bond in March, and Townsend said the Department of Treasury indicated it would be willing in 2013 to consider an additional $12 million, the balance of the deficit from past years, dating to 2008. The city was hit this year with state budget cuts that equaled an $8 million cut to state-shared revenue, money the state distributes to local governments each year. The city also is taking in less property tax revenue. Townsend said the administration has made cuts to every general fund department, and fee increases are being proposed. “We still have a $12 million problem,” Townsend told the Flint City Council on Wednesday. “We’ll use the $8 million we already received to make sure we do not have a deficit in 2011. In two years, we’ll go back and ask for $12 million in bonds to eliminate the deficit total.” Caleb Buhs, spokesman for the Department of Treasury, said the state will be open to that discussion when the time comes. Nearly 12,000 municipal bond issuances are completed each year, according to a fact sheet issued jointly by the National League of Cities and other municipal organizations. The vast majority of those bonds are for roads, sewers and other capital improvement projects, said Eric Scorsone, professor of state and local government issues at Michigan State University. He said it’s rare for cities to issue deficit bonds, but the recession has led to an increase. In Michigan, deficit bonds require approval from the State Administrative Board, made up of delegates from the governor’s office, treasurer’s office and other executive offices. Cities that issue bonds usually have few alternatives, he said. Under state law, there are limits on tax increases, and increases in fees generally don’t generate enough revenue. A city can cut spending with “layoffs or other quick cuts of that nature, but again there’s probably limits to how much you can do that and how quickly,” he said. “In this case, there might not have been many other good options,” he said. The drawbacks to municipal deficit bonds include interest payments. “You’re going into debt for a deficit, which is probably not ideal,” he said. “It may be necessary, but you’re going to pay back more money over time. It’s also a signal of pretty serious fiscal stress.” The Flint City Council moved the new deficit elimination plan forward Wednesday and will consider it further at its regular meeting Monday. Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid said a bond plan is similar to what the city did under Emergency Financial Manager Ed Kurtz in 2004. “This isn’t an unusual step,” he said. “When I look at pooled cash and the budget, there’s no other alternative right now.” Post Sat May 21, 2011 6:43 am untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Group W Bench May 20, 2011 at 12:22PM Follow The state refused their request for $20M earlier this year but granted them the ability to borrow $8M. Now the city is asking for $12M so they can keep on rolling in the same inefficient manner they have been for years. This is like a kid asking dad for $20 and he tells him no, gives him the $8 he really needs, and then having the kid come back 10 minutes later asking for the other $12. Personally I think that if the budget line item doesn't include the words police or fire department, it should be shut down and cut from the budget. Community centers and libraries are nice things but obviously unaffordable for the city of Flint, so shut them down. Contract out everything that all city employees are performing as this will eliminate any future pension liabilities for the city and will probably slash their day to day wage costs. The city government, including both the mayor's office and the council, have shown time and again that they don't have the stones to do what they know needs to be done by cutting services because they're all worried about reelection. The state needs to just get things moving and send in the EFM now before the incompetents running the city figure out a way to turn a $20M deficit into a $40M deficit. An EFM might even have the power to slash the salaries of the elected and appointed personal within the city to what they're really worth, then we'd really see who's here for the city and who's here for the power trip and the paycheck. Post Sat May 21, 2011 6:47 am Bossman F L I N T O I D Walling has no idea what he's doing, and Donna Poplar is even more clueless in labor relations. They have no idea how to negotiate, they don't understand how collective bargaining works, they don't understand P.A. 312, and they don't seem to even know that PERA exists. They don't even understand how the consent agreement works under the new law. The fact is that under a consent agreement Walling is given a wide range of powers. However, the law specifically states that he WOULD NOT have the powers given to an EFM under section 19(k) of the law. That section grants the authority to void or alter collective bargaining agreements. Further, the City rushed to file for 312 arbitration on all three police unions. Under PERA, once either party files for arbitration the employer cannot change any working conditions covered under the collective bargaining agreement until the arbitration process is complete. So as it stands, the unions will continue with the status quo until the arbitration process is complete. This process will cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars. The mayor could have settled contracts with around 10% concessions from the police unions over a year ago. The mayor refused and demanded more. Very short-sighted from our visionary mayor. Post Sat May 21, 2011 9:45 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D quote: Bossman schreef: Walling has no idea what he's doing, and Donna Poplar is even more clueless in labor relations. They have no idea how to negotiate, they don't understand how collective bargaining works, they don't understand P.A. 312, and they don't seem to even know that PERA exists. They don't even understand how the consent agreement works under the new law. The fact is that under a consent agreement Walling is given a wide range of powers. However, the law specifically states that he WOULD NOT have the powers given to an EFM under section 19(k) of the law. That section grants the authority to void or alter collective bargaining agreements. Further, the City rushed to file for 312 arbitration on all three police unions. Under PERA, once either party files for arbitration the employer cannot change any working conditions covered under the collective bargaining agreement until the arbitration process is complete. So as it stands, the unions will continue with the status quo until the arbitration process is complete. This process will cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars. The mayor could have settled contracts with around 10% concessions from the police unions over a year ago. The mayor refused and demanded more. Very short-sighted from our visionary mayor. Great Job Bossman! The Flint Journal Editorial Board is as much out of the loop as Walling is. They based this editorial on a interview with walling months ago and have not even spoken to the polic and fire. If they had they would know about the competing arguments. This is a biased and one-sided argument! Watch for the Journal writers to skew all election related stories in favor of Walling! I am sure long time council advised Walling of the pitfalls of his move towards a consent order. He told his radio viewers that he goes to lansing weekly. Well he obviously only hears what he wants to hear. Rumors are thet he is not as well received there and in Washington DC as he thinks he is. Our Voice: Barring a last-minute deal with police and fire unions, state consent agreement is Flint's best bet Published: Sunday, May 22, 2011, 5:01 AM By Editorial Board | The Flint Journal The Flint Journal One way or another, the city of Flint is going to get the pension and benefit cuts it needs from its four police and fire unions in order to avoid any more layoffs. Failing agreement so far with the unions on 10-15 percent in concessions, Mayor Dayne Walling this month proposed that he and the City Council ask the state of Michigan for a review of the city’s finances. It’s a first step toward a consent agreement to give Walling or the council the powers of an emergency financial manager, among them the ability to unilaterally set the terms of collective bargaining agreements. A council committee wa So it’s possible Walling and the unions are exploring the other way to get the concessions the city needs to save $4 million in the next budget year. They may be back at the negotiating tables. set to examine Walling’s proposal on Wednesday. But Walling early last week suddenly pulled it from council consideration. This isn’t a bluff to force police and fire unions into negotiations. Walling told The Flint Journal Editorial Board that he has discussed the consent agreement process with state Treasurer Andy Dillon, the guy in charge of the emergency financial manager process that the Legislature revised this year. That was during the mayor’s and City Council’s quest for $20 million in bonds to both prop up city finances and pay off past obligations. The state instead gave Flint permission to issue $8 million in bonds to get through its immediate budget crisis. Without structural changes to its spending habits, Flint could be right back in a multimillion-dollar budget crisis next year. And, under the state emergency financial manager law, very possibly the city could be on the way to complete state control. That is if spending here doesn’t change. The mayor has focused on public safety costs because they are by far the city’s largest expense. In the next fiscal year Walling proposes that the fire and police departments get $27 million of the city’s $49.5 million general fund budget. More than a year ago, Walling sought concessions from police and fire unions. They had refused to give up what’s needed to avoid layoffs. The lack of a deal meant the city had to lay off police officers and firefighters — vital employees that this beleaguered city cannot do without. Now, after waves of arsons last year following firefighter layoffs, and police layoffs amid the highest homicide rate in the city ever in 2010, Walling is pledging no more public safety layoffs. He’s going for the best solution left to the city — the new consent agreement option in the state emergency financial manager law. Lacking any last-minute negotiated agreement with the unions, it’s the only option left to keep police and firefighters on the job. Keeping public safety personnel in the city is a priority with which the public agrees. Flint voters on May 3 by a large margin agreed to renew a 2-mill property tax to keep some police officers. If there is no 11th-hour, bargained settlement with the unions as the city nears the start of its budget year on July 1, the mayor and the council together must seek a consent agreement with the state. While Walling is the target of much criticism in these budget maneuvers, he’s doing what he can with the tools at his disposal to keep this city running in an era of steadily falling revenues. A year ago, he didn’t have the consent agreement option. Now, he does. We applaud Mayor Walling’s willingness to pursue it. It’s essential that police and fire personnel remain at work. Compensation cuts, either forced or negotiated, will see to that. Post Sun May 22, 2011 6:35 am ConcernedCitizen F L I N T O I D David Starr, Bossman and untanglingwebs, You all seem to have a firm grasp on the abilities of our Mayor. Yes he ran as a Democrat, but that was only a rouse to get elected. He has acted more like a Republican since elected. Even more so, he has acted like a man that really has no clue how to run a government. To give him any more finacial control than he already has is absurd. He did not create all of our financial woes, but he definitely made it much worse. In the first 6 months of his tenure, his deficit spending was rampant. And his explanation, that he did not know he had to stick to the approved budget showed his ignorance. Either he and his appointees are absolute morons, or they think everybody else is! Either way, he can't be trusted with more control of this City's finances. It's too bad our Council, which I had high hopes for, does not have enough backbone, brains or sobriety to stand up for the people who elected them! Post Mon May 23, 2011 2:05 pm untanglingwebs F L I N T O I D Flint City Council approves deficit-elimination plan that includes borrowing another $12 million down the road Published: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:46 AM Updated: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:47 AM By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal The Flint Journal Flint Journal file photoFLINT, Michigan — The Flint City Council signed off on a deficit elimination plan Monday night that says city officials intend to borrow another $12 million in two years. The city already issued $8 million in bonds this year to cover some of its $20 million deficit, but its not enough, officials said. (Read more: Flint officials planning to borrow another $12 million to cover deficit) Now that it's approved by council, the deficit elimination plan will be sent to the state treasurer's office for approval. A spokesman for the state treasurer's office has said the state would be open to considering allowing Flint to borrow another $12 million if the time comes. Read the city council resolution here: Reso 110546-Deficit Elimination Plan.PDF Post Tue May 24, 2011 1:04 pm 00SL2 F L I N T O I D quote: untanglingwebs schreef: Reso 110546-Deficit Elimination Plan.PDF I read this earlier today, and where Dayne Wallling's signature is supposed to be, Gregory Eason signed! Nowhere does the mayor's signature appear. Post Tue May 24, 2011 5:36 pm Dave Starr F L I N T O I D Is the mayor's signature or the signature of the person running the city required? If it's the latter, then everything is in order. Post Tue May 24, 2011 5:38 pm Sat May 02, 2015 5:35 pm    Display posts from previous:   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First

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