Tulsa World: Council could probe grant misuse

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Tuesday, February 09, 2010 | WIRELESS

Home > News > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Council could probe grant misuse
The Tulsa Devel- opment Authority inappropriately spent $1.5 million in CDBG funds, and councilors want to know how.

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer
Published: 2/12/2009 2:31 AM
Last Modified: 2/12/2009 2:31 AM

After failing to get information from the administration, the City Council might conduct its own investigation into the city's misuse of $1.5 million in federal grants.

"I have requested e-mails of the administration and was told the request was too burdensome," Councilor Bill Christiansen said.

As first reported on tulsa world.com, Christiansen said his main focus is to find out who is responsible for authorizing the misuse of the federal money to pay city employees' salaries.

The council is set to discuss a possible investigation during a closed session at a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday.

An investigation would give the council the power to subpoena documents, if necessary.

"At the end of the day, we're not getting the information," Christiansen said. "We need to get the information on a timely basis and find out exactly what went wrong and who is responsible."

Last August, the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determined through an audit that the Tulsa Development Authority inappropriately spent $1.5 million in Community Development Block Grant funds from October 2005 through September 2007 for city employees' salaries.

Susan Neal, director of community development and education for Mayor Kathy Taylor, has overseen the results of the HUD audit and city's repayment process.

"We already have had an investigation by the Office of Inspector General for HUD on the very issues the council have and by the highest level of government," she said.

Neal said the administration is not trying to withhold any information from the council and that she is waiting to hear from the Information Technology Department on when the councilor's Jan. 23 request can be fulfilled.

Neal has given a lengthy presentation to the council about the history of federal grants received by the city, how city employees' salaries were funded, and corrective action the city has taken to resolve the issue of using grant money to pay them.

But Christiansen said the presentation lacked information on who authorized the action, whether those employees are still with the city, and how this was allowed to happen.

"The taxpayers want to know how does $1.5 million go misspent," he said. "Do we just shove it under the rug and say, 'Gee, we made a mistake'?"

Although the city took issue with most of the assertions in the audit, it agreed to repay the funds.

In November, the authority approved paying the fine out of its operating funds.

In December, the city announced that HUD would allow the city to reapply for the $1.5 million to fund two projects it has deemed meet the required use of the funds.

P.J. Lassek 581-8382
pj.lassek@tulsaworld.com By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

4 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

	Report Comment Captain1965, (2/12/2009 3:48:05 AM) Bring out all the information, for we the people to examine. The United States needs the City of Tulsa to lower its sheilds and prepare to have "Federal Justice" served "hot".
	Report Comment DowntownNow, (2/12/2009 9:27:48 AM) This is a shame...the Tulsa World and the Administration reporting that it was the Tulsa Development Auhtority that misspent the funds when in fact, many of the staff that assist the TDA are City employess. It was City staff that appropriated and misspent the $1.5mil, not the TDA board. The TDA board has remarked it has no staff of its own outside of its hired legal council and that it relies on staff supoort from the City. The fault lies within the City, not the TDA. These grants are administered and handled by the Grants Administration Department presently and before that was handled by another City department, only before that was it handled internally by the TDA and that was years ago. The HUD audit found that City employees were compensated using grant funds when in fact they had not performed grant related services. The Administration is attempting to make the TDA the scapegoat in all of this and I can't beleive the TDA is allowing it to happen.
	Report Comment Mike W, Tulsa (2/12/2009 11:24:10 AM) We have a Mayor, an Auditor, and a City Council. Seems like the City Council may be expanding their over-sight responsibilities and that's not a bad thing. Mike W Tulsa+ Who expects over-sight to be shared
	Report Comment irwindale, Tulsa (2/12/2009 4:47:14 PM) Crooks. Pure and simple.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.