City of Deerfield Beach Commissioner, Admittedly Didn't Do Their Research on $3.9 Million Dollar HomeSec OIG FEMA Audit of City

Question.


Who runs Deerfield Beach?


Is it Peggy Noland, the duly elected (albeit suspect) Mayor.


Is it Bill Ganz from District 4, Marty Popelski of District 3, or is it Burgess Hanson, the appointed City Manager?


I guess this question really doesn't matter as long as all of those sitting on their dais, as elected or appointed officials are there and make sure that they research and do their homework on all issues concerning the operation of our City to ensure that, especially when voting, they are making informed decisions and not just relying solely on the information provided by the City Manager.  If that is not the case then why are "we" the taxpayers electing and paying them a part-time salary, health and retirement benefits, just to have them ignore us and totally agree with the City Managers recommendations, regardless of affect it would have on our City and its residents.


Now, at the September 20, 2011 City Commission meeting, newly elected Commissioner of District 2, Ben Preston made a comment that

"it is important that this Commission hears the concerns of the citizens. The information can be right and can also be in the best interest of the public. Notwithstanding, this is their money, and they hired the Commission to make good decisions.  Therefore, it is important that whatever decisions that are made; whether agreed or disagreed, that they are made in the best interest of the entire City.  

He said that it is also important for the Commission to  be better communicators  and provide the information to the public to help them better understand what is being done with their money; as we are obligated to share that information.  Maybe we have budget workshops and some people attend and  others do not;  nevertheless,  we must do a better job to make sure that they better understand what we are doing."

Now, this is true and each of the elected officials were elected because the residents believed that they would do exactly as Commissioner Ben Preston stated.  

"Additionally, Commissioner Preston said that the Commission must also consider that it is the public that hired the Commission, because they believed that they would make the best decision and had trust in them. Furthermore, when voting for the elected official, the public knew that they would not always agree with the decisions that would be made, but would trust that they would make the best decision in  their interest.  

Therefore, the public must keep this in consideration.  The most valued asset and resource in the City of Deerfield Beach are its residents.  Commissioner Preston agreed that this is the public‟s money and hears their passion, but it is also the  Commission's job to do what is best for everybody and not a particular group.  It is a shared sacrifice and  does not hurt just one group  but all may hurt to some extent. He said that  this Commission is charged with looking at every district,  as they represent the entire city.  He said that for any Commissioner to not have the entire city in his thought process is wrong.  They must consider every district regardless of how tough the issues are, there should be shared sacrifice. Whatever decision is made, it should be in the best interestof the citizens with a degree of integrity and trust from the public."

So, you can imagine my dismay when this OIG FEMA audit of the City of Deerfield Beach was discovered and I brought it to the attention of my Commissioner Ben Preston and found out that he too knew nothing of it and that he was just as shocked and amazed at the information as I was.  


So, when I sent him the link to locate the report on-line on the OIG website and advised him to read it.  I figured that he would do just that, especially since he made the below statement

"In closing, Commissioner Preston  reiterated that the Commission must do a better job with communicating these ideas to the public so that they better understand, to better inform them.  He expressed concern with the people walking out with hostility; sending a message that they do not trust their leaders. Notwithstanding, the City of Deerfield Beach is a good city.  He said that he does not believe that there is one Commissioner that will not do their research. Further, it is his commitment to hear the concerns of the people and understand them, and work even harder.  He said that we must all understand that we will disagree at times, but there ought to be a shared sacrifice."

He even went so far as to inform me of a response he received from Burgess Hanson and I advised him that "if hadn't read the report I would have been quite content with that answer.  So read the report and then think about the City Managers response and see if it jives with the information from the OIG audit of the City of Deerfield Beach."  He assured me that he would read it.


Well, color me dumbfounded when at the City Commission meeting my Commissioner, who had assured me that he would read the report affecting our City, showed a clear lack of understanding for what was actually in the report and he solely relied on the information provided to him by Burgess Hanson and staff.  


So, following the meeting I promptly contacted my Commissioner and asked how could you sit up there on the dais and follow the load of crap being spewed by Burgess Hanson, if you read the report as you assured me you would.  He confidently replied, "I didn't read it and I should have".  You are damn right, Ben Preston, you should have...and if any of the other commissioners did not read it, which obviously they either didn't read it or they are assisting in this cover-up and fleecing of the residents of Deerfield Beach.  This report is dealing with the City that they were sworn to be responsible for.  This report has the potential to cost the tax payers millions of dollars.  This report highlights possible incompetence or corrupt practices within City Hall and they didn't think it was important enough to read before discussing it.  Well, I guess they may have not had time since it was not really supposed to be discussed out in the open, per Burgess Hanson, until it was finalized and he only did so that night for "clarification" purposes.


Now, you are probably wondering what is this really about...


Well, this begs the question 


What else are these elected officials, not doing their homework on?


If this final report from the Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General after completing an audit whose very objective 

"was to determine if the City of Deerfield Beach accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds according to federal regulations and FEMA guidelines"

was ignored and not researched when brought to their attention by citizens and not City staff.


Why would not more effort, thought and consideration be giving to such a report which may have implications of corruption at City Hall and possibly be the source of a huge multi-million dollar payback to FEMA.  


Why would this not be a source of concern for the elected officials of the City of Deerfield Beach?


Well, these are the same questions that I am asking.  


Now before Bill Ganz makes a statement that "nobody asked questions, just accusations", I would like to point out that nobody accused the City of anything and all we ever did was ask questions to which we were attacked and lambasted.  The City and it's elected officials took a hostile stance against the public who was just trying to find out about this information and why it was concealed from us.  They actually changed the format of the Commission Meeting and spoke before the public.  


Now in the last 6 months that I have been attending these meetings faithfully, i have not seen the commissioners once move the "Comments by Mayor and Commissioners" portion of the meeting before the "public to be heard" section.  For the most part, after the public has spoken and the Mayor has closed the "public section", we are usually treated to Bill Ganz clarifying with the more to make sure the public can not speak anymore and then going into a long, spiteful, and full of "spin" tirade, which recently caused people to boo and noisily walk-out of the commission meeting.  So, why the change that night.  Some would argue that it was a pre-thought out and planned maneuver to quote on quote "clarify" the information and speculation that the concealment and now public attempt at "open" discussion of the ramifications that the revelation of the HomeSec OIG FEMA audit of the City of Deerfield Beach brought about.


I suggest everyone actually watch the video of that meeting and read the minutes (when they become available) to get an understanding of what went on and what was actually said.  Then read the HomeSec OIG FEMA audit of the City of Deerfield Beach and see if what the City Manager, Burgess Hanson, and Bill Ganz stated even compares to what the detailed report indicates.  I don't want to say that they were intentionally lying to us or trying to keep this public information out of the public arena.  If that is the case then they would have intentionally caused a public record to be falsified, which is a violation of FL Statute 839.13.  If they intentionally tried to withhold public information from the public by dictating and determining when and if it should be made available for public inspection is a violation of Florida's Sunshine Law.  


But hey, I am no lawyer and that would be a good question for Micheal Satz, State Attorney of District 17, who has the power to investigate and prosecute such claims or John W. Scott, Broward's first Inspector General, who has the authority to investigate cases of misconduct, including fraud, corruption, abuse and gross mismanagement.   Maybe, just maybe one or both of their offices should be looking into this matter to ensure the public trust and the law has not been willfully broken.


It is obvious that something fishy is going on and corruption in Deerfield Beach possibly resides in more than just the DBHA, as some would have us focus on.


It's time for accountability at City Hall...

Non-Uniformed Employees Win Arbitration Against City of Deerfield Beach

Well, it looks like the crap crack team that Deerfield Beach City Manager, Burgess Hanson, has compiled at City Hall has done it again.


Last year, Burgess and staff laid-off about 106 of the non-uniformed employees citing the City was broke.  During this same time, Burgess and crew were recruiting and hiring some highly educated individuals to run this City.  Peggy Noland and Bill Ganz were elated, as they kept pronouncing that what we had before was ruining this City and now we have the people with the education to get this City on track.


Well unfortunately for Burgess, Peggy, and Bill at least one of those highly educated individuals that was hired last year Mike Milawnowski, the Director of In-Humane resources, has done a big boo-boo and now Burgess has a pile of, well I won't say it, on his face.


Apparently, according to recently released arbitration documents between the City's Contract Negotiation team and the Non-Uniformed Union regarding those lay-offs.  It was found that the City, well Burgess Hanson, Keven Klopp and Mike Milanowski:

"did not properly prepare a list of regular full time employees in accordance with their rank on the four equally weighed factors of classification seniority, department seniority, City seniority and performance evaluations."

and therefore:

"The City is ordered to prepare a list of all employees which ranks them on the four equally weighted factors of classification seniority, department seniority, City seniority, and performance evaluations for all classifications in which they have held permanent classification.  If an employee has held permanent classification in more than one classification he/she shall have their classification seniority determined for every classification held in accordance with Article 13(2)(f) or Article 13(2)(h) as appropriate depending on whether their classifications were in the same classification division."

Now this means that:

Layoffs by job classification are to be made in accordance with the ranking of employees on that list.  Employees who were laid off on July 30, 2010 and are shown to be properly laid off on the ranking list to be prepared under this order shall remain on layoff status.  Employees who are shown on the ranking list to have been improperly laid off shall be returned to work with unbroken seniority and back pay from the effective date of the layoff less any unemployment compensation they received and are not obligated to repay, and less any income from wages they received from work undertaken to replace the income lost when they were laid off.  Interest on net back pay is awarded at an annually compounded interest rate of 3.00 percent per year. 

So anyone who was laid-off last year according to, what amounts to being a list compiled by monkey's, may be returned to work if they were not laid off in accordance with the Union Contract and City Ordinances.  They will be returned to work with no loss of seniority and the City will have to "PAY" them back pay from the termination date, plus 3% per year.


Now, the kicker here is, according to the arbitration documents, they found that when the City laid these poor individuals off, without notice by the way and without discussing it with the Union, they did so and must have been in such a hurry to do so because:

The layoff notices that were issued on July 30, 2010 to the employees involved stated that the notice was being issued under the authority of “the City’s Personnel Rules and Regulations as contained in City Ordinance No. 617, …”.  That notification is wrong on several points.  First of all, Ordinance No. 617 applies to Firefighters and sworn Police Officers who are not involved in this layoff.  The correct Ordinance is Number 651.  Additionally, and importantly, the City’s Personnel Rules and Regulations are not “contained” in Ordinance Number 651, as will be more fully explained below.  It is reasonable to conclude that this badly worded reference to authority has caused confusion that has contributed to the events surrounding this grievance.  While the notice is deficient, it does not, in and by itself, create a basis for either denying or sustaining the grievance.  Denying or sustaining the grievance must be based on the facts and the controlling language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.   

How could these highly educated and highly paid individuals make a mistake like this that will cost the City thousands upon thousands of dollars to repair???


So they did the lay-offs to save the City money, but because they did it wrong it will end up cost the City more than it would have had we not done the lay-offs.  


Wow!  What geniuses we employ...


Anyway, the City did these lay-offs and then claimed that they were done because 

During the years immediately preceding this grievance the City had experienced a reduction in its ad valorem tax revenue due to the lower assessed value of the real estate property within its taxing jurisdiction.   As it prepared its FY 2011 budget it was facing approximately a 17 million dollar shortfall in its general fund.  A major source of funding for the City’s general fund is ad valorem property taxes.  In 2007 the property tax revenue received by the City from ad valorem property taxes was $39,668,749.  By 2010 that revenue had decreased to $33,595,627.  As the 2011 budget was being prepared the ad valorem property tax revenue received by the City was expected to continue to decrease slightly.  The parties stipulated at the hearing that the City was in a difficult financial situation headed into FY 2011.  In response to these financial pressures the City undertook several revenue enhancement and cost reduction initiatives in an attempt to reduce the budgetary shortfall for FY 2011.  It increased the millage rate from 5.79 to 6.788, it increased fire assessment and inspection fees, it increased building inspection and permit fees, and raised parking fees and fines for violations.  These actions reduced the projected budget shortfall to approximately $6,000,000.  Cost reduction initiatives included approximately $1,000,000 saved by renegotiating the law enforcement services contract the City had with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, $1,800,000 was saved in the City’s Fire Department by freezing merit and longevity pay, not funding vacant positions and reductions in clothing allowances.  Additional savings were obtained by eliminating merit and cost of living adjustments for bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit employees.  Additionally, the Parks and Recreation Department, Public Works Department, the Office of the City Manager, and the Office of Management and Budget were reorganized for greater efficiency and a lower employee count.  These efforts, however, did not result in a balanced budget.  Prior to the time the 2011 budget was prepared, the reserve fund of the City had been reduced to approximately $9,000,000 by substantial withdrawals in 2009 and 2010.  The City determined that further withdrawal from its reserve fund would not be prudent, and that in order to balance the budget it would be necessary to lay off employees.

So, the City claimed that it was broke and the layoffs were a necessity.  So one would imagine that  since the City itself was crying broke, how could it afford to hand out raises and why would it do so, considering the fact that it was broke and needed to save money. 


Well, we have learned from public records request that Fire Chief Chad Broccato, among others, requested and received raises in January 2011, some six months following these layoffs.  I guess Burgess had fixed our Budget problem.  The first thing he did was spend the money he saved by the layoffs in capital projects...unfortunately for the residents and taxpayers of Deerfield Beach those capital projects were and are finding money to give upper management pay raises.  To which I have been informed that at a recent meeting with several members of the IUPAT union and staff, Burgess Hanson was quoted as saying "it's my money and i'll give raises to whoever I want".  Now this has not been confirmed as of yet, but a prr is in the works to see if there is a transcript.  We know he feels this is true as it is evident because in July 2011 Burgess handed out another set of raises or re-classifications, of which, Mike Milawnowski was one who requested and received a $20,000.00 raise after only one year of service to the City.  I wonder if that was a reward for doing such a "bang-up" job with those lay-offs.  If so, Mike can we get a refund.


Hell, at the arbitration hearing the City, under Mike "I just got a $20,000.00 raise, so what do I care" Milawnowski, claimed 

that it could not figure out how to use city seniority, departmental seniority and performance evaluations in equal weighting as provided for in Article 13 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to determine which employee to layoff without being arbitrary and capricious.

Damn, this is what we get for $125,000.00 plus, someone who can't even make a list.  


"How many highly educated and over-paid City of Deerfield Beach Management Staff does it take to screw up a "list".  I don't know, but we know it only took two to screw up the City and those two are Burgess Hanson and Keven Klopp, whose mis-management of this City is worse than anything Deetjen and Mahaney could have done.  Ok, I know that is a little much, but you get the point.  


When will our poor City get the leadership of management and commission that it needs to make a real change for the betterment of all of its citizens.  Because right now only a select few, like always, are benefiting and reaping the rewards of government, an inept government, but  government none the less.


Well so far, Burgess Hanson's legacy has been and will be 

• -a lay-off that saved costed the City money
• -a balanced budget that has cost the taxpayers an additional 10% on their utilities
• -a workforce of non-uniformed employees that are overworked, underpaid, and highly taxed
• -a City Commission that is HATED by it's people
• -a plethora of residents in an uprising. 
•  One even resulting to the circulation of petitions just to ask the City Commission to correct a mistake they allowed Burgess Hanson and his staff to make...
• -closing of the "Teen Center" and putting the teens back out on the streets
• Did anyone read of that 2 teens broke into and vandalized about thirty cars in Deerfield in one night?
• -Sold our Home town Fire Department off to BSO, instead of the City looking at ways for additional cost savings by making cuts in that department.
• We all know that that is where most of the City's money is funneled too, thanks Peggy Noland for your support of the Firemen's Defined Pension Plan.  I am sure that when you voted on that back in 1994, you and your husband celebrated big time.  Should that have been considered a "Conflict of Interest"...we know Howard Noland definately got a "SPECIAL GAIN" from that vote.
• -Help facilitate at least 4 major audits (that we know of so far) have been initiated and completed under his watch.  
• One (HUD OIG Audit of the Community Development Dept) resulting in a few hundred thousand dollars that the City had to pay back to the government and one (FEMA OIG Audit of the City of Deerfield Beach) which may result in a few million dollar payback.

Oh, I forgot the main thing that he has accomplished is a more highly educated, highly trained, highly paid, highly audited, and some highly incompetent management staff who he seems to "make it rain" on at his discretion all while telling the residents that the City is broke, but he always finds funds to throw at management, like dollars bills on a stripper at the King of Diamonds. 


That's our tax dollars at work, people.


The above is just the short list of the positive things that the regime of Burgess Hanson and Keven Klopp, under the tutelage of Peggy Noland and Bill Ganz,  have accomplished here in Deerfield Beach in one and half short years.


Most, if not all, of the residents, businesses, and non-uniformed employees are more miserable than ever.  Their moral is down and the public trust has never been more bankrupt than it is now.  


The only ones that have anything to be happy about are the Firemen, BSO, Peggy/Bill/Marty, and the host of management that have received the lucrative raises and re-classifications from Burgess Hanson, who seems to be handing them out like he is spending his own money.


 It's time for a change Deerfield Beach, before that is all that is left in our treasury...pennies, nickels and dimes...some change!

Can't Nobody Break-a My Stride...Can't Nobody Hold Me Down

I'm BACK!!!!

I have no idea what happened yesterday, but it appears that my blog was reported to Google as being a Spam site and filled with messages promoting "Hate".  If you don't know Google has a "Terms of Service" (TOS) agreement between them (Google) and each user (in this case "me").  They also have a policy of deleting any blog that is reported or it finds is violating the TOS agreement.  Now, they don't investigate such claims and begin the process of reinstatement of falsely accused users and blogs, unless the owner of said blog confirms their identity (they they are a human and not a spambot...lol) and then they go through the process of verifying if the other claims are true, a process taking up to 2 business days.


Well, this all began yesterday morning at about 5am (according to the Google email I received).


I realized my blog had been deleted at about 9am and immediately started the process.


Thank God, I read up on all the ways a private person can affect this site and its contents, so I knew exactly what to do and voila, my blog is reinstated.

Who would want to shut my blog down????

 I have no clue, but it would appear that I have made many enemies at the City of Deerfield Beach, the local news media community, and that darn Chaz Stevens.  Though, I can't say for sure if one of them is involved because I am sure that that list of enemies is longer than I even I perceive and anyone may have done it.


What I can say is that I am thinking about moving this blog to a new private domain, so I won't have to deal with people trying to keep me from informing the residents and citizens of the "NEWS" about town and providing them with "My Perspective" on events that affect us all.


So keep a lookout for that move...it could happen real soon and you will be the second or third to know.

Chaz Stevens ask Allen West to Attend a "Root Beer Social", in Deerfield Beach, but Maybe He Should Be Asking for a "Tea Party"

This morning I woke up and checked the blogosphere and what did I see, but Chaz Stevens wants a "Root Beer Social" with Allen West to discuss the DBHA and other possibly criminal issues here in Deerfield Beach.  I read about this in the New Times with Matt Hendley (I never thought I would long for the days of Bob Norman's reporting), which you can read here.


Now, if you've been keeping up with my blog then you know about this 2011 Homeland Security OIG FEMA Audit and the fact the City is trying to keep it under wraps.  Bill Ganz, even went so far as to say 

"When you go back, when people try and draw lines and compare this (2011 OIG FEMA Audit and investigation) with the HUD investigation (2010 OIG HUD Audit), which the City had to pay money back. When that first started (about May 2010) and that came forward there was not alot of, ummmm, information out there on it because it was too preliminary (We knew when it started, when it concluded, and what the recommendation was, unlike the OIG FEMA Audit). When it was very clear where it was going (Sept 29, 2010 with the publication of the OIG Audit report with it's recommendations to HUD), when we got the final ruling (Feb 2011) That's when the information became public and then at that point we had to pay the money back theeeee, ummm, 300,000.00 plus that we had to pay back. Ummm, I don't think this (the lack of information released to the public about the FEMA audit) is a way to try and hide anything, considering it was done the same, to several different cities instead of it just being selecting us (the City of Deerfield Beach) for malfeasance. To me it was not a matter of trying to sweep this under the rug. I agree that the more information that you get out there, you can "KILL" alot of this speculation early, so I appreciate you guys (Hugh Dunkley and Sophie Henderson) doing the work and coming in and talking about this now. It sounds to me that this is very preliminary, there's a long way to go before we have final answers and from what I understand the majority of the price tag of things that are being questioned have been dismissed and approved..."

(The Above was quoted from Deerfield Beach City Commission Meeting October 4, 2011 starting at 54:42-56:06)

Mr. Hendley is this news?  Do you think last year on September 29, 2010 the OIG completed their audit and investigation into the City of Deerfield Beach Community Development Department and made their recommendation that the City of Deerfield Beach should pay back about $400,000.00 to HUD.  In Feb of 2011 HUD agreed with the OIG and the City became liable to repaying back the HUD funds, which an agreement was reached so those funds would actually stay in the City.  

Now April 12, 2011 the OIG completed their audit and investigation into the City of Deerfield Beach, the objective of which was to determine if the City of Deerfield Beach accounted for and expended Federal Emergency Management Agency Funds totalling 13.9 million dollars in accordance with Federal and FEMA guidelines.  The OIG made their recommendation to FEMA that the City of Deerfield Beach submitted charges that were ineligible and should payback to FEMA almost $4 million dollars. 

(If you haven't read or heard about the report you can read about here.) 

Now, this is news to everyone because your blog, Chaz's blog, all the news media in town did not and have not covered this.  Yet, your publication covered basically the same story for the OIG HUD audit in Oct 2010, even though the situation was not concluded until Feb 2011.  Why the “selective” reporting? Why is should this “public” report be shrouded in such secrecy.  What else is being hidden shrouded from the public?
Does your publication not consider this bit of information news?  Do you think the “public” should not be aware of this potential $$$3.9 million dollar payback to FEMA?
 Because no matter the outcome of this Homeland Security OIG FEMA Audit DA-11-13, where the investigators have recommended that the City of Deerfield Beach pay $3.9 million dollars in Federal funding they received back to FEMA that potentially could affect all residents of Deerfield Beach, the residents and citizens deserve and have the right to know of this “NEWS”.

So for the City Manager, Burgess Hanson, to insist that nothing be reported about this and no information be given out about this until its conclusion and the City has found a way to "spin" the information should be considered a direct violation of the "Freedom of Information Act" and Florida's “Sunshine Law”.   For your publication to assist him and the City of Deerfield Beach Commissioners and staff with hiding this from the public (as many of the publications are aware and it was recently discussed at the City Commission Meeting Oct 4 to "quell rumors") Is unconscionable and makes me question the journalistic integrity of all of these so-called journalist in and about Deerfield Beach that are paid to report the news and keep the residents and readers informed of news.

Well, this story is news and yet you are pandering to Chaz Stevens about a request for "root beer social", PA-LEASSSSSSE!!!

The mere fact that Allen West is was so concerned about nepotism, bid rigging and other and yet has said and did nothing about the facts derived from this cleverly hidden FEMA audit is beyond me.  Or the fact that the Deerfield Beach City Mayor made several "Conflict of Interest” votes related to benefits, retirement benefits and other concerning the now "SOLD" Deerfield Beach Fire Department that directly gave her husband and son a "Special financial gain" is downright suspicious.  
The mere fact that none of this information is given any weight, investigation, or news coverage by yours and many of the other publications, supposedly serving our fair Hamlet of Deerfield Beach, brings up many implications in my mind and seems very suspicious as well.

What do you guys think? 

Do you agree with the City Commissioners and City Staff that this should not be available for public inspection and open to the public for discussion?


The Homeland Security OIG have completed their audit and made their final recommendation to FEMA on April 12, 2011; however, the final determination by FEMA as to whether the City of Deerfield Beach will have to payback the entire amount indicated in the OIG's final recommendation report from April 12, 2011 has not been made, as of yet. 


So, if the final report by the OIG has been issued and we are just waiting for the determination by FEMA then how could Bill Ganz state that this is preliminary and we have a long way to go.  Looks to me that we are in the same place we were back in Sept 2010-Feb 2011, so why is the City insisting on keeping this report and it's findings under wraps.


Maybe at this "Root Beer Social" Chaz will ask Good Ol' Allen to investigate and ask for an audit of the entire City of Deerfield Beach and hold all those responsible for wasting taxpayer's dollars accountable and responsible, but hey then that might turn it into a "Tea Party".  

Deerfield Beach Commissioners and Manager Answer Questions About FEMA OIG AUDIT...Or Did they create more??????????????????????????????????????????Updated*

The City Handler, Burgess Hanson, advised the residents that Homeland Security is investigating FEMA and it really has nothing to do with the City of Deerfield Beach.  He even indicated that the City did nothing wrong and that a previous FEMA audit in 2008 concluded the City did everything right.  The Mayor even jumped in to say that FEMA employees were onsight verifying everything.


So to that all I say is...


read the OIG FEMA Audit report for yourself and you get a wholely different interpretation of what is happenening here.


Since I posted links to the report in hopes that people would read it for themselves...I guess I have to post the report itself. 

Click to Enlarge

Now, does this sound like the OIG was not looking into mismanagement by the City of Deerfield Beach.

Well, in this report some of the questioned charges that the City, not FEMA, submitted for reimbursement was for...well you can read it for yourself below and see if Sophie Henderson's explanation, at the behest of Burgess Hanson, holds any water.  I guess this is the information that Chaz Stevens has the inside track on...

Click to Enlarge

   




The City submitted for excessive contract charges for debris removal services, which may have to be paid back in the amount of $463,875, which were duplicated cha


A possible payback of $2,857,732 for debris removal on private property, which is not allowed by FEMA except in cases where the public health is at risk.  


















$416,700 of ineligible charges were submitted by the City for beach re-nourishment on North Beach, which is a "natural beach", and reimbursement is only allowed for re-nourishment on an "improved  beach" according to the report.  So the investigators are questioning this payment as well, which if they are right would result in the $416,700 being a part of the possible payback.  


The City Staff also submitted charges in the amount of $119,974 for contract charges and engineering services for re-nourishment of South Beach which was not authorized under the project, which per the report City Officials agreed with this particular finding.
    
So, when Burgess, Peggy, and Sophie indicated that FEMA approved everything prior to work commencing, this portion of the report tends to disagree with that statement and proves that somethings may have been overlooked by FEMA which is why the OIG is basically going over what FEMA allowed the City and other City's to get away with which has basically lead to that organization claiming possible bankruptcy.

I am going to take this time to interject here.  Burgess Hanson has basically stated that FEMA approved the work and so the City did nothing wrong because the FEMA agents approved it.  Well, FEMA may have approved it, but they are mandated to recoup all improper disaster relief funds and have begun such according to this report, nationwide.

The newspaper(s) have been littered since well before 2005 with reports of individuals being arrested, jailed, convicted, and sentenced for FEMA fraud.  Charges arrising because the individuals received "FEMA approved" disaster relief payments, which eventually turned out to be fraudulent or, as Burgess Hanson and City Staff will have us believe, erroneously submitted and then payment spent. (A google list of articles can be found here)

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The City's claim included $39,839 for unreasonable overtime.  Which were not allowed because they did not comply with FEMA's established guidelines for "Forced Labor Cost".

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Now, this is the kicker which really throws a wrench into Burgess Hanson's empassioned speech about the City not doing anything wrong so they should have nothing to fear from this OIG FEMA Audit, (and this is taken directly fom the report:


"The City overstated its claim for generator usage under Projects 8122 and 8125 by $10,000 because of an error made in recording the type of generator actually used. The City applied the FEMA Schedule of Equipment rate of $40.50 per hour for a 125 kilowatt (kw) generator when the rate should have been for a 25 kw generator (a difference of $32.05 per hour). Using the equipment rate difference, we question the $10,000 of excessive costs as shown in the table below."

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This paragraph is taken directly from the report indicating that this OIG FEMA Audit results is the final report and the OIG is waiting to hear from FEMA to see if they will be implementing the recommendations found in the report.

" Please advise me by Jul 12, 2011, of the actions taken or planned to implement the recommendations contained in this report, including target completion dates for any planned actions. To promote transparency, this final report and your response to this report, including your corrective actions planned, will be posted to our website, with exception of sensitive information identified by your office. Should you have any questions concerning this report, please contact me at (404) 832-6702. Key contributors to this report were Modupe Akinsika, Helen White and Amos Dienye." 

So tonight, when the City Commissioners who obviously thought they had defended themselves adequately against answering the publics questions about why this information was not released to the public,   were dead wrong.  All they did was give us more fodder to question and create more implications with regards to why they are trying so desperately to avoid just telling the public the truth about what is going on and admitting that mistakes were made so we can all move forward.  Their fraudulent statements have just opened up another can of worms.


We even had Marty Popelsky prefacing the public comment period with a statement advising the audience to basically disregard comments made by the public.


WOW!!! The audacity of these people.
They even broke from their usually "last to speak" format by speaking before the public comment period.  Which if you have attended any City Commission meeting in the last year will know that that is highly unusual and most have been planned beforehand.  Come on Bill Ganz, not wanting the last word.  

"What a circus you have elected and employed here in Deerfield Beach."

I don't remember buying a ticket to this show, but I want my money back.  


There is no major difference between the OIG FEMA Audit and the OIG HUD Audit because they both indicate that the City did something wrong.  The HUD audit doesn't point fingers at individuals it stated fairly clearly that:

We audited the Community Development Block Grant program (program) 

administered by the City of Deerfield Beach, FL (City).  The objective of the 

audit was to determine whether the City administered its program in accordance 

with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

requirements.  We selected the City for review because it had come under 

increased scrutiny when various newspaper articles and reviews highlighted City 

problems.  In addition, HUD’s 2010 risk assessment indicated that the City had

demonstrated a record of poor performance with the program.

Now, Burgess indicated that the City asked OIG HUD to come and perform these audits, but HUD indicates in their report, as listed above, that they came because of the scrutiny from various newspaper articles and reviews highlighting the City's mismanagement of those funds.

This is what they found

The City did not administer its program in accordance with applicable HUD
requirements. It did not request exception to HUD’s conflict-of-interest provision
before the awarding of funds. This condition occurred because the City lacked
effective management controls to ensure compliance with HUD’s conflict-ofinterest regulation.  As a result, HUD had no assurance that the City did not
practice favoritism in the awarding of funds and may have placed HUD’s funds at
risk.  

So to that all i have to say is..."What you talkin bout, Burgess?" (in my Gary Coleman voice)

Chaz Stevens in his post entitled Obfuscation would have us believe that HUD pointed the finger at Sylvia Poitier, but for some reason after reading the HUD guidelines and the Audit report it would seem that HUD pointed a finger directly at the City of Deerfield Beach management and internal controls or lack thereof.  It was the City initiated and paid for Kessler report that pointed fingers, a report that if the City found irregularities shoudl have just asked HUD to do its investigation, instead of wasting taxpayer money on its witchhunt conducted by Kessler.  Which didn't even investigate all of the City's Department only the handpicked few by Burgess Hanson, Peggy Noland, Bill Ganz, and Popelsky, and Stevens.  After this FEMA audit it is clear that the City has had and still has many areas that guilty of the same mismanagement that the City Officials and Chaz Stevens is throwing around at the DBHA, which is the whole point.  Stop wasting our time, money, and resources on these witchhunts and just obtain a full, thorough investigation of the entire City's operations because the one thing that these three audits have highlighted is that this corruption, mismanagement, etc...extends far beyond the DBHA and the Community Development Department, it's rooted within the City and it's Officials, past and present, and should be weeded out and exterminated so our City can have better future, which is all any of us want.

Now, even if all of this FEMA audit is about nothing...the simple fact that the City has gone to great lengths to keep it under wraps (according to Burgess until it's finalized) is all to telling...do they think the citizens and residents here do not deserve to be informed of this matter.  

Burgess even went so far as to say that they even did this in the HUD audit, which the OIG audit result, comparable to the OIG FEMA audit result above, was issued on September 29, 2010 with the recommendation that the

 ...Director of the Miami Office of Community Planning and Development require the City to (1) reimburse $224,742 in HUD funds from non-Federal funds for ineligible costs, (2) provide supporting documentation or reimburse its program $142,248 from non-Federal funds for unsupported salary expenditures, and (3) provide supporting documentation or reimburse its program $28,298 from non-Federal funds for an activity in which the national objective was unsupported.

And the Miami Office of Community Planning and Development didn't finalize the HUD audit report until February 22, 2011, if you will take into account that is when Burgess Hanson announced the decision to the Commissioners and the City at the Commission Meeting.  Sowhen he says nobody knew until it was finalized why is there a plethora of newspaper articles, comments by the Commission, accusations and blog post related to this matter appear all the way back to the beginning of Feb 2010 and continued until it's completion.  Feb 2010 is when the City opened this can of worms and it has squirmed its way to other parts of the City, that more likely than not they didn't expect, when they were trying to brandish blame on certain departments and individuals.  Now that other agencies have gotten involved to ensure their funds were spent properly and accordingly, the City hides the results.  Heck, the FEMA OIG audit even goes a step further and indicates that it will be posting this information on their website to promote transparency, but obviously Deerfield Beach City Officials and Chaz Stevens have been dead set against "transparency" from the very beginning.  If this was not the case they would have informed the residents of this audit and investigation and it's possible ramifications to the City and it's taxpayers.

The main thing that has caused this information to create such a stir at City Hall and amongst the news media is because, regardless of the show the City Officials puts on, the residents are not stupid and we know when we are being hosed and then railroaded...and in this case Burgess Hanson and cohorts have tried to intentionally hide this information, when it should have from the very beginning informed all of us of its potential, just as they did with Kessler and the HUD audits, instead they are now hiding behind arranged speeches and ambushes, changeing the formats of commission meetings in their failed attempts to sidetvack and curtail the publics right to information.

Last night Burgess asked me to put a request in writing...well if you saw my post 

City of Deerfield Beach Taxpayers May Be "On the Hook" for Over 3 and Half Million in Penalties to FEMA...

Then you already know that I did that and still have yet to hear from any City Official or Burgess Hanson.  So last nights planned ambush, which by the way was predicted, well not predicted but forecast from inside information apparently, by Chaz Stevens in his post "Ebony and Ivory"  failed.  The general public still wants and deserves answers, just as we did when the City paid Kessler to come to town to investigate the handpicked departments of the Community Development, the City's CHDO, and then Sylvia Poitier.  


The City and it's taxpayers may be on the line with FEMA for over 3.9 Million Dollars and you think that we should wait to even find out about it until you decide it's okay.  How very Larry Deetjen of you, Burgess.  I guess you did learn something while you were his assistant and that is how to get around the residents and cover your own arse.