How Come The Detroit Auditor General Did Not Notify The Detroit Land Bank Authority Of 2016 About The Audit?

Well, I wonder why Ellen Ha never made one mention of the fact that the Detroit Land Bank Authority, organized under the statues of Michigan, at the time of these found transgressions, was never formally notified with the results of the Audit.

That give me Saddy Face.

The Tale Of The Foreign Invasion Of Detroit - Stealin' Children, Land & Votes - Christians, Children's Trusts & The Detroit Land Bank Authority

Where is Rebecca *Becky (said like a 1980s Valley Girl) Camago?

Detroit auditor general report blisters city's demolition program

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The city of Detroit was dealt a scathing report claiming its demolition program hasn't been following the rules on Friday  It comes as the mayor is asking for approval of a quarter-billion-dollar bond to expand the same program.



The report is being made public just as Mayor Mike Duggan is trying to push a $250 million blight bond proposal. And this report by the auditor general finds that the demolitions over the past four years in the city have been majorly mismanaged.

Detroit demolition program mismanaged, riddled with problems, auditor says

The Chicago-based McDonagh Demolition was ordered to excavate a demolition site in the 13000 block of Maiden St. on Detroit's east side on Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. The order came after it was discovered the company filled several demolition holes across the city before fully removing all of the demolition debris, which is a major violation of the federally-funded program.

On the eve of a City Council vote that may advance Mayor Mike Duggan's $250 million blight bond proposal, a blistering Detroit Auditor General report concluded Friday the city's demolition program has been mismanaged and beset with significant problems for the past four years.

The sweeping audit revealed the Detroit Building Authority— along with one or more city departments in some instances: failed to properly provide oversight and administer contracts; did not fully comply with some local and state laws; didn't monitor to ensure that demolition contractors met requirements.

Auditor General Mark Lockridge also blasted the city for having "inconsistent and unreliable" demolition data, as well as poor record keeping that made it difficult to perform the audit.

"A perception that public officials are using the procurement system to reward themselves, their friends, or supporters, poisons the public’s confidence in government and shakes its faith in the bureaucratic process," he wrote.

But DBA Director Tyrone Clifton countered the findings in a lengthy Friday response that accused the office of producing an audit that represented an "unrepresentative, outdated sample of demolition files (that) severely undermines the report."

Clifton argued that the audit didn't include a sampling from more recent demolitions.

Lockridge said in an interview after receiving the response that his office was "really appalled" by the city's response because he believes it doesn't speak to the issues raised in the audit. He also disagreed with the city's assertion that the data produced a flawed audit.


"They said the population data 'we gave to you is flawed,' " Lockridge said. "...They have not been responsive to us until this bond issue. … It is also disingenuous that they would not address our findings in a more genuine way and take ownership of their flawed data."

More: Was contaminated dirt used to fill Detroit demolition holes? Feds ask

More: Trucking company owner named in demolition of state rep's Detroit home

Lockridge said in the report that his office, which is an independent agency, was forced to subpoena the DBA twice during the course of the more than two-year audit in an attempt to receive pertinent information.

The office encountered significant delays and a "lack of responsiveness," and according to Lockridge, he never fully received everything his office asked for.

"There was almost a one-year delay in receiving information for our first audit sample," Lockridge wrote. "During these periods, we found it necessary to twice subpoena one of the entities for the requested documents. Still, they were unable to provide all of the information, data, documents, reports, etc. that should be available for adequate administration of demolition and demolition-related activities."

The audit raises fresh questions about the effectiveness of the beleaguered program's quality controls which came under renewed scrutiny earlier this year after a series of Free Press investigative reports that led to congressional calls for more oversight.

The report, which specifically looked at city-funded demolitions, determined the city's processes lacked "transparency, accuracy and completeness."

As a result, unnamed contractors were able to skirt regulations and also failed to provide proper documentation, such as landfill and dirt receipts that were required to verify where they took potentially asbestos-laden materials and whether they used clean backfill dirt to fill holes.

Some contractors also did not provide the city with necessary paperwork that was required for payment and in some instances they began demolitions prior to receiving permission.

In auditing the program, the auditor general selected 47 demolished properties as part of a random sample pool to examine the program's efficiency. These are some of the auditor general's findings:

• There was no evidence that asbestos waste was disposed in a required Type II landfill.
• There was no evidence that contractors complied with "wet-wet" requirements, which require that materials be wet down during the demolition process.
• No documentation was found that proved the top soil used was uncontaminated.
• No evidence that the sites were monitored by the city or any representatives during all phases of the demolition and backfill process.
• None of the contractors submitted landfill receipts or waste manifests with invoices, as required within 10 days of the completion of the project in order to be paid.
• Documents were missing from all contracts prior to payment.
• None of the contractors submitted weekly backfill material tracking logs , which would have shown where the dirt materials came from.

But according to the report, the administration has pushed back vehemently on the findings.

Lockridge noted the office presented its initial findings to the affected departments in June 2018 and released a preliminary report to the departments and agencies in February 2019. The office received a coordinated response from all of the departments indicating that the auditor's sample of properties was "old and stale" and did not include new processes that had been put in place to correct documented issues.

The auditor general's office tested a new sample group of 62 properties, according to the report, and reached similar conclusions.

The release of the report comes just days before council is set to consider the bond proposal on Tuesday, which the administration has touted as the city's emergent plan to remove the remainder of the city's residential blight by 2025.

The auditor general's report also sheds light for the first time publicly on the total amount  the city has spent since Duggan first began his aggressive blight effort shortly after he took office in January 2014.

The price tag so far? A staggering $532 million that is a mix of city, federal Hardest Hit Funds and other designated monies.

If the bond measure is approved by council, it will go before voters in March 2020. If given the green light by voters, total possible spending on blight removal over the next five years, including funds allocated outside of the bond proposal, could be as much as $500 million, according to a report written by council's legislative policy division.

Total Costs City Funded Res... by Mark J. Rochester on Scribd

So, by 2025, the city may have spent upwards of $1 billion on blight remediation, thanks to the bond and other funding mechanisms the city has planned for the next several years.

The audit also raises questions about the true cost of demolitions per structure. Of the $532 million spent thus far, about $330 million can be attributed directly to the hard costs to demolish more than 19,175 structures across Detroit.

Of that, $202 million has been invested in administrative and other "soft" costs which include pre-demolition activities such as property surveys and personnel and other costs.

The auditor general found that the average cost per structure based on the 19,175 homes demolished thus far is $17,198.

But according to the audit, the average total cost per structure is significantly higher at $27,756 when you factor in the administrative and "soft costs."

The audit, which focused on city-funded demolitions, was launched in October 2015, when the Detroit City Council requested the office audit the city’s demolition program.

The office looked at the program’s operation between Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 31, 2018

The demolition program is currently jointly overseen by the DBA and the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Duggan announced earlier this year the city would regain full control of its demolition program by January 2020 but, at the time, the DBA was still slated to play a major role in the program's administration.

Lockridge, noted, however, the program should be brought fully under the city's control, noting that its current processes are "convoluted, complex and change often."

"We recommend that the administration consider bringing the program management of demolition under the auspices of the city and under a single organization versus the current matrix organization structure," Lockridge wrote.

Dave Massaron, the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Detroit talks with the Detroit Free Press editorial board at the newspaper on Thursday, September 26, 2019.

Questions about the city’s management of the demolition program were raised in September when Detroit Chief Financial Officer Dave Massaron met with Free Press reporters and editors to advocate for the demolition bond proposal.

Detroiters recognize the city is running the “largest demolition program in the history of this country,” Massaron said, and the program has evolved over the last five years to address problems that have cropped up.

“We’ve done this 19,000 times and we’ve learned a lot,” Massaron said. “When you do something this repetitive, this massive, there are going to be things you’re going to need to adjust. There are going to be things that don’t go as well as you want on the front end. But I think that what we’ve learned is how to quickly identify those areas and change course to make sure that we’re giving either the best value for the dollar or driving equity and inclusion in this process.”

I thought was my backyard, but there is more overgrown
vegetation.

The Chicago-based McDonagh Demolition was ordered to excavate a demolition site in the 13000 block of Maiden St. on Detroit's east side on Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. The order came after it was discovered the company filled several demolition holes across the city before fully removing all of the demolition debris, which is a major violation of the federally-funded program.


Duggan also downplayed the demolition program’s previous problems during a recent appearance on WDIV-TV (Channel 4) “Flashpoint” program in which he was asked about putting the bond before voters.

Duggan conceded that the city had to clean up the program when the U.S. Department of the Treasury suspended the city’s federally funded demolitions in 2016. But the program has improved since then, the mayor said.

Audit of Demolition Activit... by Mark J. Rochester on Scribd

Amid the federal investigation, which is ongoing, two men were charged and convicted in the probe. The Free Press first reported earlier this year that contaminated dirt was potentially used to fill demolition sites across Detroit. The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is also probing whether some companies used free dirt obtained from a variety of unverified sources —  including the I-96 freeway construction project — and then passed it off as an approved residential dirt source.

SIGTARP is currently auditing the city's federally-funded demolitions at the request of congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Brenda Lawrence.

But Duggan, in late October, minimized the program's ongoing scrutiny.

“One low-level staff person that we fired two years ago took the guilty plea and the feds have indicated they expect no other charges against any other public official, so let’s not overstate this,” Duggan said.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Cocktails & Popcorn: Happy Valentine's Day Detroit - Mike Duggan Defends Detroit Land Bank Authority & Rashida Has A #MeToo Moment

Still, not one person has asked how the Detroit Land Bank Authority was able to enter into contracts when it never incorporated.

I wonder when Rashida Tlaib is going to say my name.

I wonder when Rashida Tlaib is going to #sayhisname.

This is so romantic for #MeToo, Rashida.

Happy Valentine's Day, Detroit!

Duggan defends 'vigorous' demolition practices amid soil concerns

Mike Duggan, all alone in his vigorous defense,
on Valentine's Day in Detroit

Mayor Mike Duggan on Wednesday defended the "vigorous" practices of the city's demolition program in the wake of concerns over whether some of the dirt used to fill holes might have been contaminated.

Duggan's defense comes after a federal watchdog agency issued a new round of subpoenas last month to certain demolition contractors as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the city's federally funded blight elimination work.

"No city agency has been subpoenaed over the dirt because the city agencies have been vigorous from day one," Duggan told The Detroit News.

"We have cooperated with every single investigation, and we feel very good about where the program stands today."

The City Council's second in command, Mary Sheffield, put out a call Tuesday to have the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee convene a congressional hearing, citing a Detroit Free Press report that raised the possibility that dirt being used to fill holes under the program may have been from contaminated or unverified sources, including soils from the recent reconstruction of Interstate 96 in western Wayne County.

Sheffield argues that transparency is lacking in the program that's been the subject of multiple local, state and federal reviews since fall 2015 after concerns were raised over bidding practices and soaring costs.

The Detroit Land Bank Authority oversees the blight elimination effort along with the Detroit Building Authority. Nearly 17,000 blighted homes have been demolished under the program since May 2014.

Sheffield said she worries there are not enough controls in place to properly monitor the soil used in the program. But Duggan said the claim is political and the building authority banned the use of dirt from the I-96 project.

A letter sent to U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Brenda Lawrence, D-Southfield, from Sheffield notes the program has been "mired in controversy since its inception" and it's led to "anxiety, uncertainty, and a lack of transparency for the community."

Tlaib in response said she and her team take the request "very seriously" and "it's critical that we ensure the public's trust."

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in a statement late Wednesday said it's "working with the federal agencies investigating the city's demolition program."

The DEQ notes that the state's Environmental Remediation law sets criteria for the relocation of soil. Contaminated soil cannot be relocated to uncontaminated sites.

Brian Farkas, director of special projects for the building authority, has said contractors must perform sampling and analysis of materials that come from sources that may exceed state criteria for residential use.

Sampling results, he said, influenced the building authority's decision to prohibit the use of soils from certain projects, including the I-96 construction project.

The DEQ reviewed that data and noted that it appears "these soils were contaminated with salt from road deicing."

Sheffield on Wednesday noted the DEQ's confirmation that dirt from the I-96 project was contaminated and "there's a possibility that this has been used throughout Detroit."

"If there is contaminated dirt in play, where is it and who is responsible for it?" she said.

Duggan said the building authority had "banned the use of 96 dirt in the first place."

"In cases where we've gotten any evidence of somebody who put in dirt that wasn't tested, we made them pull it out and replace it," he said. "No one has ever suggested on the federal side that the land bank has been anything but diligent on the environmental controls on the dirt."

In subpoenas dated Jan. 10, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program is seeking two years' worth of documentation from certain contractors over dirt used to fill holes for homes torn down under the blight removal effort.

Federal investigators have demanded that demolition firms produce receipts and records that reveal where their backfill dirt was coming from, who trucked it to sites in Detroit and where it was dropped off.

Both the land bank and building authority have said they continue to cooperate fully with the SIGTARP investigation. On Wednesday, each reiterated they had not received a subpoena about backfill.

In August 2014, the building authority banned the use of any dirt from the I-96 reconstruction project to fill residential demolition holes, "due to the high level of salt content identified through independent soil testing," Building Authority Director Tyrone Clifton said in a statement posted Tuesday on the city's website.

Later, it made the same decision with a variety of other sources, he said.

Katie Bach, a spokesman for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which allocates funds for the program, told The News last month that Detroit implemented a new dirt tracking system late last year.

During the time period referenced in the subpoenas, Detroit required contractors to provide invoices for dirt and the land bank maintained load tickets that documented the quantity and where it was dropped, according to MSHDA.

"The biggest difference is that the source is now being documented," Bach said in January.

Clifton said the building authority also put a system in place to alert is compliance team when authorized dirt had been exhausted. Clifton noted one contractor, DMC Consultants, recently begun filling holes with unauthorized dirt.

A representative with DMC could not be immediately reached Wednesday for comment.

Farkas said soil sampling is taking place for 37 holes that DMC filled with dirt that had not been previously authorized. Testing will determine whether the soil is unsafe for residential use.

"Should results show otherwise for any of the locations, DMC at its own expense will be required to remove and properly dispose of the dirt from those sites, then replace it with approved backfill," he said.

The company is also ineligible from bidding through April due to violations issued in January.

As of Wednesday, there are 365 open holes at demolition sites. Of those, 191 are within the 30-day compliance period. The other 110 open holes are beyond the limit, of which DMC has the most.

The company has been issued a "stop work order," prohibiting them from knocking down more structures without approval until they catch up on the backlog.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©