A resolution asking various state agencies to launch their own investigations into GroWest Inc. was voted down by the city’s Common Council on Wednesday after it was proposed by two council members. . . .
Mayor David Roefaro and Corporation Counsel Linda Sullivan Fatata echoed the sentiments of opposing council members when they said the city’s only involvement with GroWest was through federal money, and that HUD and the FBI should be allowed to proceed without the state getting involved.
The Gro-West situation cries out for an investigation by an organization that is TOTALLY DISCONNECTED from the local political/business scene -- and not a locally picked law/consulting firm which itself has profited from the handling of government grants (see the 990 link in the linked story).
What are they trying to hide?
5 comments:
The state would not be " totally disconnected from politics" either. In fact, the state may be the most political of all, particularly since the Attorney General is running for governor. The sin of the matter is the near complete neglect of Hage, Roefaro, the OD and everyone else to deal with the Gro West Board and staff. They were the first line of feduciary and moral responsibilty. City Hall was responsible to moniter them. The fact that the Urban and Economic Development Department was staffed by heads, who were and are completely unqualified for their jobs and staffs comprised of political appointments under both Julian and Roefaro made the entire department a joke. It is an expensive joke on several layers. The Hage report stating there is a staff shortage is the craziest of all. The shortage is not the number but in competent people who actually work. We have employees who get paid lots of money to shoot TV shows, walk around talking to businesses ad nauseum, plan parties and spend hours on line and on cell phones, all on the federal CD largess. The entire scene is a disgrace. And, we wonder why there is scandal!
This whole situation will no doubt, turn into a whitewash. Of course they want to handle it locally, so the usual suspects in the good 'ol boys club will get off scot free. More than likely we have the same bunch at work here, the same ones who ripped off the UCSD, the State & local taxpayers during the last 2 bond issues. It's a shame that the CC doesn't have the guts or the moral fortitude to stand up for what's right.
I happened to hear the mayor discussing the issue on the radio. Disgraceful, at best. The man takes virtually no responsibilty for oversight after being in office for 30 months and for appointing the man who heads the department that was responsible for direct oversight. All Roefaro doeas is whap about the OD. He's sounding as HRH but it's serious with him because he is an actual mayor!
Yep, they've found a scapegoat in former Mayor Julian. The report claims that Julian violated the city's charter when he reorganized the city's office of ecomomic development. Which begs the question. Where was the City of Utica's legal dept. when this was going on? Why didn't Fatata or others in that office advise Julian {who is not a lawyer} that what he was propising was illegal? Perhaps Roefaro should ask his legal dept. why they dropped the ball when this was going on. But, don't count on it.
The Hage report and Roefaro's statements are farcial. At least two people in the Urban Development Department were in charge of overseeing Grow West during both Julian and Roefaro. You then had the City Legal office and Comptrollers' office as arms of oversight support and responsibility. Add the Budget Director, City Council and the Grow West Board of Directors and you had enough people to "watch" and check than necessary. The bottom line is that none of these people and offices,including Rofaro did their jobs. Of course it wasn't their money that was wasted or stolen!
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