SUNBURY - A motion to have the Inspector General's Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the FBI conduct an investigation into the alleged mismanagement of a state grant that requires Northumberland County to possibly pay back as much as $215,000 for failing to provide proper documentation to determine client eligibility has been removed from tonight's meeting agenda of the Northumberland County Board of Commissioners.
County Commissioner Richard Shoch said Commissioner Chairman Vinny Clausi, who sets the agenda, informed Shoch Tuesday that he initially wanted to exclude a request to have the FBI conduct an investigation before deciding to remove the entire motion from the agenda.
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and the funding was dispersed to state and local governments to keep individuals in their homes or to help individuals and families who were already homeless find affordable housing. The county received $365,361 from the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to implement the HUD program, and it must provide documentation to support the use of $215,150.66 to clients deemed ineligible by DCED.
In February, county officials received a 30-day extension from its Feb. 7 deadline to address the payback of state grant money for HPRP.
Shoch has twice requested Clausi and Commissioner Stephen Bridy to pass a motion at public meetings to have an investigation conducted by the inspector general's office and FBI into the county's administration of the HPRP grant as well as any other county-related matters that come to their attention during the probe. But Clausi and Bridy have failed to second Shoch's motion.
The motion originally listed on the agenda calls for the county to fully cooperate with HUD and FBI authorities by granting access to any and all officials, employees, facilities, records and computer systems, and county information held by any third parties in connection with contracts or other dealings with the county.
Changing agenda
In an e-mail sent to The News-Item Tuesday afternoon, Shoch wrote, "Approximately two weeks ago, I had a discussion with Commissioner Clausi to impress on him the importance of allowing independent investigative agencies to come in to review the county in light of the recent HPRP grant issue. I want to ensure that if fraud is being perpetrated within our organization, it is discovered and dealt with appropriately. Commissioner Clausi finally relented and instructed the secretary to include the motion I had made previously on the agenda for the April 10 meeting.
"Today (Tuesday), Commissioner Clausi called me to indicate that he now would only support the motion if we only called in the HUD Inspector General's Office, but not the FBI. After discussing this, I indicated that I would ask the secretary to remove the FBI reference from the motion. Within 10 minutes, I received a phone call from county solicitor Frank Garrigan, who indicated Chairman Clausi had just called him and instructed him to remove the entire motion from the agenda."
Shoch said citizens need to be asking why Clausi and Bridy are so reluctant to have the agencies review Northumberland County's affairs.
"As a commissioner, I believe I am responsible for ensuring that the county appropriately administers monies it receives from taxpaying citizens, and that the taxpayers are not the victims of fraud within our own organization," Shoch said."
The commissioner reiterated the county failed to provide adequate documentation to justify monies spent under the HPRP program, which had a failure rate of almost 80 percent.
'Nothing wrong'
He concluded, "Even with the additional time granted to try to rectify these deficiencies after the fact, our best-case scenario is that we will have to repay at least $155,000 to the state."
When contacted late Tuesday afternoon, Clausi said he removed the motion from tonight's agenda because he didn't want to embarrass Northumberland County employees. Clausi said he also wanted to include in the motion that the county wouldn't pay back any money to HUD until the investigation is complete. But he claimed Shoch refused to put that request in the motion while adding some language of his own.
Shoch denied changing any language from his motions made at previous commissioners' meetings.
The commissioner said, "I invite the public to review minutes from those meetings or listen to the tapes, if Commissioners Clausi and Bridy didn't destroy them already."
"I don't think it's necessary to request the FBI to conduct an investigation into this matter," Clausi said. "Mr. Shoch can call the FBI himself and request an investigation. If we did something wrong, we will pay the money back. But if we didn't, HUD won't get any money from us."
As for his ongoing feud with Shoch, Clausi stated, "If Mr. Shoch is looking for publicity, let him take out an ad in the newspaper and put his picture in because he knows how to smile."
When asked to respond to Clausi's last comment, Shoch said he wouldn't "dignify such drivel" with a response.
Evening meetings
Northumberland County commissioners will hold their monthly meeting at 7 p.m. today at the county administration center to give more citizens the opportunity to attend and avoid a conflict with Shoch's schedule.
At a special meeting Dec. 6, the board agreed to change the dates of the April 9 and July 9 evening meetings to April 10 and July 10 at the administration center so Shoch could attend. Two days earlier, Shoch voted against the schedule of meetings for 2013 because the April and July meetings conflicted with meetings he had in Point Township, where he serves as solicitor for the board of supervisors.
Shoch accused Clausi of purposely changing the meeting dates to cause a conflict with his schedule.
After being criticized by Shoch, Clausi agreed to change the meeting dates so Shoch could attend.
The commissioners agreed to hold two of their monthly meetings in the evening to allow more citizens to attend.
At the Dec. 6 meeting, Bridy said he is committed to having more commissioners' meetings in the evening if they are well attended.
Clausi said evening meetings may cost the county more money, but Shoch said that wouldn't be the case because many of the county workers who attend the meetings are salaried employees who don't qualify for overtime.
Shoch recommended holding some evening meetings in buildings such as the Northumberland County Career and Arts Center in Shamokin to accommodate the public. He said the costs would be minimal.