Story Created:
Sep 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM EST
Story Updated:
Sep 8, 2010 at 10:20 PM EST
An Executive Summary of a report with over 1,000 pages of documentation sites both state and federal grant funds were misused.
Not only does Attorney J.K. Hage detail a lack of oversight in several departments, the report also outlines ways in which grant money was misused by contractors who were supposed to be making repairs for low income homeowners.
Hage's summary of findings states Utica's appearance does not suggest an effective use of roughly $140 million in federal grant money.
However the report doesn't state exactly how much of that money was misused.
Hage says he was disappointed to find many layers of oversight failed, some of which are specifically named in the report like former Utica Mayor Timothy Julian and the current City of Utica Comptroller .
"You see a very disturbing pattern here and something has to be done with the Comptrollers function within the City of Utica," said Hage.
Utica City Comptroller Michael Cerminaro released a statement saying Utica Mayor Roefaro's hiring of Hage was a "Politically motivated attempt to focus blame on others."
Roefaro denies those allegations.
"You know when you look at this, I say we gotta take this city through the car wash, I can not move this city forward unless we clean up the past," said Roefaro.
Now several lawsuits are pending against contractors, accountants and GroWest itself, as the city goes after insurance money to help cover a legal bill already estimated at six figures.
The report also outlines a plan of action for the city, and how it can move forward, largely through reorganization.
But the report also shows the damage is still on going.
$2 million in annual lead safety grant money is suspended and $4 million in other grant funding is now in jeopardy.
The executive summary says had any players performed competently GroWest would now be prosperous.
Most Popular