By Emerson Drake
8/30/11
Friday, June 3rd 2011 when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ordered West Palm Beach to pay back $1.67 million it received from 1998-2007. City documents show $1.19 million of the $1.67 million is owed as a result of the 2006 Blue Roof program, run by Paula Ryan, West Palm Beach's interim housing director at that time and a candidate for mayor this spring.
Sounds a lot like Modesto only in our case it was a Modesto City Councilman, Joe Muratore, who pocketed the funds.
Again from West Palm Beach, "We didn't play by the rules, and we got fined as a result. Hopefully that will never happen again," Mayor Jeri Muoio said. Lois Frankel, who left office in March and is running for U.S. Congress, was mayor when the Blue Roof program was created and carried out.
West Palm Beach was audited in 2008 because Miami's HUD office "ranked the city as high risk in its fiscal years 2006 and 2007 risk assessments," HUD said. It initially sought $3.39 million from the city but only required West Palm Beach to pay $1.67 million in its final determination.
The audit, done by HUD's Office of the Inspector General, found the city deficient in four areas: contract administration, monitoring, maintaining supporting documentation and reporting program income.
The deficiencies happened "because the city disregarded HUD requirements and had ineffective policies and procedures," the report stated.
This information is from the West Palm Beach News but the content strikes a resonate chord here in Modesto. Why is City Attorney Susan Acala Wood refusing to detail her involvement in Muratore's decision to vote back in 2010. After all she was quick enough to publicly weigh in when Garrad Marsh was preparing to vote on another matter around that same point in time. Is her decision to stay mum political?
Will Modesto be forced to repay HUD for the misuse of funds from both the SCAP fiasco and Councilman Muratore's greed?
Where would the money come from?
And lastly, why is Councilman Muratore still on the City Council?
