| | Issue #19.39 :: 04/23/2008 - 04/29/2008 | Deke’s sweet deal
Mayor Copenhaver failed to comply with the terms of a $30,000 grant he received in 2005, but city officials ignored the problem… until now
| BY MURFEE FAULK
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AUGUSTA, GA - For more than two years, Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver delayed repaying $22,200 that he owed the city for failing to comply with the terms of a façade grant he received in 2005.
Copenhaver responded that he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of managing the property.
“Actually with all this on my plate [as mayor], Jay has been managing the property for several years now,” said Copenhaver. “He [Simons] was overseeing all aspects of the work. We worked towards putting together a group to develop the property, but that fell through.”
The Housing and Community Development Department began requesting proof of repairs from Simons in 2005, and continued in 2006 and 2007. The property still remains gutted. But Simons only repaid the $22,200 on April 10 of this year, 10 days after the Metro Spirit filed an open records request with the city requesting the façade grant records.
City law department officials delayed in making the façade grant files public, saying that the records were in long-term storage.
During the delay, however, AHCDD officials were busy reconstructing the Copenhaver file, according to fax date stamps on some of the documents.
Furthermore, records indicate that the city might have substantially overpaid for the façade improvements that were completed.
Because the façade grant money comes from federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds, federal rules require a competitive bidding process. AHCDD awarded the construction contract to low bidder Midwestern Maintenance for $40,600.
(Midwestern Maintenance of Piqua, Ohio, is the company currently working on repairs to the Municipal Building on Greene Street.)
The department paid $30,000 to Midwestern Maintenance and $5,300 to local architectural firm Virgo Gambill. A letter from Commerce Ventures says they put up $10,600.
But the city seems to have gotten very little for its $35,300.
Virgo Gambill’s architectural drawings call for numerous small repairs, such as filling in holes in the stone façade caused by past signage, repairing a downspout and caulking around windows. A comparison of the current state of the building and older pictures on file with the city show that the façade was cleaned and minor blemishes to the stone façade were repaired. Windows were recaulked, but the windows are still 1960s single-pane style, and door frames and doors are unsightly. The city’s file contains no record that the work was ever inspected, as called for in the grant program.
The only record of work on file was a $2,500 repair bill from Buck’s Stucco for repairs to the side of the building.
The AHCDD records also show that the department attempted to reconstruct the Copenhaver file after the Metro Spirit request. Copies of those checks made out to Buck’s Stucco were faxed to AHCDD on April 10 from Wachovia Securities, the bank on which they were drawn.
In a letter dated June 28, 2006, Simons requested an extension of time to finish interior improvements.
On February 16, 2007, a year and a half after the façade project was completed, façade program director Henry Holt sent a letter to Simons requesting documentation of interior improvements. He requested that documentation be provided no later than February 23, 2007.
The next correspondence on file was from April 10, 2008, 10 days after the Metro Spirit open records request. A letter from AHCDD Director Chester A. Wheeler to Simons requests repayment of “the façade grant amount, architectural fees and other fees associated with this grant” as spelled out in the façade grant agreement.
While those items amount to $35,300, Wheeler offset Simon’s undocumented contribution of $13,100 and came to a repayment total of $22,200.
A check from Simons for that amount is on file, dated the same day the letter was written.
Asked what the penalty would be for a grant recipient who failed to comply with the program, Holt said the city gives owners 90 days to make their interior repairs and a few more months to provide proof.
“We try to give them adequate time to get their work in order,” Holt said. “But if they won’t show that they’ve spent the money as required, we would take legal action.”
The mayor was apparently exempt from that rule. | |
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