Review: City has stepped up two high-profile grant programs

A new review conducted by federal inspectors found the city has stepped up its oversight of two high-profile grant programs since getting rebuked two years ago for failing to properly track its money.

A report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the city an overall rating of “Improved” in regard to its handling of the Community Development Block Grant and HOME grant programs. These are federally funded but locally managed programs designed to support a variety of housing and community revitalization initiatives.

This year, they provided the city with $1.5 million in grant money to disburse among local projects.

After conducting an evaluation in April that included a series of site visits, HUD regulators said the city has noticeably strengthened its monitoring and financial accountability since its last review in 2008. At that time, the city was found to be failing in its oversight responsibilities and was cited for numerous violations that resulted in a portion of past grants being repaid.

The city has been working to get its house in order ever since. Changes made include increasing funding for grant administration, hiring a consultant to help navigate the complex world of HUD regulations and implementing mandatory training for all grant recipients.

“We’re stabilizing the program,” said Bonnie Svrcek, deputy city manager and acting director of community development. “Have there been bumps in the road? Yes. But we learn from them and move on.”

HUD still raised some concerns about the program in its latest report, but Svrcek noted they “paled in comparison” to the issues raised in 2008. “I think we had nowhere to go but up,” she said.

The new report contains six comments, two concerns and one finding of a regulatory violation. By comparison, inspectors in 2008 registered 28 comments, four concerns and 13 findings of violation.

The citations listed in the latest report appear to deal primarily with three things:

1). The city was advised to start requiring grant recipients to use a uniform set of worksheets to document the income eligibility of its program participants.

2). The city was asked to review and update its accounts to ensure that grant recipients are spending their money in a timely fashion. Several were found to still be carrying balances on grants from years past.

3). The city will be required to demonstrate in the future that it can execute written agreements with grant recipients that meet HUD regulations. Such agreements must be put in place before any money can be disbursed. In several cases, inspectors found the city had not finalized these agreements in a timely manner, delaying the release of funds.

Inspectors also found at least two cases where agreements were executed but had important information missing. This was the source of the report’s single finding of a regulatory violation. HUD attributed the gaps to a lack of “diligence” and the fact that the city has been adjusting to a 100 percent turnover among its grant staff since 2008; some of those employees left of their own accord while others were let go.

The city’s response to HUD’s conclusions is due this week. Svrcek said they were pleased with the improvement in their rating and committed to making more progress.

“Continuous improvement is our mantra,” she said.