The heat index was 100 degrees outside on Thursday when the Unified Government Commission was meeting at City Hall, and the atmosphere inside was even hotter when the group discussed Community Development Block Grant funding.
The commission has been discussing shifting from using CDBG funds for predominantly emergency home repairs to a project-based investment focused on larger expenditures, such as building new housing for low-income residents.
The UG Commission was discussing reducing CDBG funding $400,000 for home repairs to $200,000. Under discussion was some of the home repair money going toward a redevelopment effort for the Highland Crest neighborhood to be done by Argentine Betterment Corp. During the meeting, the amount was changed to $300,000 for emergency home repairs, with six commissioners in favor.
ABC was the only agency that had submitted a bid for a new development effort, according to the commissioners. One of the issues raised at the meeting was whether other agencies knew that the UG might approve bids for new housing. Some commissioners stated that the bid process was open to everyone, and some agencies chose not to put in a bid this year. Mayor Mark Holland said that the year before, the UG CDBG fund received six requests and no grants were approved to the community agencies.
The commission took a straw poll Thursday evening that showed six commissioners in support of going ahead with the funding for the ABC project in Highland Crest, on the south side of Wyandotte County.
But before the meeting was over, heated words were flying back and forth.
“The optics don’t look good to me,” Mayor Mark Holland said. “How did ABC know there was going to be a change of paradigm that would free up $500,000? And if we changed the paradigm, aren’t we obligated to go back out to the public and say we changed the paradigm?”
According to sources, the mayor’s office has been handling a lot of complaint calls this week after his remarks at the National Council of La Raza convention were replayed on conservative websites, criticizing the mayor’s remarks.
Commissioner Angela Markley said ABC had no advance notice of the grant funding change, just the same information that all the other agencies had.
Commissioner Jane Philbrook said she had received several comments, and the process appeared “murky.” She said she was “deeply disappointed.”
“Appearances do matter in government, whether we like it or not,” Commissioner Philbrook said.
Commissioner Ann Murguia took exception with what she said was the implication of dirty politics.
Mayor Holland brought up that the application from ABC listed the Argentine Neighborhood Development Association as a partnering agency, and that Commissioner Murguia was the executive director of ANDA. He said Commissioner Murguia was advocating for the project without a recusal. He said he was “very concerned” about moving forward with it.
Commissioner Murguia stated that ANDA received no money from ABC and that ANDA was just providing free consulting and free advice to ABC. She did not believe there was a conflict of interest.
Commissioner Hal Walker said that other local groups have applied for CDBG funding for years and should know how to apply. Mayor Holland said it’s not surprising that the other groups didn’t apply if the previous year, there were no grants given out.
“There’s always sour grapes when somebody missed an opportunity,” said Commissioner Jim Walters, saying that processes were followed and approved, that there was an opportunity to reflect and make changes next year, and that the UG Commission needs to approve it and move on.
Walters added that someone once told him that “we spend more time talking about CDBG funds than we do about our $330 million budget.”
After the heated exchange, the commission took a straw poll, with six votes in favor, deciding not to go back to the other agencies and let them apply again, and to go forward with ABC receiving the $400,000 grant for the Highland Crest project.
A video of the meeting is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIpZngG6ghw. The CDBG discussion starts at about 1:24 on the video, with some of the more heated moments starting at about 2:05 on the video.