Pacman, I’m sorry but I thought we needed to move this discussion here so we could have more space for this important topic.

Topic: Consoc on the way out?????     Posted: Today at 2:58pm PACMAN

Back when the decision to keep Consoc was made many of us here were against it, as were many at City Hall.  The question is why does Council get it wrong so many times, when the average citizen with few to no resources can get it right? Now we have to go through more wasted time and money.   City moves to terminate contract with Section 8 administrator By Jessica Heffner, Staff Writer 1:41 PM Friday, September 17, 2010 MIDDLETOWN — The city could be shopping for a new administrator for its Section 8 program as council will consider a resolution to terminate its contract with Consoc Housing Consultants at its housing meeting Tuesday, Sept. 21. Mayor Larry Mulligan said Consoc, the Columbus-based company that has been the administrator of the city’s Section 8 program since 1996, was notified in April that there were several deficiencies related to their operation of the program. While some progress was made initially, he said he believes some of the problems have not been addressed. City Manager Judy Gilleland and Community Revitalization Director Doug Adkins are expected to give a report on those deficiencies at the housing authority meeting at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers, One Donham Plaza.

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MIDDLETOWN, OHIO May 5, 2009
Ord. No. O2009-34 Ordinance No. O2009-34, an ordinance establishing a procedure for and authorizing CONSOC a contract with CONSOC Housing Consultants for the purpose of administering the Housing Choice Voucher Program was presented for second reading and action.
Ms. Gilleland explained she was pleased that contract negotiations are completed.

The parties came to a fair agreement. It took a lot of work to get to this point. CONSOC will receive 78% of the fee. The City will have an enhanced housing quality inspection program with enhanced criminal background checks, regular reporting, monthly meetings and regular discussions. HUD reminded her that she is the director. They will have enhanced staff management of the program. Staff is currently revising policies in the administrative plan. The contract is for a three-year term and she recommended for approval.

Ms. Scott Jones stated she is going to vote no and wanted to explain. During the hearings she voted no and will be consistent. She commended CONSOC for honoring the contract negotiations.

Mr. Marconi moved for the adoption of Ordinance O2009-34. Ms. Scott Jones seconded and the motion carried. Ayes: Armbruster, Becker, Ford, Marconi, Mulligan and Schiavone. Nays: Scott Jones

Vivian why is this so important?  I think this is a move in the right direction that is long over due and should have taken place long ago,  For far to long no one and I mean no one has been looking out for the overall well being of the city as a whole.

Pacman

I have talked with landlords and tenants and the real problem seems to be with The Inspection Group. TIG can’t seem to get the paperwork to CONSOC in a timely manner. If you remember all the past council meetings it was all about TIG not being able to transfer information from their PDF computer file to CONSOC.

CONSOC didn’t increase Section 8 that was Mr. Kohler and then it went before City Council for approval. It wasn’t CONSOC that saw $$$ that would be the City of Middletown….and I believe that’s what this is all about again, I and Nelson have said for months that the City would bring this entire program in-house to “feed the beast”.

However I believe this current action has been taken because of the recent visits and letters from HUD with Mr. Atkins and Ms Gilleland. 
I do not believe that HUD will let this continue much longer.
 

Spider
I’m really concerned about the transfer of millions of dollars into the downtown again when we don’t have the last restoration project paid for and now we are going to add to this debt. How much do we now owe on bonds?
How much money will the City invest in the Manchester Inn deal? Where is all this money going to come from?

As I remember it, it was TIG that was having a hard time getting tenant info from CONSOC and then the two had a problem getting reports between each other in a format they could both work with.  I find it hard to believe that TIG who does inspections for programs far bigger than Middletown's was the main Problem in this mess.  If you don't think CONSOC was more than happy to add vouchers for the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars you are sadly mistaken. CONSOC gets 78% of the Admin fee, I am assuming that is the $964K the Journal mentions and the city gets 22% of the admin fee, I am guessing that would be about $200-250K for the city roughly.  Then the city has to turn around and pay TIG $149K, so I don't see where the city is making out financially in this deal as far as the administration of vouchers.  We all know the city ran up the number of vouchers, the problem is no one CONSOC included advised against this plan, I wonder why....$$$$$$$$$$.

I believe that the original plan was to hold on to the high # of vouchers(to control the funding associated), yet steer the users to other locations. I don't think that the plan will fly now, instead approx.1000 vouchers(and the attached funding) will be transferred elsewhere.

Hermes wrote: Pacman - Are you defending city hall and saying the section 8 fiasco is TIG & Consoc fault ? I guess I'm just to much of a pessimist,I see money involved for city hall some way some how and IMO thats the only reason for all this. Nothing else makes sense. Whether it has been kickbacks from Consoc & or TIG or what but I'll damn near guarantee money is flowing into a private account somewhere. And if it's not the money then what is it ?   Am I the only one on this board that thinks some of the biggest crooks in town are in city hall ?!!!

Vivian wrote: I disagree with you on this point. It was clearly the obligation of Mr. Adkins to furnish the tenant data to TIG. It should never have been the obligation of CONSOC to train TIG. It was Mr. Adkins job to make sure that these venders could exchange information before he gave the contract to TIG. The transfer of information from TIG has been a nightmare for all concerned since the day they were hired. I called several council members and told them that the TIG program would not work here in Middletown because of the turn around time required for this program.