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SBD
Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 1022
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 Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:19 pm Post subject: It's all about the money with no responsibility!! |
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Times--Picayune (New Orleans)
April 1, 2005 Friday
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 4
LENGTH: 506 words
HEADLINE: Governor says she hopes state can avoid repaying FEMA grants;Agency seeks millions in mishandled relief
BYLINE: By Ed Anderson and Robert Travis Scott, Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE ---- Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Thursday that she hopes to "negotiate away" a demand by the federal government that the state repay $30.4 million in grants of disaster relief from storms and flooding. Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency saidWednesday that flood and hazard mitigation money sent to the state from 1997 and 2002 was misspent or poorly documented. FEMA spent $41 million to provide special grants for mitigation in 23 Louisiana parishes during those years, but the state's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness administered them so poorly that the federal agency called for three--fourths of that money to be repaid.
Some of the grants were awarded in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Frances and Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Much of the money was given to homeowners to make their properties less vulnerable to flooding or to induce them to move out of flood--prone areas.
In a March 28 letter to the state, FEMA said the state has 90 days to challenge its findings and provide supporting documents.
A spokesman at the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said there were problems with the way some of the grants were disbursed but not nearly as many as FEMA claims.
"It's a matter of paperwork," said Mark Smith of the homeland security office. The agency is scrambling to provide the proper documentation to meet the deadline, he said. Parish authorities also are responsible for keeping some records for the grants. The FEMA letter says the state has had multiple opportunities to provide the necessary documentation since FEMA issued an audit of the Louisiana's compliance with the program in November. But the state has still come up short, the letter says.
Blanco said her administration is doing "an internal investigation" on how the grants, issued while her predecessor, Gov. Mike Foster, was in office, were spent. She said she does not think anyone did anything illegal and the situation boils down to poor record--keeping.
"We think the paper trail was not adequately performed," she said. "We are now trying to figure out how to break it apart. . . . I am hoping we can demonstrate it was used for the proper function, disaster relief."
Blanco said first indications were that the state agency's "accounting procedures were not properly done" in tracking the grant money when it was received.
"The regretful thing is if we have to come up with the $30 million," Blanco said. "That takes away from our children; it takes away from the sick" in a budget year that is already tight. "I am hoping we can negotiate it away" with FEMA officials, she said.
A federal investigation of the spending was launched in Ouachita Parish in 2003 and has expanded into several other parishes. Three ranking officials of the emergency preparedness office have been indicted.
. . . . . . .
Robert Travis Scott can be reached at rscott@timespicayune.com or (225) 342--4197. Ed Anderson can be reached at
eanderson@timespicyaune.com or (225) 342--5810.
LOAD--DATE: April 1, 2005 |
SBD
Last edited by SBD on Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:41 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SBD
Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 1022
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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WHAT A BUNCH OF THIEVES!!
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Times--Picayune (New Orleans)
July 24, 2005 Sunday
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1818 words
HEADLINE: 'THIS IS A MESS';
The company hired to turn around the Orleans Parish public school district's finances discovers an accounting system in chaos
BYLINE: By Steve Ritea, Staff writer
Sajan George was deep into his second day of work at the Orleans Parish public schools central office when he realized the sheer enormousness of the task. An executive with the financial turnaround company hired to take over school district finances, George had just discovered an accounting system in such disarray that no one knew how much money the district had, and thousands of employee paychecks were reportedly inaccurate. One of those "workers" was named Wal--Mart because the retailer was being paid from the wrong account.
Bill Roberti, the district's new chief restructuring officer and George's colleague in St. Louis ---- where they had worked to close a $72 million budget hole in one year ---- walked into the room and casually asked what was up. "He just looked at me with a deer--in--the--headlights stare and said, 'Bill, this makes St. Louis look like a Fortune 100
company,' " Roberti recalled.
Most of the new consultants arrived on delayed flights less than two weeks ago, hours after Hurricane Dennis pummeled the Florida Panhandle, only to step into a different kind of storm in New Orleans. From the pitiful overall situation to the jaw--dropping details, what they have found has left them reeling. Roberti said the system is rife with
political patronage and individual fiefdoms, all protected at the expense of New Orleans children.
"This is a mess," Roberti said. "This is probably as bad as we've ever seen."
In 2003 in St. Louis, Roberti's team members began their assignment facing an enormous cash crunch. In New Orleans, they know the financial situation is bad, but they don't know how bad, George said, because key records are woefully out of date, obviously inaccurate or simply nonexistent. For one thing, the district has not had a clean audit since June 2002, said George, the system's newly installed chief operating officer. An audit is generally not considered clean unless auditors are comfortable certifying that the financial statements are accurate.
He said his firm is considering calling in an outside company to inventory the district's land, vehicles, technical equipment and other assets because "it's apparently never been done." The team led by Roberti and George has 26 other members from Alvarez & Marsal in New York and a subcontractor, MJLM, in Houston.
Under pressure from schools Superintendent Cecil Picard, the School Board approved a $16.8 million deal with Alvarez & Marsal on July 14. The contract gives the company control over hiring, firing and contracting for business functions in the central office, but the School Board retains control of its budget and all school--based personnel.
Little resistance
Recalling their arrival at district offices on the West Bank, Roberti and George said they were surprised by the lack of resistance from employees, even as they prepared to take over their jobs.
"I think what we experienced the first day or two is a system that has been beaten down," Roberti said. Everyone knows there is a huge problem, he said, and "no one is defending the status quo."
"This thing has been a candy jar," he said. "What's happened over time is people have put policies in place to protect certain entities. . . . All the laws of Louisiana are written like that."
Fixing the district's problems, he said, will take more than new policies and procedures. "We're talking about changing culture here," he said. Asked whether he thinks that change is possible, Roberti replied: "We don't know."
Progress reports
In an e--mail message Tuesday, Roberti reached out to more than 100 people ---- School Board members, officials in the mayor's and governor's offices, local clergy and others ---- promising to keep them informed about "the good news and the bad."
"I can pledge that I and my team will focus every ounce of energy and experience we have on this job," he said. "We will work in partnership with the many caring, dedicated people in the school system and in the community, we will be honest and forthright in our communications and unwavering in our commitment to success for New Orleans' children."
Alvarez & Marsal plans to send out e--mail like that regularly, Roberti said. A Web site also is in the works.
Transparency is necessary to build community support for what might seem like radical solutions to long--standing problems, Roberti and George said. "People know anecdotally the system's broken and there's problems out the wazoo, but people don't understand why it's not fixable," George said. "We won't be able to implement solutions until they understand the problem."
At a meeting Wednesday with about 15 teachers at their union headquarters, Roberti in seersucker slacks and a pink tie worked the room, shaking hands and repeating: "Hi, Bill Roberti. Good to meet you. Where do you teach?" Many teachers seemed skeptical at first, especially given the vast number of superintendents and consultants who have
come through promising change, then left with the system still in shambles.
As the meeting broke up, some of that wariness seemed to have lifted. Brenda Mitchell, president of the United Teachers of New Orleans, said it was perhaps the first time she has heard anyone be so honest about plans for the district. "To have a dialogue at this level is unheard of," Mitchell said. Other union members agreed. "We've never had anybody come in and tell us what they were going to do and how they were going to do it," said Helen Bazile, a teacher at Livingston Middle School.
The School Board might be more difficult to woo, considering how bitterly divided its members were about the decision to hire the company.
Roberti and George met with several board members before the team's first day on the job, but little in the way of specifics came out of those encounters.
"I really don't have a lot to say because it's all very new," said board President Torin Sanders, who initially refused to sign an agreement with the company that the School Board had approved. The meeting "was really introductory in terms of talking about the district overall."
Board member Phyllis Landrieu was more optimistic.
"I was impressed," she said. "They indicated they're very anxious to work with the board and work hand in hand to make sure this is a smooth process." George said he and Roberti have encountered only pleasant welcomes. "For the most part, I think we've been well--received," he said.
Paycheck problems
At each meeting and in every introduction, Roberti and George's message is clear: Don't expect your problems to be solved immediately.
For example, the payroll system is in such chaos that it lists many employees working at the wrong schools and in the wrong positions, George said. "We've heard anecdotally people are getting paychecks they shouldn't be (getting) or amounts they shouldn't get," he said.
When he arrived at the district office, George said, he heard that 4,300 of 7,000 paychecks issued during the past payroll period were inaccurate.
Roberti is using enrollment in the board's new health insurance plan to get an accurate count of employees and dependents. All employees will be required to present picture IDs and pay stubs to sign up for the program in the coming weeks, he said. To enroll other family members, a marriage certificate or children's Social Security numbers also will be
required.
Although the district asked employees to present those documents during an enrollment four years ago, people who forgot them were signed up anyway, said Steve Alschuler, a spokesman for Alvarez & Marsal. This time, things won't be so lax.
"The payroll audit will detect abuse. . . . It will benefit you and save the district money," George told teachers who asked at Wednesday's meeting about the prospect of pay raises. "As long as there's waste around you, it impacts what you get at the end of the day."
Database misused
Many of the district's problems stem from its poor use of the Oracle system, a huge computer database that includes payroll and vendor information, George said. This month, 53 employees had "super user" status, which allowed them to explore the database and change financial
information, including salaries.
In recent years, George said, 10,000 accounts of all kinds have been added annually to the Oracle system, suggesting at the very least excessive duplication. Now, George said, the system has only one super user, a member of the Alvarez team. But limiting access alone won't solve the problem.
"The data is so corrupted," Roberti said, the only solution is to completely shut it down and begin from scratch. George estimated it will be a year before the system can be fully operational and accurate. In the meantime, errors will continue, George said. But they will be corrected much more quickly, he said. "We can provide far better customer service. You deserve to have an accurate paycheck. I don't think that's a lot to ask of an employer."
Eventually, there will be fewer employees to pay, Roberti said, because the system is bloated beyond its means. But teachers won't be let go if savings can be found elsewhere, he said. Noting the St. Louis district didn't fire any teachers, Roberti said, "We're not here to cut teachers. That's the last place we want to look.
"If we're going to cut costs, it'll be deep and hard outside the classroom."
Schools in disrepair With the Aug. 18 start of school looming, Roberti said, there's simply too much to fix. One thing the team is hoping to accomplish is at least making schools presentable. George said some of the company's staff toured several district schools and found them in utter disrepair.
"To say we were disappointed would be the understatement of the year," he said. A number of schools also have outstanding health citations, some stemming from unsanitary conditions in cafeterias, George said.
All of that is going to change, he said. "We're going to start to mobilize the custodial staff as a SWAT team," George said. Janitors will be sent to schools that need the most work and held accountable if it doesn't get done.
"We're going to bird--dog this and micromanage this," George said, suggesting that principals might be given digital cameras to chronicle the areas of their schools that are filthy or falling apart. Teachers nodded knowingly during Wednesday's meeting. Jackie Cockherham, a teacher at Alcee Fortier Senior High School, said it has no working water fountains.
Another teacher, Maria Deloch--West, said she often cleans her own classroom ---- and the bathroom ---- at Martin Behrman Elementary School when the janitor is absent. And that's to say nothing about the rats that have eaten apart her shoulder bag.
"This thing is in pretty dire straits, to say the least," Roberti told them. "A few weeks ago, the mayor said you ought to bankrupt the thing, and he's not far off. We're not planning to let that happen . . . but we've got a lot of work to do."
Steve Ritea can be reached at sritea@timespicayune.com or (504) 826--3396.
GRAPHIC: Bill Roberti 'We're not here to cut teachers,' he tells union members Sajan George Estimates it will take a year to make system fully operational
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