Missing from Online GTCN Councilmember Forum

April 1, 2010 Council Member Forum Walt Stanckiewitz authored an open letter to the Management of Blue Mt. Senior Villas, and Property Management of the Senior Center. (CBH = Corporation for Better Housing)

Dear Mr Hardt:

I am the newest member of the Grand Terrace City Council and therefore have the least amount of personal history with the Blue Mountain Seniors Villas and the adjoining Senior Center. What I have been exposed to are documents, letters, emails, and a tour of the unfinished facilities in February, 2009. One of the themes mentioned in an August 6, 2009 letter to the Grand Terrace Planning Commission was CBH's desire to "be a good partner". Your actions on March 22,2010, in removing the furniture from various rooms of the Senior Center does not seem to support this concept. In fact, they seem quite contrary. I am left wondering just what your firm desires in this relationship to be. Many residents of the Villa's (your customers who pay the rent) also use the Se. Center for recreational activities as well as the Sr. Lunch Program. The removal of the furniture hurt the very people that I have been led to believe you care about. Possibly I have been misled.

Again I refer to the August 6, 2009 letter from Mr. Sclafani, in which he refers to a "mutual understanding" between City Staff including past City Managers, Tom Schwab and Steve Berry and past Community Development Director, Gary Koontz and CBH. This "partnership" was the driving force in successfully completing this project. Mr. Sclafani then proceeds to attribute "HORSE TRADING" as the concept used throughout the development process. Was he saying a project of this magnitude used the development contracts and building plans as just guidelines and alterations/changes were handled with hand-shake deals? I do not understand how a private enterprise, such as yours, can enter into such arrangements with a government entity. For your own protection I would assume that you would have wanted such changes memorialized. As written, the Agreement has a lifetime in excess of 50 years. It seems obvious that representatives from both organizations will change many times during this contract period. How can questions in 2025 concerning the development period be answered if accurate and proper documentation does no exist? I doubt that the future members of the City Council?RDA will accept verbal reference to past City officials.

Mr. Hardt, your email of March 23, 2010, to our present City Manager, Betsy Adams, you appear to admit that your firm "in an effort to share a small portion of these expenses with the City, CBH veiled at staff's request the submitted change orders to reflect other costs which were not attributed to furniture for the senior center. If your firm did not desire reimbursement for the furniture, please explain to me why you chose to remove it. What were you thinking? Was this your plan all along? Was this furniture part of your "Marketing Plan" to fill the Villas then remove it for use at another project to do the same? Characteristics most important to me in a business relationship are honesty and trust. If they do not exist, the business relationship does not exist. At this point I am having a difficult time trying to find trust in our relationship.

I have kept silent on another issue related to the Sr. Center, the noncommercial grade kitchen. There seems to be enough blame to spread around to all the players in this deal, but I still wonder why a firm with your experience in these particular types of construction projects missed this detail. It is my belief that your firm should have "flagged" this omission early in the design process. Was this another "Horse Traded" deal? This error is going to cost the City in excess of $75,000.00 And I understand that your firm wants to bid on this project. Are you asking for a second chance to do it right as long as someone else pays for it? Why should the City/RDA even consider your participation in the bid process after the March 22nd incident?

I am only one member of the City Council/RDA and I do not speak for the other members, but I am very confused, upset and concerned as to how your firm and the City can work together in the future. It appears there is a need for much dialogue between your firm and the Council/RDA to clear the air and establish a relationship that can carry us into the future. Your words of preserving the integrity of this partnership offer hope. Your firm's actions in the future will tell the story.

If you or other senior members of CBH would like to discuss these issues in detail, I am willing to meet with any of you.

Sincerely,

Walt Stanckiewitz
Council Member.

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Note to Walt Stanckiewitz:

Dear Council Member Walt Stanckiewitz:
Your letter indicates there is a trail of Contract Violations and possible Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Fraud on the parts of CBH and the former mentioned City Employees. A Contract is a Contract. Failure to preform that contract demands an action. Horse Trading without documentation and Council Approvals goes into a more serious area. It may be time that CBH is ready to talk and identify those areas of the original contract and build design that have not been done and regardless of the horse trades should be done in accordance to the Contracted Obligations. It is time the City take back the Quarter Horse they got when we got a Donkey.

Intentional billing misrepresentations you mention as being costs that were veiled constitutes a FRAUD. The City Council voted to pay for an invoice that was not called out in the contract. Or the city didn't get something that was called out in the contract. This is Fraud, and there had to be 2 or more people involved in the Fraud that makes it a Conspiracy.

Tom Schwab's protection of Steve Berry during the Window Tinting Issue, should be a signal that the conduct was tolerated if not encouraged within the City. This amounts to Conspiracy to Violate Governmental Contracting Regulations and Practices. Federal funds, and Debt Bonds were sold to fund the development. These funds are regulated and dependent on the reliability of the City's Contract with CBH. It may be time to ask Federal Authorities to Audit the entire development and project. With what the council know now it sounds like CBH should have to pay for a complete set of reverse engineered plans and assessments be made at their Cost. The City should be assured that the building materials and practices were as stipulated by contract and the building safety and expected life span has not been diminished by the "Horse Trades".