Terry KeRy
The city of Benton
Harbor refused to pro­
vide The Ci tizen 0 til
. formation about the
Community De lopment
Home Rehabilitation pro­
&ram.
In the ovember 7
of this p per, a ory
about the program
enti "After 8,870
the Hole's Still There,"
pabli ed. The artie ,
iafFly un!: orable to the
E D home rehab program
evo ed respo from
other home 0 en ho
also have had their proper-
ork. That in Sep- ty . or ed on by the
tember."
Community De lopment
'Accordin to . department program.
o er, the paint is peel-
. aD th rooms that In an attempt to do
painted; the kitchen ho job or reporting
cabinets are falling on e quality of or,
( picture bo e), the 1b Citizen reque ted
toilet seat be; th hue three things:
of the to t leaks; d the - a list of all homes
rehabilitated in the 1 t
I
Em
Co fax, d r ho reo.
bilitated by the Com-
munity lopment De-
partment.
HoDman d Roe
re the eontr to d
o amoun ed to
7,370 <:contini to the
y', bill list apprO¥ed 00
J 1:IUY 2, 1979 by the
city .
n. FO er y
complained for
mo to city about
quality of the
"I feel that e city
�t ould not let
contractors get a y ith
o like this. e p y
ir high prices d for
their poor which I'm
sure they uldn't do in
OJDe ," e ld,
The CitizeJl un-
to re Hollman for
nt ' by p time.
d
came out to
o Y IS; the contrac­
tors ho. or ed each
property; and the total
amount spent on e ch
house;
- cce to the or
write-ups prepared by the
Community Development
departmen t list all
the job, that m t be d
by the (On ractors 0 ch
property; md, .
- a copy of the police
in . n report of the
irrepIarities of the home
reh b pfOIJam.
The Citizen req t
w made in writin and 0
directed to ting Commu­
nity Development director
Ro oe Da 0, • th a copy
to tin& Ci ana r
AI ·tfle d.
Roscoe Da . re pond­
ed by letter ying that
AI . tf�ld had ref d
to pr Ode th inform ..
tion.
° tfield told The
Citizen reporter th t he
ould n� re e the
inform tion ithout como.
o ion ppr beca
of the prior unfavorab
ory do by this paper.
On 0 mber 19,
The Citizen provided
ayor Joel Pat ith
copie of the corte
de ee and a req for
the informa ° • At P
time some 10 day later,
no from
mayor.
Under the federal
'Freedom of Information
Act, the city ould ha
only fi e d y after the
reque t to provide or
This per begin
timely ppeal pr
to HUD - urce of
fun 0 for home re-
hab program - to ob 0
th info tio. Or,
paper can try to
the story, pr 0 0
t th ho rs
ppo dtobedo .
o
r
o
ment, ho in turn process
it for appro by tit
mmission.
Once the commission
approves the check, it is
made out and may 0 t for
months in a de dr er
un til CD gives its fmal
pproeal _ of the or
do . If a contractor did
che
Therefore the
amounts . ted on the city
bill lists are not accura ,
but the only source tfris
paper had.
Contractors d the
amounts approved for pay­
ment by the city com-
o 0 OIl include:
- Hollman and Boll-
man (formerly Hollm
d Roe , 1325 P ............. wu
SI02,OO6;
- Hull/ Huddle on!
Karp, S79,055;
-J r, (no 0 t-
ed in the ph direc-
tory S44 ,005;
- GR.Ho, 415 Pipe­
one, SII, 425;
tal
3,.75.
3
are contr ct-
and Ito much do they
make on the city's Ho
Reh bilitation program?
A study of the wuch­
er lists from January 1
of this year to the p t
revealed nine contracto
actively bidding von the
p�. 0
The fJgUJes ° ted 0
the city's voucher 0 are
not ccurate, An inform­
ed source ho declined to
be identified id that all
of the meeks voted 00 by
the city commission are
not aI y p id out.
soon
or begins on
a hoole, he submits a bill
to Community De lop-
�un
u
D
D
D