Presentation to the Ogdensburg City Council by Pat Biggs:
(reads from CWA CDBG Handbook)
The staff from C. W. Augustine, Inc. will inspect the work in progress at appropriate times; however, the homeowners bear the final responsibility for ensuring that the contractor’s work meets generally accepted standards. You should understand that it is your responsibility to carry out your housing rehabilitation plan. This will include contacting and communicating with the contractor involved. Always keep in mind that this is your house, and your project. We are here to assist you to the best of our ability, however, we cannot be on site at all times, so your involvement is crucial to the process.
The most important thing to remember is that you are the one who will live with the contractor’s work. Pick the contractor that you think is the best for your situation. The contract for doing the work is between you and the contractor. (ends reading from handbook)
It seems to me that Augustine gets all the money, but takes none of the responsibility.
A number of us want to review the paperwork for the O’Neill/Augustine work projects done for the City. O’Neill has stated in meetings here that an engineer was on one of these projects, we want to see his or her report; we want to see copies of appraisals; we want to see records for building materials purchased. If O’Neill has said a contractor has been told to return to the site a number of times to re-do work, we want to see the timesheets proving O’Neill’s claims. We want to see receipts for asbestos abatement, lead abatement, and demolition.
Jim O’Neill’s answer to the City Council on many important questions has been, “I’d have to go back to the file.” Well, we want to see that file. We want to see O’Neill’s inspection reports as work progressed. If others such as Ron Williams were reviewing the work in progress, we want to know dates and review all of his reports.
We’re sorry for the inconvience to the City. We’re not trying to make your jobs harder, we’re just trying to see whether O’Neill did his job properly.
We will make FOIL requests as time permits, and again, we’re sorry for the inconvenience to the City. We are on your side in this.
Everyone here, from the wealthiest person in this room, to the poorest person in this room, wants and needs to have a home where they can feel comfortable and safe. Whoever you are, if you have a home that offers you comfort and safety, you have a dream home. If we let our society decompose to the point where comfort, safety and health are for some, but not for others, what does that say about us?
For years, we have maintained that municipal entities should keep the grant-application process in-house, so to speak. The reason for this is that there are built-in checks and balances that do not exist if the grant application and administration process is sub-contracted. Ogdensburg has its best advantage sitting right here in this room, right now: Ogdensburg citizens, who are interested in, and have an interest in, the housing situation in the city. An in-house program is subject to the Freedom of Information Laws, while outside entities are not. And the Freedom of Information Laws will help THESE people keep an eye on the honesty and integrity of a project. They will work for the city for free. YOU might not like being under a magnifying glass, but perhaps it is best for everyone if you are.
I’d like to illustrate what happens when outside entities, whether not-for-profits or corporations such as C.W. Augustine, enter the picture. Recently, the newspaper had a quote from Frederick J. Hanss, Potsdam Director of Planning and Development: referring to C. W. Augustine, Hanss said, “We have no problems with them. . . we’ve been satisfied.”
I have some more quotes from Fred Hanss, from Depositions taken on April 11, 2005. Remember, Depositions are sworn statements. Fred Hanss was asked by Henry Leader: “To your knowledge, does the entire staff of C.W. Augustine have engineering backgrounds?” Under oath, Fred Hanss answered, “I don’t believe so, no.”
Yet not long before this, in Potsdam’s grant application for funds to rehabilitate their Market Street Building, Fred Hanss, as the Executive Director of the St. Lawrence County Housing Council, had submitted C.W. Augustine’s resume as a part of their grant application, affirming, along with the Village of Potsdam, that all parts of the grant application were true to the best of their knowledge. The grant application included this statement from C.W. Augustine: “Staff all have engineering backgrounds.”
So, first Hanss, with the Village of Potsdam in tow, swore to the “fact” that O’Neill’s staff had engineering backgrounds. Then, shortly thereafter, in sworn testimony, Hanss admitted that he didn’t believe that C.W. Augustine’s staff had engineering backgrounds.
The truth is that, not only did C.W.Augustine’s staff NOT have engineering backgrounds, there wasn’t any staff! C.W. Augustine, Inc., had only one employee: Jim O’Neill!
From Jim O’Neill’s deposition (Dated Sept. 19th, 2001), he has a high school education, and could not recall any of his employment history from the mid-1970s to the 1990s. When pressed by Robert Leader to supply an answer as to how he supported himself during that time period, O’Neill mentioned being a dairy farmer, then getting into tractor repair, growing a large garden, and shooting deer.
We suspect that the city has a resume from O’Neill that tells a different story about his employment history.
It’s my opinion that James O’Neill/C.W. Augustine committed fraud in statements made in the Village of Potsdam grant application for funds to rehab the Market Street Building. Fred Hanss, as Executive Director of the Housing Council, in my opinion, did the same. Together, they made the Village of Potsdam an unwitting participant in their deception.
In the past fourteen years, C.W. Augustine has caused absolute misery for low income people, through North Country Affordable Housing, Snowbelt Housing, for whom his wife is the Executive Director, and the St. Lawrence County Housing Council/North Country Housing Council, who can’t even decide what their name actually is. Behind them all, O’Neill’s C.W. Augustine covers the whole North Country.
I’m asking the City of Ogdensburg not to just DUMP homes on the market that could be dangerous to the occupants. I’m asking the City to hire an independent (meaning, not paid through C.W. Augustine, but paid directly by the City) INDEPENDENT architect or engineer to examine each O’Neill/Augustine project for safety and integrity in all systems: plumbing, heating, electrical, structural. I’m asking the City to do its duty by its residents.
This MESS is not the fault of the City. The state and federal governments have looked the other way so long and so hard its a wonder their necks aren’t broken. This is not the fault of the City, but instituting the solution to this problem has fallen to you.
Please don’t make the city responsible for the sale of potential deathtraps. James O’Neill/C.W. Augustine has been in charge of this grant program, and the City Attorney should take steps to ensure that he bears full responsibility for his work.