http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2009/10/23/65661752/index.xml
October 23, 2009 11:55pm
By ELENA GRIMM - egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – Those who work closely with Alderman Victor Wogen on city business say that they were unaware his masonry business had won multiple contracts, valued at more than $50,000.
It was legal for the city to award the contracts to the alderman, but fallout has prompted city officials to consider revising DeKalb's financial policy, possibly to exclude or limit elected officials from doing business with the city. The city council is expected to discuss a revised policy Monday at its regular meeting.
The contracts went over the heads of Wogen's fellow aldermen, who say they don't often talk about each other's business – literally.
The now-defunct Masonry Works LLC won contracts on six projects in 2008 that totaled $52,880. Work included tuckpointing, weatherproofing and other repairs to exterior walls of downtown buildings that had been exposed from demolition projects.
Each project individually cost less than $20,000. Expenditures less than $20,000 don’t require authorization by the city council but can be approved by the city manager, according to state and city law.
Private business
Since Wogen's former masonry business has been brought to light, "we're learning more than we might have known before," 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker said.
What was known before wasn't much.
Aldermen said they don't often discuss their livelihoods with each other. Most of the aldermen interviewed for this story said that, although they may know the type of work colleagues do, specifics about employers are unknown.
"There are no informal council meetings where we talk about our daily lives," 1st Ward Alderman Bertrand Simpson said.
Aldermen say they knew Wogen he was in the masonry business, but they did not know his company's name. Wogen said he doesn't know the companies other aldermen work for, either.
Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said he was aware Wogen had bid on projects, but defended the practice, saying it had been lawful and saved money because Wogen offered the lowest price.
"As far as what he bid on or what he didn't bid on, he didn't share that on a case-by-case basis. I knew he bid on a few of them," Baker said. "If he was the low bidder then there's nothing out of the ordinary that would raise an eyebrow or a red flag for any of us."
When Masonry Works worked on about a dozen projects in downtown DeKalb last year – six for the city and the rest for private businesses – Wogen said he would stop at work sites occasionally to see how projects were progressing, but that the work was performed by his employees.
It was a small company before it ran out of business last fall, he said. There weren't any company trucks to accompany workers to job sites, so there were no signs carrying name or his company's name as they worked.
The check registry
Each month, the mayor and council receive the city check registry and it is often 20 or emore pages long. The city council doesn't review the register as a group, but each individual member can take as much or as little time as he likes to run through the books.
Nothing requires the city manager to hand over the detailed financial report, but City Manager Mark Biernacki said that it has been customary to do so for years.
"Most of us, I think, are scanning it for unusual items," 2nd Ward Alderman Tom Teresinski said.
It wouldn't seem unusual to see a check written to a masonry company for repair work.
"Quite frankly, as it relates to the Vic Wogen case specifically, if we went down that (registry), we wouldn't have known that that was his business," Mayor Kris Povlsen said.
Biernacki said that, even though the law was followed, contracting with an alderman was "not anything thought of to be an issue worth making a mention of." He said Friday that he is still researching if there were any cases prior to Wogen's in which an alderman had done work for the city.
Neither Wogen nor Biernacki recalled the specific dates that work began and ended, but it spanned the summer months.
Povlsen was an alderman in 2008 that August, when he was appointed to fill the term vacated by Mayor Frank Van Buer, who died in July 2008. Teresinski filled Povlsen's 2nd Ward seat in September. Current aldermen Ronald Naylor, Brent Keller, Simpson and Baker also were in office in 2008.
Biernacki didn't recall whether Van Buer had been aware of any Masonry Works projects, he said.
Seeing the forest and the trees
Povlsen acknowledged that both as an alderman and a mayor, he hasn't spent a great deal of time going through the check registry.
"Going line item through line item through line item – that to me would be micromanaging," he said. "I have issues that are important on a daily basis related to policy development and all kinds of issues as opposed to how much we spend on two or three hundred checks written in a month."
Simpson stressed that aldermen work part time and that the city has a full-time staff.
"The big-picture issues we're aware of but when it comes to the day-to-day running of the city, aldermen don't always know," he said.
Baker agreed that it doesn't make sense to pay staff only for aldermen to micromanage what staff are paid to do.
Aldermen agreed that having more scrutiny over the check registry is not an adequate way to control who gets paid for what. On Monday, they may decide to require disclosure if an alderman is contracted by the city, limit what work can be done or prohibit that scenario altogether.
They could also ask that more projects come before the city council for approval. Baker said he would like to see the threshold where council action is needed on an expenditure dropped from $20,000 to $10,000.
"The argument is that would slow down the city business too drastically. My position has been let's slow it down," Baker said. "The times have changed. We don't have the money to spend that we might have had years ago."
If you go
What: DeKalb City Council meeting
When: 6 p.m. Monday
Where: DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St. in DeKalb
Copyright © 2009 Daily Chronicle. All rights reserved.
October 23, 2009 11:55pm
By ELENA GRIMM - egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – Those who work closely with Alderman Victor Wogen on city business say that they were unaware his masonry business had won multiple contracts, valued at more than $50,000.
It was legal for the city to award the contracts to the alderman, but fallout has prompted city officials to consider revising DeKalb's financial policy, possibly to exclude or limit elected officials from doing business with the city. The city council is expected to discuss a revised policy Monday at its regular meeting.
The contracts went over the heads of Wogen's fellow aldermen, who say they don't often talk about each other's business – literally.
The now-defunct Masonry Works LLC won contracts on six projects in 2008 that totaled $52,880. Work included tuckpointing, weatherproofing and other repairs to exterior walls of downtown buildings that had been exposed from demolition projects.
Each project individually cost less than $20,000. Expenditures less than $20,000 don’t require authorization by the city council but can be approved by the city manager, according to state and city law.
Private business
Since Wogen's former masonry business has been brought to light, "we're learning more than we might have known before," 6th Ward Alderman Dave Baker said.
What was known before wasn't much.
Aldermen said they don't often discuss their livelihoods with each other. Most of the aldermen interviewed for this story said that, although they may know the type of work colleagues do, specifics about employers are unknown.
"There are no informal council meetings where we talk about our daily lives," 1st Ward Alderman Bertrand Simpson said.
Aldermen say they knew Wogen he was in the masonry business, but they did not know his company's name. Wogen said he doesn't know the companies other aldermen work for, either.
Sixth Ward Alderman Dave Baker said he was aware Wogen had bid on projects, but defended the practice, saying it had been lawful and saved money because Wogen offered the lowest price.
"As far as what he bid on or what he didn't bid on, he didn't share that on a case-by-case basis. I knew he bid on a few of them," Baker said. "If he was the low bidder then there's nothing out of the ordinary that would raise an eyebrow or a red flag for any of us."
When Masonry Works worked on about a dozen projects in downtown DeKalb last year – six for the city and the rest for private businesses – Wogen said he would stop at work sites occasionally to see how projects were progressing, but that the work was performed by his employees.
It was a small company before it ran out of business last fall, he said. There weren't any company trucks to accompany workers to job sites, so there were no signs carrying name or his company's name as they worked.
The check registry
Each month, the mayor and council receive the city check registry and it is often 20 or emore pages long. The city council doesn't review the register as a group, but each individual member can take as much or as little time as he likes to run through the books.
Nothing requires the city manager to hand over the detailed financial report, but City Manager Mark Biernacki said that it has been customary to do so for years.
"Most of us, I think, are scanning it for unusual items," 2nd Ward Alderman Tom Teresinski said.
It wouldn't seem unusual to see a check written to a masonry company for repair work.
"Quite frankly, as it relates to the Vic Wogen case specifically, if we went down that (registry), we wouldn't have known that that was his business," Mayor Kris Povlsen said.
Biernacki said that, even though the law was followed, contracting with an alderman was "not anything thought of to be an issue worth making a mention of." He said Friday that he is still researching if there were any cases prior to Wogen's in which an alderman had done work for the city.
Neither Wogen nor Biernacki recalled the specific dates that work began and ended, but it spanned the summer months.
Povlsen was an alderman in 2008 that August, when he was appointed to fill the term vacated by Mayor Frank Van Buer, who died in July 2008. Teresinski filled Povlsen's 2nd Ward seat in September. Current aldermen Ronald Naylor, Brent Keller, Simpson and Baker also were in office in 2008.
Biernacki didn't recall whether Van Buer had been aware of any Masonry Works projects, he said.
Seeing the forest and the trees
Povlsen acknowledged that both as an alderman and a mayor, he hasn't spent a great deal of time going through the check registry.
"Going line item through line item through line item – that to me would be micromanaging," he said. "I have issues that are important on a daily basis related to policy development and all kinds of issues as opposed to how much we spend on two or three hundred checks written in a month."
Simpson stressed that aldermen work part time and that the city has a full-time staff.
"The big-picture issues we're aware of but when it comes to the day-to-day running of the city, aldermen don't always know," he said.
Baker agreed that it doesn't make sense to pay staff only for aldermen to micromanage what staff are paid to do.
Aldermen agreed that having more scrutiny over the check registry is not an adequate way to control who gets paid for what. On Monday, they may decide to require disclosure if an alderman is contracted by the city, limit what work can be done or prohibit that scenario altogether.
They could also ask that more projects come before the city council for approval. Baker said he would like to see the threshold where council action is needed on an expenditure dropped from $20,000 to $10,000.
"The argument is that would slow down the city business too drastically. My position has been let's slow it down," Baker said. "The times have changed. We don't have the money to spend that we might have had years ago."
If you go
What: DeKalb City Council meeting
When: 6 p.m. Monday
Where: DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St. in DeKalb
Copyright © 2009 Daily Chronicle. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment