MANSFIELD — Human Resources Director Dave Remy came under fire Tuesday night during a public affairs meeting to address concerns regarding the city’s Community Development Department.
In June, Remy and Mayor Tim Theaker confirmed the Community Development Department would be outsourced and the three remaining positions would be abolished and replaced by a private company — Ohio Regional Development Corporation.
Remy said the meeting was called to make the city council aware that a contract, now in the drafting stages, with ORDC would be presented at next week’s council meeting and to answer questions.
Law Director John Spon commented on the contract’s draft, which was made available to him Tuesday afternoon.
“This was the most poorly drafted contract I’ve seen probably in my 20 years of public service,” Spon said, addressing the crowd and city council members. “Why are we abolishing the positions? Why do we need ORDC?
“I have to believe there’s someone out there.”
Remy said his best efforts were made in searching for candidates for the position before considering ORDC.
“But they dropped out, they didn’t want it,” Remy said, adding that he did not post the job online and that his search was solely word-of-mouth.
Spon also said he is also concerned that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has not offered anything in writing indicating it recommends community development be outsourced.
Remy said the idea to outsource came from HUD during a June 21 council meeting.
“No federal government agency is going to put anything in writing, bureaucratically,” Remy said.
Remy, the Community Development Department’s interim manager, said the decision to outsource the department was in part due to the inability to keep good records. He said HUD found issues during past audits.
“I think they (at community development) got in over their head,” he said. “It appears people got overwhelmed and they didn’t maintain good records and good data in certain programs.”
Remy declined to comment on which Community Development programs were lacking good record keeping. However, he said the department had numerous block programs coinciding at the same time.
The community development office oversees hearings on the city’s annual federal block grant and HOME money allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It supervises home rehabilitation projects and demolition done using those funds.
“HUD demands good record keeping (in order to secure future grants),” Remy said.
Remy said the department’s management was misguided. He also confirmed the department’s manager is typically in charge of record keeping.
Sam Dunn, the most recent Community Development Department’s manager, retired in July. He served the department for 1.5 years.
Before Dunn, the department was headed by Don Mitchell, who served two years. Cindy Baker was Mitchell’s predecessor and she served as manager for around 15 years, Remy said.
The city’s union president, Dan Mapes, believes the administration’s decision is personal. In a letter Mapes addressed to city council members, he reported a member of the city’s administration said the “department was in turmoil because ‘we’ created it” during a July 13 staff meeting.
“We’ve been told many times that this decision hasn’t been personal. Well, he came right out and said it was personal,” Mapes said. “These are professional people, they have a relationship with the community. They’ve dealt with people on a professional level that you can’t get from a private company. It’s called Community Development for a reason.”
