By Kevin Hogencamp
Albany City Manager Alfred Lott allowed a city employee who committed fraud on the city’s behalf to quietly resign rather than to be fired or prosecuted, and then hid the matter from police and the federal agency that was defrauded, public records show.
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Albany City Manager Alfred Lott says to heck with what his bosses told him: He’s going to hire a headhunter to replace Don Buie whether the City Commission likes it or not.
The job’s just too hard to hard for him and his staff to do, Lott says.
The price tag for the city manager’s defiant decision: a $14,000 commission to be received by the consultant, plus $9,500 in expenses.
In August, the City Commission voted to require Lott to recruit hire departments rather than paying headhunters for their assistance.
“There two good things about that. It saves us roughly between $8,000 and $10,000 per position. Plus, the city manager knows he’s directly accountable because he did the actual hiring,” City Commissioner Roger Marietta said at the time.
In recent years, Lott paid headhunter Bob Slavin, who recruited Lott to Albany, more than $60,000 to help with key hires. Slavin helped lure Buie, ousted police chief James Younger and fired finance director Robert Jones to Albany, and his nationwide searches resulted in the hiring of locals Jim Taylor and Wes Smith as assistant city managers.
Lott says, however, that Slavin botched the criminal background check of Buie by failing to reveal that Buie was a convicted felon when he was hired. Buie is serving a one-year jail term for public corruption that occurred in the city manager’s office.
Lott says he will use another headhunting firm, Mercer Group, to help recruit a new downtown manager.
By Kevin Hogencamp
Staff reports
City Manager Alfred Lott steadfastly refused a citizens committee’s request in December for an explanation and information regarding irregularities that have occurred during the planning stages for the city’s proposed downtown bus transfer facility. But in a prepared statement to the City Commission on Tuesday night, Lott responded to criticism of the city’s role in the project expressed on television by Albany Journal Publisher Kevin Hogencamp.
In his statement, Lott suggested that the criticism is misguided because the project is state-driven and not city-driven. And he colored his statement with a Nazi Germany reference, adding that Hogencamp’s sentiments are motivated by his “hatred for the city.”
“Normally, I would have ignored the comments of this person,” Lott said in the statement. “However, since he was allowed to use Viewpoint, people might assume there is validity to what he said. In the words of General McAuliff, when surrounded by the NAZIs at Bastogne, ‘NUTTS.’ There is absolutely no validity to his comments.”
Lott, who has repeatedly denied the Journal’s requests for information and perspective about the federal government’s withdrawal of funding for the $2.3 million-turned-$9 million-plus project, deflected criticism Tuesday to the state Department of Transportation. However, while Lott says that the state is administering the project, public records show that the project is City Commission-driven and that Lott has designated city transportation staffer David Hamilton as “project manager.”
“The city manager’s comments tonight attempting to discredit me are eerily similar to those he made when we broke the Don Buie scandal,” Hogencamp said after the City Commission meeting. “Our reporting in that case not only was accurate, the mismanagement and criminal activity that occurred on Alfred’s watch, and that was initially defended by Alfred, were much worse than what we uncovered. In that matter, public scrutiny of Albany city government resulted in a public corruption conviction and three plea agreements.
“I stand by my reporting and subsequent analysis and trust that the circumstances involved with the planning of the bus station project will also be investigated.”
Lott says that his statement to the commission was intended to correct misinformation aired by Hogencamp on WALB-TV’s Viewpoint segment. The city manager did not, however, address numerous news stories and editorials — some of which revealed additional scandalous activity on city hall’s part in its pursuit of federal stimulus funding for the bus station project — published on the same topic in the Journal.
The bus transfer facility is being planned in the Sandy Bottom area of downtown; it would replace the facility on West Oglethorpe Boulevard. As the Journal has reported, a new bus transfer facility is not contemplated in the community’s extensive transportation improvement plan.
Here are Lott’s claims in his statement to the commission followed by facts reported in the Journal.
1. Lott: “The project is being managed and primarily funded by the state with additional funding by the Federal Transit Authority.”
In actuality, the federal government says otherwise – that the project would be funded almost exclusively with federal stimulus funds.
2. Lott: “The project was to be executed two phases, Phase one, $3.2 million included the bus bays and transit offices. Phase II included the bus bays and retail shops. However, because of stimulus availability there was an opportunity to step up the process and combine the phases.”
In actuality, according to public records, the project was initially planned to be a $2.3 million bus transfer facility. Additional amenities include accommodation for passenger rail transportation that is not contemplated by state transportation planners.
3. Lott: “Because of complaints by adjacent property owner and an unnamed resident, FTA rescinded its approval of the environmental assessment that had been approved and sanctioned by GDOT. To accommodate FTA and possibly take advantage of the stimulus money, GDOT is conducting another EA to be accompanied by public hearings (two) March 2010. Additionally an environmental justice outreach session focused on minorities will be conducted on Feb. 25th.”
Public records show that federal funding was pulled because the city and state failed to follow the procedures outlined in the applicable environmental regulations and had obtained federal funding based upon an inadequate and flawed environmental assessment.
In addition to environmental regulations, the project hasn’t passed National Historic Preservation Act muster, either, as adjacent property includes a structure that was built in 1885. Meanwhile, the public’s concerns about the bus station project not only were ignored during the approval process, transportation officials lied by saying that no public comments were received, records show.
Also, state and local transportation officials deliberately and erroneously claimed that a transportation facility would not be on property severely prone to flooding, public records show.
4. Lott: “The city was accused of attempting to cheat the FTA. That is categorically a false, nonsensical and absurd statement. There is not a shred of evidence to support that claim. May be the details are too complex for some to comprehend – but I do not think so. We should consider that this project would bring sorely needed jobs to Albany. I hope that the accuser will set aside his hatred for the city for the greater good.
When city hall falsified documentation to make its case for a so-called “multi-modal” transportation center to be built downtown, the federal government pulled its “stimulus” funding for the project. But the city and state continue to pursue federal funding for the project by saying that this time they will produce, at taxpayer expense, an accurate pre-assessment of the project.
An anonymous letter written by a bus operator to City Manager Alfred Lott prompted an investigation that resulted in the dismissal of Albany Transit Director Nedra Woodyatt, public records show.
The letter, titled “Albany Transit Fleecing the Citizens of Albany,” detailed mismanagement, waste and safety concerns that were documented by Assistant City Manager Wes Smith, records show.
Smiths says that many of the letter-writer’s complaints were not substantiated in his investigation.
“Mr. city manager, we fault you. This is on your watch …” the letter-writer stated. “I took it to myself to inform you of this problem. We’ll be watching to see if you investigate this complaint or we’ll turn this over to the news media for reckless conduct for taking from the taxpayers of Albany.”
After Lott received the November letter and amid a cloud of secrecy, Lott fired Woodyatt and her second-in-command as the city continued to try to push a scandal-ridden $9 million bus station project through the federal bureaucracy. Woodyatt was the project director for the proposed “multi-modal transportation center,” which is costing taxpayers millions of additional dollars to accommodate passenger rail service despite there being no projections for such a service here. Transportation planner David Hamilton, who was scolded by Lott for cooperating with the local Citizens Transportation Committee during a recent meeting, is now serving as the project manager.
Lott refuses to answer questions about Woodyatt’s dismissal or the bus station project. MV Transportation, a California firm that helps operate transportation systems in more than 120 locations in 24 states, provides the city’s transit manager and transit management manager on contract.
Following are excerpts of the letter to Lott:
“The route supervisors are clocking in and out employees whey they’re late and note at work. They have part-time employees who should only be working 20 hours per week, but are working 40 just sitting around.
“They fail to report accidents to risk management.”
“Some employees are driving recklessly, going off the route, causing damage to the buses, and the route supervisor fails to do anything about it.
“They have too many employees on the clock doing nothing, stealing from the citizens of Albany.”
“(A supervisor) covers for some employees’ accidents and tickets.”
“With all the part-time employees, why are there so many full-time employees getting overtime.”
The acting supervisor drives the city vehicle in the Putney area of the county to his house.
By Kevin Hogencamp
Amid a cloud of secrecy, City Manager Alfred Lott has fired transit system director Nedra Woodyatt and her second-in-command as the city continues to try to push a scandal-ridden $9 million bus station project through the federal bureaucracy.
Woodyatt was the project director for the proposed “multi-modal transportation center,” which is costing taxpayers millions of additional dollars to accommodate passenger rail service despite there being no projections for such a service here.
Woodyatt’s firing is a scandal itself; her maintenance manager also was dismissed and Lott refuses to say who he has put in charge of the city transit system. Meanwhile, public records show that Lott has accused Woodyatt and her staff of gross mismanagement.
Woodyatt is not a city employee; rather, she and the transit maintenance manager are contractors for MV Transportation, a California firm that helps operate transportation systems in more than 120 locations in 24 states. In 2007, MV was named the United States’ top African American-owned employer by Black Enterprise Magazine.
Lott expressed his displeasure with Woodyatt in a December letter to MV Transportation.
“Your representatives have failed to provide the level of operational leadership and maintenance management we believe is needed to assist Albany Transit in moving forward. The attached report details some of these concerns; others have been discussed with you,” Lott wrote to Thomas E. Stringer Jr., MV’s east operations vice president in Charlotte, N.C. “Accept this letter as a former ‘cure’ notice.
It is our expectation that MV Transportation will provide the leadership and skills to resolve the concerns presented and discussed or the city will proceed with contract termination.”
Woodyatt and MV officials did not return messages seeking comment from them. If MV officials have responded in writing to the city, Lott is a committing misdemeanor crimes by not disclosing requested public information. Meanwhile, the Journal posed these questions on Tuesday to Lott, who did not respond:
* When was Nedra terminated as the director of Albany Transit?
* What other disciplinary action has been taken against city or contracted personnel?
* Has the transit company responded to the city manager’s concerns? If so, what did they say?
* What is the status of the city’s relationship with MV Transportation?
* Who is running Albany Transit now?
* With Nedra gone, who is the bus station project manager?
Buoyed by the prospect of federal aid, Albany officials have planned a new bus transfer station or the renovation of the existing West Oglethorpe Boulevard transfer facility for nearly a decade. The city’s motive for a “multimodal” project accommodating high-speed rail transportation is mysterious; the project is not cited in an extensively prepared regional transportation strategy and high-speed rail transportation in south Georgia is not contemplated by state planning officials.
Yet, in July, the project got a surprising and massive shot in the arm when the Georgia Department of Transportation announced it had secured $9 million in federal stimulus funding for what would be the largest multimodal transportation center in the state.
Last month, Lott angrily interrupted a citizens meeting last week and ordered his key transportation staffer to quit answering questions about the bus station project. Transportation planner David Hamilton was meeting with the local Citizens Transportation Committee when Lott entered the room late, interrupted, and issued a gag order to his employee.
Committee members were trying to find out why city and state transportation officials provided false information to the federal government as they secretly sought substantially enhanced funding for the project, which recently, suddenly and without explanation grew in scope from $2.3 million to $9 million.
Public records show that city and state officials conspired last year to inaccurately present a flawed environmental assessment, incomplete historical-preservation data, and false public-participation information to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration.
It is unclear whether the scheme was due to government officials’ ineptness or due to corrupt activity at city hall. No city commissioner has demanded that the matter be independently investigated.
By Kevin Hogencamp
Clearing the Woods: Just the beginning
By Tom Knighton
Lajuana Woods has resigned from the ADICA board. Don Buie’s trial has started. Shanon Buie, Nicole Brown, and Tim Washington have all pled guilty. It’s easy to think that this whole mess is behind us and that everything is just fine. I mean, those who have been implicated seem to be getting what’s coming their way, right?
If you believe that, I’ve got some beachfront property in Northwest Albany to sell you.
First, all that is about settled are these particular cases. There’s still a lot unresolved and unanswered, and those with the authority to address and answer don’t seem interested in actually doing so.
For example, while Assistant City Manager James Taylor seems to have ADICA moving in a positive direction, a move he should be applauded for, there needs to be a serious overhaul in how things are done if ADICA is to continue to exist. Two people signing checks isn’t going to cut it either, since some of the questionable checks were signed by ADICA chair Jane Willson.
There are broken mechanisms in this local government, and so far they haven’t even been looked at in a meaningful way. The only attempt at oversight has really been Commissioner Roger Marietta’s proposal that ADICA members serve at the pleasure of the Commission, meaning that they could remove members who aren’t doing their job. Granted, there’s a potential for abuse there too, but that’s where we voters kick in .. we oversee the commission, after all.
And none of that will deal with the disaster downtown that is City Manager Al Lott. The man who allegedly doesn’t check references because he never made a poor choice in personnel hasn’t had his wings clipped in the least. In fact, now he’s telling employees not to answer the “interrogatories” of a committee appointed by our elected officials and even seems to dispute the authority of that committee to ask those questions. Apparently, in Lott’s world, the people don’t have a right to ask questions or … you know … know anything.
Yes, the whole Buie-gate fiasco is soon to be resolved. But the situation that permitted all of that to happen still exists. Unless that underlying system is changed to prevent future abuses, it will happen again. We are already seeing abuses of a different kind by our city manager who apparently doesn’t believe in open government.
Bouncing Lott into the unemployment line would be a great start in cleaning up our government, but he’s not the only problem. The City Commission needs to step up and remember that these people (And they themselves) work for us, and should be answerable to us. If they do that, then maybe there’s a chance for this town.
From illegally spending tax funds to hiring the likes of James Younger, Robert Jones and convicted felon Don Buie, among others, Albany City Manager Alfred Lott has demonstrated time and time again that he feels he is above the law and not answerable for his actions. And with no oversight from the weak-kneed City Commission, he’s pretty much been right.
Lott’s documented advocacy of secrecy and corruption in government reached a new level last week when he interrupted a meeting and refused to allow a staffer answer the local Citizens Transportation Committee’s questions about the scandal-ridden Albany bus station project.
Then, as irony would have it, Lott walked to his car after the meeting in Leesburg, Georgia and found that he had received a traffic citation warning for illegally parking in a handicapped parking space.
Alfred Lott parks illegally in disabled spot in Leesburg, GA.
That’s right: Albany’s above-the-law city manager illegally parks his new taxpayer-funded car in spaces intended for people with disabilities.
The Journal asked Lott to explain his unscrupulous actions in his car and during transportation committee meeting, but did not get a response.
Now we’re wondering whether his seven bosses on the City Commission are going to step in and stop the madness.
By Kevin Hogencamp
Albany City Manager Alfred Lott angrily interrupted a citizens meeting last week and ordered his key transportation staffer to quit answering questions about the scandal-ridden downtown bus station project.
Transportation planner David Hamilton was meeting with the local Citizens Transportation Committee on Thursday when Lott walked in and issued a gag order to his employee. Committee members were trying to find out why city and state transportation officials provided false information to the federal government as they secretly sought substantially enhanced funding for the project, which recently, suddenly and without explanation grew in scope from $2.3 million to $9 million.
At the public meeting Thursday at the Lee County Courthouse, Lott ordered Hamilton to quit talking and questioned why the bus station project, which recently lost its federal funding because of irregularities on the part of local and state transportation officials, was on the citizens committee’s agenda. After Hamilton complied with Lott’s demand, Chairman Charles Gillespie then continued the meeting. The committee is appointed by local elected officials and, unlike Hamilton, does not report to Lott. Hamilton reports directly to Planning Director Howard Brown, who reports to Lott.
Buoyed by the prospect of federal aid, Albany officials have planned a new bus transfer station or the renovation of the existing West Oglethorpe Boulevard transfer facility for nearly a decade. The city’s motive for a “multimodal” project accommodating high-speed rail transportation is mysterious; the project is not cited in an extensively prepared regional transportation strategy and high-speed rail transportation in south Georgia is not contemplated by state planning officials. Yet, in July, the project got a surprising and massive shot in the arm when the Georgia Department of Transportation announced it had secured $9 million in federal stimulus funding for what would be the largest multimodal transportation center in the state.
Public records show that city and state officials conspired this year to inaccurately present a flawed environmental assessment, incomplete historical-preservation data, and false public-participation information to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration. It is unclear whether the scheme was due to government officials’ ineptness or due to additional corrupt activity at city hall; indeed, that’s what the committee was seeking Thursday – answers – before Lott interrupted the meeting.
The Albany Journal asked Lott the following questions verbatim in an e-mail following the meeting, during which Lott received a traffic citation warning for illegally parking in a handicapped space.
Lott has not responded to the inquiries.
When he was hired in 2005, Albany City Manager Alfred Lott was unofficially directed to clean house in some departments – the Civic Center, finance and human resources departments, in particular – and to leave well enough alone in other cases. By most accounts, two departments that didn’t need tampering with from a leadership standpoint were the fire and public works departments. To the credit of Lott and to the City Commission (for letting the city manager do what he is paid to do), those two departments’ leadership remains intact and continue to serve the citizens well.
Most notably, Fire Chief James Carswell proved his salt this month when it was announced that the city’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating will be lowed on Feb. 1, 2010 from a Class 3 to Class 2. Class 1 is the top rating.
To be sure, Carswell and his staff aren’t directly responsible for the capital improvements made to enable the fire department to be placed within the top 1.2 percent of the nation’s communities in terms of readiness and performance. The city’s and county’s taxpayers are.
But without capable leadership, it’s conceivable that the city’s ISO rating, on which fire insurance premium amounts are determined, could have increased. Instead, by hiring firefighters, forming a volunteer force, and purchasing vehicles and equipment, landowners in Dougherty County now have among the lowest insurance premiums in the United States.
The city’s public works department, meanwhile, may be just as efficient. Director Phil Roberson, who like Carswell rose through the ranks over than span of more than 25 years to ultimately to head his department, has had a remarkable career that has withstood many leadership evolutions above him.
In what is a symbolic recent example of Roberson’s leadership, more than anything, the public works department recently responded to an Albany Journal inquiry by removing two garbage Dumpsters that had inexplicably been on the city’s downtown sidewalks for more than a decade. Roberson’s staff overcame bureaucracy and worked with some downtown restaurants to identify a more logical means of trash disposal. As a result, downtown Albany looked – and smells! – much better.
Congratulations and thanks, Alfred Lott, James Carswell and Phil Roberson, for jobs well done.
By Kevin Hogencamp
State and local transportation officials deliberately and erroneously claimed that a proposed $9 million downtown Albany transportation facility was not on property severely prone to flooding, public records show.
Based on city and state officials’ information, the FTA found “no adverse impacts to or involvement with any 100-year floodplains or floodways would occur as a result of the proposed project,” records show.
Indeed, the site of the proposed transportation facility at Roosevelt and Flint avenues is in the 100-flood plain, records show.
City Manager Alfred Lott and most of the city’s elected officials refuse to answer public inquiries or apologize for their transgressions in advancing the project, which has been blocked due to the city and state providing bogus information to the federal government. Records show that city and state officials conspired to inaccurately present a flawed environmental assessment, incomplete historical-preservation data, and false public-participation information to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transportation Administration.
The FTA’s withdrawal of funding for the $9 million bus transfer and “multimodal” transportation facility occurred because of an extensively researched Sept. 15 complaint filed by adjacent landowner John Sherman, the great-great grandson of Albany founder Nelson Tift. Sherman says he hasn’t gotten a response from his complaint, but he and City Commissioner Roger Marietta say that city, state and federal officials are working without further public input to proceed with the project. Sherman owns properties at 319-327 N. Washington St.
Buoyed by the prospect of federal aid, Albany officials have planned a new $2.3 million bus station or the renovation of the existing West Oglethorpe Boulevard bus station for nearly a decade. In addition to being mum on the bogus information provided to the federal government, Lott refuses to explain how the project got a massive shot in the arm in July when the Georgia Department of Transportation announced that it had secured $9 million in federal stimulus funding for what would be the largest multimodal transportation center in the state.
Marietta, though, said he has been privately briefed on the project’s challenges.
“The change in the project price came when the second phase was unexpectedly funded,” he said.
With information from the city’s two assistant managers, Marietta erroneously said that “the environmental assessment did not consider the 1994 flood because it was a 500-year flood and 500-year floods do not have to be considered.” Also with erroneous information from the assistant managers, Marietta said that public comments received regarding the project was received “after the public comment period concluded.”
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