At the January 19, 2015 General Tribal Council Budget Meeting, GTC Member & Advocate Mike Debraska asked Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin CFO Larry Barton if it was true that the Tribe was trying to draw down too much money from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, in violation of HUD’s Total Development Cost (TDC) limits, to build HUD-funded Tribal housing that the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin (OTIW) had contracted to be built by Oneida Total Integrated Enterprises (OTIE).
CFO Larry Barton told GTC that wasn’t true, but CFO Barton either didn’t know the facts or else he was repeating lies.
The Minutes of the October 13, 2014 Finance Committee Meeting show the following:
7. ADD-ON: OTIE – Elder Village & Green Valley II – [Purchase Order]
Mike Showers, Project Manager, Engineering
Mike Showers provided more details and handouts of his request; seeking approval of Purchase Order now to provide time to complete enough before winter weather; construction will be for 8 cottages for elders at Elder Village; 3 split level homes and 5 duplexes at Green Valley II site; general discussion of bid process, HUD bonding, and responsible subcontracting utilizing Indian Preference guidelines; estimated completion date is Dec. 2015; there is a meeting on Wednesday to provide more information and dicuss further concerns.Motion by Christine Klimmek to Add On request for a Purchase Order for OTIE to complete construction on the Elder Village and Green Valley II projects in the amount of $6,234,082.00. Seconded by Fawn Billie. Motion carried unanimously
This money was to have been drawn down from the funds OTIW receives from HUD, which means that Mike Showers, OBC member Fawn Billie, the Finance Committee, and OTIE itself (which is a federal contractor), should have all known that the cost of units in the Purchase Order they were approving exceeded HUD’s TDC limits for Tribal housing.
Records show the following proposed costs per unit that the Finance Committee voted to pay OTIE via Mike Showers:
Site Work Utilities Elder VI – $ 383,623
Cottage A Lot 2 : $ 304,746
Cottage A Lot 5 : $ 304,746
Cottage B Lot 1 : $ 313,569
Cottage B Lot 3 : $ 313,569
Cottage B Lot 4 : $ 313,569
Cottage B Lot 6 : $ 313,569
Cottage B Lot 21 : $ 313,569
Cottage B Lot 22 : $ 313,569
Site Work Utilities Green Valley II : $ 383,623
Duplex C Lot 1 : $ 410,155
Duplex C Lot 3 : $ 410,155
Duplex C Lot 18 : $ 410,155
Duplex C Lot 20 : $ 410,155
Duplex C Lot 6 Henry Rd. : $ 410,155
Split Level D Lot 2 : $ 314,267
Split Level D Lot 4 : $ 314,267
Split Level D Lot 10 : $ 314,267
So here’s how the costs for the housing units & site utilities add up:
2 Cottage A Units : $ 609,492
6 Cottage B Units : $ 1,881,414
5 Duplex C Units : $ 2,050,775
3 Split Level D Units : $ 942,801
2 Site Work Utilities : $ 767,246
_______________________________
TOTAL : $6,251,724
Apparently the Finance Committee had already approved $17,642 and voted to approve adding $6,234,082, which equals $6,251,724.
For comparison’s sake, the chart of HUD’s FY14 Unit Total Development Cost (TDC) Limits shows that for the City of Green Bay, WI, HUD’s TDC Limit for a 3-bedroom, 1200 sq ft home is $283,827, a difference of $20,919 less than the cost of the lower-priced Elder Cottage A units and $29,742 less than the cost of the the Elder Cottage B units the Finance Committee approved paying OTIE for.
In other words, $220,290 more than HUD allows.
Oops!
Mike Showers no longer works for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin.
Next time, ‘NAFOA CFO of the Year‘ Larry Barton, know your facts and tell GTC the truth.
And, hey, OTIW government – STOP trying to overpay OTIE!
UPDATE: Sources tell Oneida Eye that a reduction in the amount of the contract with OTIE was finally ordered to be REDUCED in April 2015, well after CFO Larry Barton told GTC an untruth.
[Sources tell Oneida Eye that OTIE’s former owners, husband & wife Nick & Terry Ni (when it was called TN & Associates which had graduated out of its own 9-year limit as a ‘Disadvantaged’ business in the Small Business Administration [SBA] Section 8(a) program), have continued to work for OTIE ever since BC Chair Tina Danforth and former Tribal Attorney Francine Skenandore traveled to Las Vegas in 2008 and agreed to buy TN & Associates for $24,000,000 (an initial payment of $6 million with an agreement to pay the Ni’s $18 million from revenue over the next 9 years), and that Nick & Terry Ni have received salaries of $350,000 each per year (or an additional $4,200,000 over the years 2009-2014 on top of the $24 million purchase price), but that the SBA Section 8(a) Code of Federal Regulations might actually require that an Oneida Tribe member working for OTIE have the highest salary. Which OTIW member / OTIE employee has a salary higher than $350,000 per year? Are there more than one? Is OTIE in compliance with SBA Section 8(a) federal regulations? You wouldn’t want to risk a lookback of OTIE’s finances by the SBA and jeopardize the Tribe’s ability to qualify for SBA Section 8(a) in the future, would you? Oops! Too late?]
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