ST. LOUIS 鈥 Comptroller Darlene Green on Wednesday said the city鈥檚 development arm should pause and reboot a $37 million grant program for north St. 亚洲无码 businesses and nonprofits, saying a flawed rollout of the program could put the city at risk of lawsuits and the loss of future federal funds.
The recommendations came in the form of a 鈥減reliminary risk assessment鈥 performed by the comptroller鈥檚 audit division, which reviewed relevant regulations and news reports and reached out to some grant applicants. In it, Green and an auditor raised concerns that most of the money is set to be awarded to a handful of entities, that established businesses are being passed over while brand-new businesses are in line for money, and that some of the money may be on its way to people who shouldn鈥檛 have it at all.
鈥淎n immediate do-over is in the best interest of the city and its taxpayers,鈥 the report says. 鈥淭he current status of the program has placed the city in a vulnerable situation.鈥
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The call for a reset is the latest twist for a program that鈥檚 supposed to be a big win for the city, a first step toward reversing years of disinvestment and neglect on the city鈥檚 north side. Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and other officials have talked about the cash as a way to restore vibrancy to forgotten corridors and offer opportunities to people left out for decades.
But in recent weeks, Post-Dispatch reporting has raised questions about the way the St. 亚洲无码 Development Corp. plans to dole out the money. One announced winner, in line for $50,000, has its offices in Shrewsbury. Two are based in vacant buildings. And three awards, worth nearly $1.3 million, are intended for entities with ties to the family of Alderwoman Shameem Clark Hubbard, who sponsored the grants bill and sits on the board of SLDC.
In each case, SLDC emphasized that the vast majority of grant awards are not final. Staffers and contractors, they said, were still conducting 鈥渧iability assessments鈥 to ensure everyone in line for money was legitimate, and any appearance of impropriety would be investigated. But for weeks, they refused to release grant applications that could shed more light on questionable applicants鈥 plans for the money.
Business owners passed over for funding started protesting outside City Hall and at SLDC events, complaining that some of the biggest grants are headed for well-financed institutions like the Urban League of Metropolitan St. 亚洲无码 and the Boys & Girls Club. And Green, who is up for reelection in April, has begun publicly questioning the program鈥檚 administration.
Last month, she made a rare appearance at the Board of Aldermen to criticize the program, prompting Jones to make her own extraordinary trip to the board for a public rebuttal. And on Wednesday, at a meeting of the city鈥檚 top fiscal body with Jones, Green announced the report and urged SLDC to take heed of its recommendations.
Jones acknowledged the report鈥檚 concerns but rejected its conclusions.
鈥淚t is our intent to be aboveboard,鈥 she told Green at the meeting, 鈥渂ut what we鈥檙e not going to do is start this program over.鈥
In a written statement, SLDC chief Neal Richardson blasted the report, saying it was 鈥渞iddled with errors and false allegations.鈥
Richardson and the mayor鈥檚 office said they planned to meet with the comptroller soon to clear up her concerns. And Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for Jones, noted SLDC recently released a ream of documents from the program, including redacted grant applications and vetting protocols, late last week. Green didn鈥檛 take any of the newly released information in SLDC鈥檚 鈥渢ransparency portal鈥 into account, Kerrigan said.
But Green was unimpressed by the portal, which excised key parts of dozens of grant applications and did not fully describe winners鈥 plans for the money.
And she emphasized that she鈥檇 spoken with a number of North Side business owners who have been mistreated and said the city needs to do right by them. Her office said one way to fix that would be for the city to require all grant winners to have been operating since at least January 2018, and then ensure they鈥檝e paid their taxes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not illegal to overlook hardworking people,鈥 Green said in an interview, 鈥渂ut it is wrong.鈥