When Upper Darby resident John DeMasi sought information in late May on a federal probe of township misspending, the township demurred. This month, when he turned to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency let him see the documents.<\/p>\n
The contrasting responses from the state and federal governments underscore issues Upper Darby has contended with in light of the HUD revelations. Among those issues is transparency \u2014 or lack thereof.<\/p>\n
The information the township withheld from DeMasi included the May 14 HUD report that Broad + Liberty obtained via its own federal Freedom of Information Act request. That letter detailed Upper Darby\u2019s misspending of $40,000 in federal funds. On July 8, this outlet reported<\/a> on the improper expenditures of money from HUD\u2019s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.<\/p>\n In his May request, DeMasi asked for \u201cany and all notices and correspondence sent to the township [from January to May] from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development regarding any money that must be returned to HUD or reimbursed to HUD.\u201d All the township gave DeMasi was a set of instructions on how the municipality could repay the federal agency. After DeMasi wrote to HUD earlier this month, the department gave him the May report<\/a> as well as a June 13 response from Upper Darby Chief Administrative Officer Crandall Jones.<\/p>\n In denying most of DeMasi\u2019s request on July 3, Jones cited a provision of Pennsylvania\u2019s right-to-know law that allows officials to withhold records of \u201can agency relating to a noncriminal investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n DeMasi filed an appeal<\/a> to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) challenging that argument. He noted the township\u2019s home-rule charter<\/a> states that municipal \u201cinvestigations\u201d occur \u201cby majority vote\u201d of Township Council, but Council took no such vote concerning the HUD money. And HUD itself didn\u2019t demand secrecy, so DeMasi believes Jones shouldn\u2019t have used the (now completed) federal probe as an excuse to conceal information.<\/p>\n While OOR has yet to rule on DeMasi\u2019s appeal, the local activist feels what transpired so far speaks damningly about Democratic Mayor Ed Brown\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat exactly are they [Upper Darby] trying to protect\u2026?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the nation\u2019s nuclear codes; it\u2019s what was going on with administrative malfeasance in our\u2026 local government. So, who are they trying to protect\u2026? And if the federal government says, \u2018Here, you should have this information,\u2019 why would the local government say, \u2018Oh, you should not have this information\u2026?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The ineligible purchases with CDBG funds included toys, Chromebook laptops and gift cards for charitable giveaways in 2022 and 2023. In the May 14 letter, HUD alerted township Administrative Services Director Scott Alberts to the $40,309.44 in misspending. On June 28, township staff informed Brown and Township Council that Upper Darby would repay HUD in full.<\/p>\n At a Council meeting on Thursday, three different residents asked officials during public comment what revenues Upper Darby would use to pay back HUD. The first two women received prolonged silence, prompting an audience member to say, \u201cCan we test the microphones?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After the third woman asked for the source of the repayment, Jones replied, \u201cIt\u2019s going to come out of the general fund,\u201d prompting members of the audience to groan. (Some residents came to the meeting to complain of the township\u2019s worsening finances which the Brown administration wants to address through a new earned income tax.)\u00a0<\/p>\n CDBG funds typically go toward such activities as public-facility improvements and housing assistance. Last year, the use of the grants for holiday toy giveaways caught the attention of Councilwoman Laura Wentz, a former Democrat who is now an independent. She felt that providing holiday gifts, food and other items to poor families was a worthy cause but she raised objections over how the township and Men of Action Brothers of Faith (MOABOF), a nonprofit then run by Brown, administered the giveaways.<\/p>\n Wentz questioned the municipality spending about $6,000 on toys for the 2021 holiday event, complaining that the purchases were improperly documented. She also took issue with a Target receipt for a $153 hoverboard, a much larger expenditure than most of the other toys, most of which cost between $10 and $20 each. The councilwoman also said she found it irregular that the township bought the items and sought reimbursement on behalf of a nonprofit rather than CBDG reimbursing the organization.<\/p>\n In her opinion, township officials exploited the holiday charity efforts for \u201cpolitical purposes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When Jones wrote to HUD assuring it would take remedial action, he attached a document titled \u201cInternal Control\/Compliance Documentation & Procedures Policy\u201d which governs the use of CDBG funds. The policy, revealed by DeMasi\u2019s FOIA request, acknowledges that \u201cineligible activities\u201d include \u201cpolitical activities.\u201d This reflects HUD\u2019s own rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brown and his Democratic predecessor Barbarann Keffer are now on the defensive as to whether they kept the use of HUD funds apolitical. The holiday events they funded served to boost the public profile of Brown, then an aspiring mayor, and were advertised with flyers that displayed a list of cosponsors which included councilpersons and councilpersons-elect allied with Keffer. Administration critics on Council were omitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bipartisan group excluded from cosponsorship included Wentz, Burke, at-large Democrat Matt Silva, 1st-District Republican Meaghan Wagner, 3rd-District Republican Brian Andruszko and then 2nd-District Republican Lisa Faraglia. Wentz and Burke told Broad + Liberty they were never asked to cosponsor the events.<\/p>\n