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HUD Gets Complaint on Use of Convocation Center Funds
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Questions raised regarding the city's use of a federal grant to purchase land for the Youngstown Convocation center and to defend itself in a public-records lawsuit filed by The Business Journal have been referred to the Inspector General's office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.According to a letter sent to mayoral candidate William E. Flickinger, the Department of Justice has referred Flickinger's letter -- which alleged the city failed to get an appraisal for the convocation center site before purchasing it and improperly used grant funds to pay legal fees -- has been forwarded to HUD's Inspector General office since it involves HUD funds.Though HUD requires appraisals when its grant funds are used to purchase land, spokesman Brian Sullivan said that in cases like these, HUD simply acts as a pass-through agency for the congressional allocations and has no statutory authority to require such appraisals. However, the Uniform Relocation Act requires that "fair market value" be offered to the seller when federal funds are used for land purchases. Mike Zerega, a spokesman for the HUD Inspector general's office, could not confirm whether the complaint has been referred or where it might be directed. "We are the take-in point for complaints of all manner and scope and veracity," he said, adding that the office receives thousands of complaints each year. "Not all are in the right place or directed at the right office. ... Very often what people think of as sort of a criminal issue might be simply a regulatory issue," he said.Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. secured $26.8 million for the convocation center. In February 2003, The Business Journal began a series of reports that questioned the city's purchase of the 26-acre site -- valued at $145,000 by the Mahoning County auditor's office -- for $1.5 million. The Business Journal later sued city officials for improperly withholding public documents related to the purchase. Mahoning County Common Pleas Magistrate Eugene Fehr in December ruled on behalf of the city in the suit, awarding the newspaper its attorney's fees. The city appealed the decision and it is being reviewed by Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge R. Scott Krichbaum. In a statement faxed last week to The Business Journal, Flickinger said the referring of his letterto the HUD inspector general "should mark the beginning of uncovering the wrongdoings often overlooked by the local media.""