Politics & Government

Suit Claims State Lacks Sandy-Bidding Transparency

A housing group has filed a lawsuit against the state claiming it was denied answer to its Open Public Records Act request for documents.

The Fair Share Housing Center has filed and Open Public Records Act complaint against the state of New Jersey, claiming the Christie Administration has not been upfront about its hiring of a consultant to oversee the spending of billions in Hurricane Sandy relief aid.

According to the complaint, the state has not complied with a request to provide FSHC with documents relating to the contract and award of a consultant responsible for preparing a plan to spend more than $5 billion federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds.

The organization, which is dedicated to defending the housing rights of the state's poor, filed the complaint in Mercer County Superior Court Wednesday.

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The records request was first made with the State's Department of the Treasury on Feb. 14, which promised a response by Feb. 26. On that date, the treasury indicated that it would need another 20 days to respond to the request. It has since claimed two more extensions. 

"Gov. Christie promised a transparent Sandy recovery," FSHC Associate Director Kevin Walsh said in a statement. "So why, 48 days after a public records request for basic bid documents, are those documents still not public?"

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The state chose CDM Smith to oversee the more than $5 billion in CDBG spending, including a plan for allocating the first $1.8 billion that has already been submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for review. 

According to FSHC, there were five bidders for the consulting contract, but the State has not provided documents to show who the other bidders were or why they were not selected in favor of CDM Smith.

FSHC's complaint comes on the heals of its recent objection to $1.8 billion CDBG spending plan. The organization is one of more than 75 other non-profits that believe the submitted plan is unfair to lower-income renters impacted by Sandy.

Walsh claims that 80 percent of the lowest income residents impacted by Sandy were renters but that only 20 percent of the residents covered by the State's relief plan are renters.

The $1.8 billion Action Plan has been challenged because of its limited amount of public review. Both the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic said the public was only granted seven days to review the block grant spending plan and that no public hearing was scheduled to discuss the spending strategy or gather public input.

The Action Plan was submitted to HUD at the end of March. The federal agency has 45 days either to approve or reject the plan. 


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