QA COUNTY PASSES BUCK ON SHELTER SITE NEAR COUNTY SCHOOLS

-Official Denies Responsibility for Location, Points Finger at Housing Authority 
-Documents Show County Employees Managed Entire Project Since 2009 

STEVENSVILLE, MD - Queen Anne’s County Commission Vice-President Paul Comfort has suggested that there is little “if anything” the commission can do to relocate the Stevensville homeless shelter project, financed with over $2 million in federal and state grants. The county has come under heavy criticism by a growing number of citizens who maintain the county failed to properly inform and involve the public when choosing a location..  They say the county’s failure to comply with both legal and moral obligations are the reason that a 44-bed homeless shelter is slated to be built alongside a public trail, major youth sports complex and a short walk from Kent Island’s four public schools.

In the email sent Friday, Comfort suggested citizens "take that up with the Housing Authority and/or HUD, not the Commissioners."  According to state law, Comfort wrote, the QAC Housing Authority is a separate body "over which the county has no oversight or control."

State records obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request identify the recipient of nearly 1.1 million federal dollars as the “County Commissioners of Queen Anne's County.”  Agreements are signed by former commission presidents Steven Arentz and Gene Ransom, and the Housing Authority is identified in 2012 as the “Sub-recipient.”

While the County Housing Department and the Housing Authority are separate entities, federal regulations governing Community Development Block Grants state that "the recipient is responsible for ensuring that CDBG funds are used in accordance with all program requirements. The use of designated public agencies, subrecipients or contractors does not relieve the recipient of this responsibility."

"I...believe you should direct these complaints to the QAC Housing Authority…” Comfort wrote. However, the “QAC Citizen Participation Plan,” signed by Arentz in 2012, reads  "Citizens who wish to submit a complaint or grievance may do so by calling or writing: Queen Anne's County Department of Housing and Community Services,” followed by a County address and phone number.  

Comfort described the county’s role as "assisting in the administration of the grant…”  But in January 2014, then-commission president Phil Dumenil signed a Memorandum of Understanding in pursuit of state funding,  which reads: "The County will apply for and diligently pursue a grant...and will administer the project, including oversight and control of architecture, engineering, design, bid solicitation and award, site preparation and construction. The county shall be authorized to act on behalf of the housing authority with respect to the project and general administration and oversight thereof."  

An additional document reveals nearly $50,000 in county employee time spent on the shelter project during the 2013 fiscal year alone.  Executive Director of Housing and Community Services Michael Clark, staffers Candice Darling, Mickey Lomax and Priscilla Mileski together spent 564 working hours, worth $26,255.58, on the project and used another 72 hours, or $21,600.00 of QACTV services.