Middletown Forum : City moves to terminate CONSOC http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/ This is an XML content feed of; Middletown Forum : Community Revitalization : City moves to terminate CONSOC Tue, 06 Oct 2026 14:11:31 +0000 Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:29:29 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 10.12 360 www.middletownusa.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=3293 Middletown Forum http://middletownusa.com/images/blog-logo.jpg http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/ City moves to terminate CONSOC : Normal 0 ... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=22408&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#22408 Author: angelababy
Subject: 3293
Posted: Oct 18 2010 at 10:29pm

Hi! Thank you for this very usefulinformations.

]]> Mon, 18 Oct 2010 22:29:29 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=22408&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#22408 City moves to terminate CONSOC : From TIG's website: "The... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21425&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21425 Author: Vivian Moon
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 3:26pm

From TIG's website:
"The Inspection Group uses our own proprietary software that we call: TIG (This Is Great!). We’ve compiled the experiences from over 4,500 REAC inspections to create the best software available. It is a simple program that anyone familiar with UPCS can use on hand-held computers. TIG can export the inspection data into at least 15 different data programs and numerous operating system platforms for our client’s needs such as work orders or CNAs, among others."

…..and this is the very software that has caused the nightmare for the City, CONSOC, landlords and tenants.

 
]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:26:00 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21425&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21425 City moves to terminate CONSOC : Miss..Vivian/SpiderJohn/Hermes:... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21423&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21423 Author: Nelson...Himself
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 2:17pm

Miss..Vivian/SpiderJohn/Hermes:
 
In..9/2007..(eight..months..after..my..hiring)..I..began..receiving..monthly..spreadsheets..from..CONSOC.
 
This..electronic..data..listed..all..Housing..Choice..Voucher..tenants..by..name..and..place..of..residence.
 
In..turn..I..forwarded..this..data..to..Marty..Kohler,..Les..Landen..Major..Hoffman..Russ..Carolus..Etc.
 
Several..months..later..in..early..2008..I..received..other..monthly..spreadsheets..from..CONSOC.
 
These..included....all..Housing..Choice..Voucher..landlords..by..name..and..address..of..property.
 
All..electronically..formatted..data..on..tenants..and..landlors..were..also..sent..almost..monthly...to:
 
City..Manager's..Office..and..Water..Department..staff..as..well.
 
After..I..was..forced..out...of..my...job..in..1/2009..by..Miss..Judy..I..have..no..idea..how..this..was..handled.
 
Prior..to..my..hiring..Housing..Code..Inspectors..were..directed..NOT..TO..BE..concerned..with..Section..8.
 
They..were..told..that..CONSOC..had..its'..own..staff..to..ensure..compliance..with..HUD..standards.
 
I..changed..this..unwise..Planning...Department..policy..at..the...end...of...my...first..month..on..the..job.
 
Whenever..my..inspectors..identified..potential..non-compliant...Section..8..properties..I'd..call..CONSOC.
 
In..speaking..with..Sandra..Joseph..or..her...son..Harrison..I..always..got..immediate..corrective..action.
 
I..hope...that..this..helps...contradict..some..of...the..conjectural...commentary..of..detractors..on..this..blog.
 
Thanks..Miss..Vivian,..SpiderJohn..&..Hermes...for..presenting..facts..for..MUSA..readers..to..consider.
 
NRS
]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 14:17:53 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21423&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21423 City moves to terminate CONSOC : Vivian wrote:I disagree with... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21421&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21421 Author: Pacman
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 12:46pm

Originally posted by Vivian Vivian wrote:


I disagree with you on this point.
It was clearly the obligation of Mr. Adkins to furnish the tenant data to TIG.
It should never have been the obligation of CONSOC to train TIG.
It was Mr. Adkins job to make sure that these venders could exchange information before he gave the contract to TIG.
The transfer of information from TIG has been a nightmare for all concerned since the day they were hired.
I called several council members and told them that the TIG program would not work here in Middletown because of the turn around time required for this program.
 
If it was clearly Adkins duty, as you state, to furnish the data to TIG and he instructed CONSOC to provide that data to TIG and they either wouldn't or dragged their feet doing it, whose fault would that be?
 
Why would it be Consoc's or the Cities job to teach TIG how to do their job.  TIG has worked for New York, Boston, Cleveland, and many other Section 8 programs.  I seriously doubt they needed to be told how to do their job.
 
From my experience with CONSOC, when I requested a copy of all of the landlords that owned property and rented to Section 8 Voucher holders in Middletown, I was presented with a 500 plus page report with one landlord printed per page as they were unable to develop a report back then with 25-50 landlords on one page.  This tells me CONSOC had issues with providing data in a reasonable manner.
 
From TIG's website:
"The Inspection Group uses our own proprietary software that we call: TIG (This Is Great!). We’ve compiled the experiences from over 4,500 REAC inspections to create the best software available. It is a simple program that anyone familiar with UPCS can use on hand-held computers. TIG can export the inspection data into at least 15 different data programs and numerous operating system platforms for our client’s needs such as work orders or CNAs, among others."
 
 
 
]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:46:14 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21421&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21421 City moves to terminate CONSOC : spiderjohn wrote:I believe... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21420&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21420 Author: Pacman
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 12:30pm

Originally posted by spiderjohn spiderjohn wrote:

I believe that the original plan was to hold on to the high # of vouchers(to control the funding associated), yet steer the users to other locations. I don't think that the plan will fly now, instead approx.1000 vouchers(and the attached funding) will be transferred elsewhere.
 
Will be interesting to see how the city building adapts if this in-coming cash flow is halted.
 
Offering voucher-users a small incentive probably won't be enough to cause them to leave thei0r comfortable situation here. I expect them to accept less and stay.
 
Council over-ruled their consultants and Admin to re-approve CONSOC(as the highest bidder) because they were happy with CONSOC's performance. Then Council hired the inspection team, and things began to un-ravel. Seems the inspection team(TIG?) has mucked up the process, so how can CONSOC * be remov*ed and the inspection team kept? Did these listed "deficiencies" with CONSOC just come up, or is it simply business as usual and a convenient excuse to toss them so dmin can grab the $$ associated with the vouchers?
 
We all know just how well our Admin runs these programs and manages $$.
Remember--THEY zre the ones respoonsible for creating and contyrolling this mess(not CONSOC).
 
JMO
 
Spider, personally I don't care how they reduce the vouchers.  Cut the numbers by transfer or by using the Parma approach, either works for me.
 
What cash flow are you talking about?  The $100-150k the city gets each year?  I don't see that as enough money to make a big dent in City staffing.  If the program is reduced to between 400-600 vouchers most likely the city will take over the administration of it and the inspection duties and probably get between $265-400k in Admin fees per year depending on the number of vouchers.  The city may very well make more money if they take over the program then if it stays the way it is now, they will of course incur more costs also.
 
I believe TIG was hired because originally CONSOC was doing the inspections and getting to keep about $140K extra in the previous years contracts.  I also believe that they were not doing a good job of the inspections and that is why they were moved to TIG.  CONSOC also came under more scrutiny and rules working with Adkins, which is a good thing and they didn't care for that much, also resenting loosing the Inspection funds.  Personally I think CONSOC resented TIG being brought in and wasn't going to make it easy to convert to their system.  TIG has done inspections, for New York City which has over 100,000 Section 8 vouchers, hey have also done inspection for Boston and Cleveland both having far more vouchers than Middletown.  I am not saying they may not have contributed to th issues, but I don't believe they were the bulk of the problem.
 
Spider you are exactly right Admin was responsible for controlling this program and when they attempted to tighten the reins on CONSOC I believe CONSOC pushed back and now we are seeing the results of that push back by CONSOC.  CONSOC is basically a one trick pony relying on Middletown for it's survival money wise, they see that as disappearing now.
 
 
]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:30:27 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21420&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21420 City moves to terminate CONSOC : Hermes wrote: Pacman - Are... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21419&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21419 Author: Pacman
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 12:09pm

Originally posted by Hermes Hermes wrote:

Pacman - Are you defending city hall and saying the section 8 fiasco is TIG & Consoc fault ?

I guess I'm just to much of a pessimist,I see money involved for city hall some way some how and IMO thats the only reason for all this. Nothing else makes sense. Whether it has been kickbacks from Consoc & or TIG or what but I'll damn near guarantee money is flowing into a private account somewhere. And if it's not the money then what is it ?
 
Am I the only one on this board that thinks some of the biggest crooks in town are in city hall ?!!!
 
No Hermes I am not defending the City.  We all know the City is at fault for the current Section 8 Fiasco, personally I would fire any city employee that was involved in running up the number of Section 8 Vouchers.  What I am saying is that Gilleland and Adkins were not involved in the run up of vouchers and are the Only admin in a long time that has made any attempt or even spoke about reducing vouchers, would I like to see it happen faster yes, but we all know how Government works.
 
As far as the money goes as stated above follow where the largest amounts of money go and who benefits the most.  From the least to the highest I think the City gets the least amount of funds probably about $100-150k, TIG Gets the second lowest amount of funds about $149k, CONSOC get the second highest amount of funds at $964k and the Landlords get the lions share of the HUD funds, up wards of $8-9+ MILLION.
]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:09:40 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21419&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21419 City moves to terminate CONSOC : As I remember it, it was TIG that... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21415&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21415 Author: Vivian Moon
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 19 2010 at 5:27am

As I remember it, it was TIG that was having a hard time getting tenant info from CONSOC and then the two had a problem getting reports between each other in a format they could both work with.  I find it hard to believe that TIG who does inspections for programs far bigger than Middletown's was the main Problem in this mess.  If you don't think CONSOC was more than happy to add vouchers for the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars you are sadly mistaken....Pacman

Pacman
I disagree with you on this point.

It was clearly the obligation of Mr. Adkins to furnish the tenant data to TIG.
It should never have been the obligation of CONSOC to train TIG.
It was Mr. Adkins job to make sure that these venders could exchange information before he gave the contract to TIG.
The transfer of information from TIG has been a nightmare for all concerned since the day they were hired.
I called several council members and told them that the TIG program would not work here in Middletown because of the turn around time required for this program.


]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2010 05:27:27 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21415&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21415 City moves to terminate CONSOC : I believe that the original plan... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21413&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21413 Author: spiderjohn
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 18 2010 at 11:52am

I believe that the original plan was to hold on to the high # of vouchers(to control the funding associated), yet steer the users to other locations. I don't think that the plan will fly now, instead approx.1000 vouchers(and the attached funding) will be transferred elsewhere.
 
Will be interesting to see how the city building adapts if this in-coming cash flow is halted.
 
Offering voucher-users a small incentive probably won't be enough to cause them to leave thei0r comfortable situation here. I expect them to accept less and stay.
 
Council over-ruled their consultants and Admin to re-approve CONSOC(as the highest bidder) because they were happy with CONSOC's performance. Then Council hired the inspection team, and things began to un-ravel. Seems the inspection team(TIG?) has mucked up the process, so how can CONSOC * be remov*ed and the inspection team kept? Did these listed "deficiencies" with CONSOC just come up, or is it simply business as usual and a convenient excuse to toss them so dmin can grab the $$ associated with the vouchers?
 
We all know just how well our Admin runs these programs and manages $$.
Remember--THEY zre the ones respoonsible for creating and contyrolling this mess(not CONSOC).
 
JMO
]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:52:40 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21413&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21413 City moves to terminate CONSOC : Pacman - Are you defending city... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21412&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21412 Author: Hermes
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 18 2010 at 11:42am

Pacman - Are you defending city hall and saying the section 8 fiasco is TIG & Consoc fault ?

I guess I'm just to much of a pessimist,I see money involved for city hall some way some how and IMO thats the only reason for all this. Nothing else makes sense. Whether it has been kickbacks from Consoc & or TIG or what but I'll damn near guarantee money is flowing into a private account somewhere. And if it's not the money then what is it ?
 
Am I the only one on this board that thinks some of the biggest crooks in town are in city hall ?!!!
]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:42:25 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21412&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21412 City moves to terminate CONSOC : As I remember it, it was TIG that... http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21411&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21411 Author: Pacman
Subject: 3293
Posted: Sep 18 2010 at 11:20am

As I remember it, it was TIG that was having a hard time getting tenant info from CONSOC and then the two had a problem getting reports between each other in a format they could both work with.  I find it hard to believe that TIG who does inspections for programs far bigger than Middletown's was the main Problem in this mess.  If you don't think CONSOC was more than happy to add vouchers for the extra hundreds of thousands of dollars you are sadly mistaken.
 
CONSOC gets 78% of the Admin fee, I am assuming that is the $964K the Journal mentions and the city gets 22% of the admin fee, I am guessing that would be about $200-250K for the city roughly.  Then the city has to turn around and pay TIG $149K, so I don't see where the city is making out financially in this deal as far as the administration of vouchers.  We all know the city ran up the number of vouchers, the problem is no one CONSOC included advised against this plan, I wonder why....$$$$$$$$$$.
 
I think the city will hire another company for the immediate future and if Adkins plan is able to be moved forward I think eventually the city will bring the program in house, as down the road the number of vouchers administered in Middletown maybe to small to be financially viable for any company.  I see no problem with this, it seems to have worked in Parma,
 
Vivian the Landlords stand to potentially lose money in this deal, I am sure they are against anything that will change the status quo that they have enjoyed the last 10-15 years where they made of Millions of dollars in rent and most living outside the city.
 
If you are going to follow the money follow the big money going to CONSOC and the landlords and if you think you can trust HUD think again.  HUD has one interest and that is providing housing to the poor at any cost.  They are not interested in the city as a whole.  HUD complained about some of the cities stats in their letter and then HUD turned around and used their own funny math in some of their figures also.
 
It is time to put the city and its tax paying citizens FIRST, not the landlords, not HUD, not the City Admin., not CONSOC, TIG and not 1600 voucher recipients, but the 50,000 people that live in Middletown.
 
 
]]> Sat, 18 Sep 2010 11:20:37 +0000 http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3293&PID=21411&title=city-moves-to-terminate-consoc#21411