RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -City councilmembers are once again pushing for more accountability and transparency, after receiving more details about two pressing issues in Richmond: those rebate check errors and the latest updates on repairs at the troubled water treatment plant.
Department of Public Utilities Director Scott Morris, at an organizational development standing committee meeting on Monday, provided more insight into why fluoride levels increased when a new pump was installed. He says the water had not been getting proper fluoride since the January water crisis.
“We had had these fluoride pumps offline since the January 6th event due to the flooding activity,” Morris said.
When crews put in all the parts a few weeks ago, some valves were not aligned. Morris also clarified that the communications issues with getting that information out to other localities were not his fault. He says he was not even notified of problems until 8:45 p.m. Sunday, April 27, when the issue occurred on Wednesday, April 23. He then immediately met with the Virginia Department of Health and other counties.
“Ultimately, what we need to do is something that we’ve already planned to do, making sure the communication plan is formalized,” he said. “Not knowing what to do and when to do it is always a concern to me, so I think that in it of itself will help.”
Morris says work is already underway to improve communications, like training for press releases. He says his team provided updates on testing after the mishap.
As for the rebate checks, most city councilors were frustrated with Interim Chief Administrative Officer Sabrina Joy Hogg for presenting what they called “confusing numbers” on the status checks right now, and for how many incorrect ones ended up going out.
12 On Your Side previously reported that nearly 8,300 checks were sent to the wrong person in March.
Now the city says some of the correctly issued checks bounced. In addition, more than 150 checks were issued for land that didn’t exist.
An audit was then completed to determine the cause of the issue and what else could be going wrong.
On May 5, Hogg said 23,000 of the printed checks still got mailed out. Of those sent out, she estimates 8,000 had the error on them. The city says no one’s information or identity was compromised in any way, as the mistake was that the check payee was a group called “Hartshorn Community Council.”
Joy Hogg says some people ended up cashing the checks anyway. Some residents’ checks bounced, and then they incurred a fee.
The city ended up holding about 36,000 checks, which means most neighbors are still waiting on their rebate.
The rest of the correct checks should be sent out no later than June 30, but the city must wait until June 16 to do so.
“How it feels for residents is the city is really good at taking their money but not so good at giving it back. And so, I think this speaks to the importance of when we’re talking about what the tax rate is, looking at revenue projections, that we’re doing everything we can to get it right,” 3rd district councilmember Kenya Gibson said.
Multiple councilmembers expressed concerns over Joy Hogg’s presentation and a lack of information shared with them beforehand. They said the numbers were confusing to hear, especially without it written out in front of them.
Councilmembers were also concerned about the City’s efforts to prevent a mistake like this from happening again.
The Director of Administration, Jamie Atkinson, stepped down recently, but 4th district councilmember Sarah Abubaker questioned if that was the right choice, expressing her appreciation for Atkinson’s transparency and owning up to the error when the issue first came to light.
Abubaker asked for more communication for neighbors. Other councilmembers also asked for better instructions for their constituents on how to handle the issue and what to do next.
“I want to be able to share instructions with constituents so they can confirm individually the checks they received,” Councilmember Gibson said. “I’ve said it once, and I will say it again: The city is very good at taking our money but not very good at giving it back.”
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