Utica council won’t seek state help with GroWest

The OD reported that a resolution asking various state agencies to launch their own investigations into GroWest Inc. was voted down by the city’s Common Council on Wednesday after it was proposed by two council members.

GroWest already was the subject of a investigation by city-hired attorney J.K. Hage III and still is being probed by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The executive summary from Hage’s investigation, an undertaking he has said will cost the city more than $100,000, indicated possible criminal improprieties by former contractors and employees of the West Utica-based nonprofit agency and a failure by the city to set up and execute an adequate way to administer federal dollars.

Council members James Zecca, D-2, and Frank Vescera, D-1, said Wednesday that they sought state involvement after reviewing the contents of Hage’s full report, which remains under lock-and-key in the City Clerk’s office.

The report is available only to council members and a select few other officials because of its implications for city employees and pending litigation. But Zecca and Vescera said its conclusions motivated them to seek as much help as possible.

“I’ve got to be honest with you,” Zecca said. “I don’t trust anybody at this point in time. I don’t trust a soul.”
He and Vescera suggested that the state Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau or the state Comptroller’s Office could become involved. But their resolution was voted down 6-3, with Rocco Giruzzi, R-3, the only other council member in favor of it.

Mayor David Roefaro and Corporation Counsel Linda Sullivan Fatata echoed the sentiments of opposing council members when they said the city’s only involvement with GroWest was through federal money, and that HUD and the FBI should be allowed to proceed without the state getting involved. A HUD auditor is currently stationed in the city’s Urban and Economic Development department.

Several council members said state agencies are certainly aware of the situation anyway, given the intense publicity it has received in the media.

GroWest and the city’s Urban and Economic Development office will be subjects of discussion at a 6:30 p.m. council Economic Development Committee meeting Thursday at City Hall.