First Ward fight

Accusatory campaign literature hasignited an argument between First Ward City Council candidates aboutwhether one candidate is benefiting from favoritism by the InghamCounty Land Bank.

Last week, First Ward residents receiveda mailing from the Jody Washington for City Council campaign comparingWashington and her opponent, Lynne Martinez, on community service,public safety and medical marijuana. Voters will decide between thecandidates on Nov. 8 in a race observers say is close.

In the mailing, Washington accusedMartinez of receiving “tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for‘consulting’ services from the Ingham County Land Bank, which is run byone of her biggest political backers.”

During “City Pulse on the Air,” Martinezconfirmed that her firm, Martinez Consulting Group, consulted onprojects for the Land Bank including its new bike share program, butshe denied being paid the “tens of thousands” Washington referred to.

“I have been paid for two contracts todate, about a year’s worth of work, much less than $10,000,” Martinezsaid during the show.

The Land Bank has two contracts withMartinez’s firm, Land Bank coordinator Joseph Bonsall said. Onecontract was for the bike share program and the other for the LandBank’s foreclosed homes sale program, later renamed the PROP program.Both of those contracts have been extended, he said.

But even with the extensions, the total amount of her payment will not exceed $5,500, Bonsall said.

Martinez was asked to bring communityleaders, Realtors, lenders, Housing Coalition staff and Land Bank stafftogether to determine criteria for the PROP program, Land Bank ChairmanEric Schertzing said. She facilitated similar meetings for the bikeshare program, which is still in its planning stages, he added.

 “Youhire and you work with folks that you know you can trust to listen anddo the job,” Schertzing said. “Lynne did a bang-up job on bothcontracts. She helped move us forward.”

Washington cited an article in MichiganState University’s student newspaper, The State News, that said a“$20,000 match grant from the Ingham County Land Bank has been securedto fund the (bike share program),” but Schertzing, Martinez and Bonsallsaid the grant will be used to pay for the program, not Martinez’ssalary.

“The money hasn’t been spent because the other matching dollars hasn’t been committed by matching entities,” Schertzing said,

Bonsall said in an e-mail that the bikeshare program must hire a program manager and raise a minimum of$100,000 in additional capital before the grant money will be released.“To date, these contingencies have not been satisfied,” he wrote.

Washington acknowledged in an e-mailMonday that she had made an error since “the exact amount of publicdollars that Martinez has received has not been published.” However,she said that “whether it’s thousands of dollars or tens of thousand ofdollars, the overall point remains the same: At a time when peopleacross Lansing are struggling to find work, a privileged few arereceiving jobs and contracts as political favors. That sends the wrongmessage to citizens who have already been given plenty of other reasonsto lose faith in their elected leaders.”

Schertzing said his friendship with Martinez had no influence on his decision to hire her firm for the projects.

“Like many other people in thecommunity, I know Lynne and I trust her to make good decisions,” hesaid. “She has experience in housing programs, she’s invested andinvolved in the community. The bike share was a facilitation thing thatI knew she would be good at and she was.”

In addition to the financialallegations, Washington also stated during the radio show thatMartinez’s contracts “didn’t go through the Land Bank board like it wassupposed to.”

“We need more transparency in governmentand fewer shadowy consulting contracts between friends,” she said in aninterview following the show.

However, Schertzing said Martinez’s contracts were too small to warrant board approval.

According to the Land Bank’s existingpolicy, “any purchase of goods or services less than $5,000 require theapproval of the Chairman/Executive Director,” not the board. The policyalso states that any professional service under $25,000 is exempt fromthe competitive bidding process, which also does not require boardapproval.

Schertzing also said that the boardreviews a list of all the checks that were cut during the previousmonth and was fully aware that Martinez’s company was consulting on theprojects.

In addition, the Land Bank’s doors areopen five days a week and fully staffed and Schertzing’s cell phonenumber is posted on the organization’s website so anyone can call withquestions day, night or even on holidays, he said.

“So much good work was put into (theseprograms),” Schertzing said. “To try to find something wrong with it, Ithink it speaks more to the person saying that than it does to thetarget.”