Woods: Foreclosure Policy Presentation Stopped

A city official says he was prevented from presenting city council with a uniform policy to deal with tax-foreclosed property owned by the city.

"(Philip A. Cosmo, city comptroller) and I wanted to make a presentation to the council to explain some issues and lay the foundation for them to bring changes," said J. Justin Woods, director of planning and development. "We didn't get there because the city manager didn't want us to. He didn't want us to make a presentation. He wanted us to just draft the program."

Council members have recently expressed frustration with a lack of information about tax-foreclosed property stemming from revelations that a family was allowed to live rent- and tax-free for three years in a house taken by the city for back taxes. Last Thursday, Mayor William D. Nelson announced that the council was launching an investigation into the 819 Knox St. matter after a string of accusations between Mr. Woods and City Manager Arthur J. Sciorra.

Mr. Sciorra argued that it would be premature to present a plan to the council before a proposal was drafted, Mr. Woods said. His concerns were never addressed before the chamber.

"The council has been frustrated when we bring them things that are complete because they feel like we are trying to force-feed it to them instead of having a more engaged process," Mr. Woods said.

The proposal was in the early planning phases when Mr. Woods wanted to discuss it with the council.

"We had discussed the process we would use, but we hadn't gotten too far into it," said Mr. Cosmo. "It was preliminary discussion."

"It wasn't our intent to bring the council something half done," said Mr. Woods. "We wanted to have a conversation about some of the shortcomings and why we needed to develop a program."

Department heads like Mr. Woods work at the pleasure of the city manager, who then reports to the council.

"Anything that goes to the council goes through the city manager," said Mr. Sciorra Wednesday. "I put the agenda together, and I haven't seen any proposal yet."

That stands at odds with Mr. Woods' assertions.

"The city manager said he wanted us to get it along before we presented it to council," said Mr. Woods.

"We had just started the process," said Mr. Cosmo. "It was on our plates and we were moving forward with it."

At their Aug. 8 meeting, several council members expressed the need for a uniform plan to deal with the disposition of tax-foreclosed properties and their desire to be involved in drafting a plan.