Call To Action – FIPHD

One should know the facts instead of making broad accusations regarding others in the community. Most people would agree that if you were affected by the flood this grant was available to you even if you worked at FIPHD or had a relative who was employed at that agency. People who had water damage should not be excluded just because they worked at a certain agency. Before you make unfounded accusations maybe you should ask the people you named in your comment if they had flood damage. That would be the intelligent thing to do before you accuse them of fraud. I agree that the flood grant should be investigated and if anyone received the grant and did not have flood damage action should be taken immediately. What I do not agree with is to throw names out there without any proof of wrongdoing. It is very hard to accuse someone in Watseka of not having flood damage when the town was devastated. The ones that seem odd are the people who lived in other communities and received flood grant money. Everyone should think before they speak (or write). The people at the health department who truly had flood damage should not have their good name damaged because possibly others in that agency took advantage of the situation. Learn the facts and then write a comment to expose the people who deserve the criticism. The truth needs to come out. The people in the administration and on the BOH during the time of the flood grant need to be held accountable. Someone was writing all the checks and someone was approving how the money was spent. Finally the BOH were the people who supported Doug Corbett during that time. Ford county members are still on the board. Hold those 4 people accountable for their inaction to have intelligent, ethical, and educated people in positions of power at FIPHD. Character does matter and certain people on the BOH and in the FIPHD administration lack that quality. Respect is earned not granted to you because of a title behind your name. We are taught to respect the position but at times one can not respect the individual.

I am pretty sure that people in their 80’s who wear the same clothes all the time didn’t need $600 worth of clothes from Walmart. I highly doubt they keep their clothes anywhere else besides their upstairs bedroom.

Thanks for providing this information. I wish that the addresses were included because it seems like some of the people might have submitted 2 different bills for items.(Lots of Cahoe names) Also, the flood must have covered a huge area because I saw that their were utilities were also paid in Milford and Cissna Park. I saw bills for Jeanne and Wayne Brown and Toby and Dee Schippert–they both work or did work for the health department. There were also two sons of Lynn Schaumburg received money. Lynn did work with Mr. Corbett at the health department. Were the people required to submit receipts for the items that were purchased? It makes me sick that my tax money was used like this. I want to help people that were truly harmed by the flood but am sick about some of the items billed. I too don’t understand paying for dental bills, overdue utilities, legal fees, substance abuse treatment, etc. Are the agencies that provided the funds aware of their grants being used fraudulently? I would think those agencies would prosecute or demand their money back.

One other I found that concerns me….. Dave & Sandy Webster were paid $9,770.02 for 3 months of medication……..almost $10,000 in meds were paid for with flood grant money? I don’t understand why 3 months of meds were paid for. Should any medications be paid for with flood grant money? Especially 3 months worth?

Again, just scrolling through names… I don’t know any of these people, but don’t understand why medications are paid for.One name had approximately $2,600 in medications paid for! But I think what I have the most problem with is one that was paid $9,530 for legal fees, foreclosure. Why would that be paid under flood grant money? There was one other I saw for only $120 in legal fees. Still, paying legal fees under flood grant money seems just as bad as the dental bills that were paid. I thought the money was to be used to get them back into their homes…to HELP with their personal property and/or dwellings that were damaged/destroyed by flood water. It’s not to be used to pay their regular living expenses that they would have regardless of the flood water. Just seems that there is a LOT of money that needs to be reimbursed by many people. then maybe those that didn’t get the help they needed can finally get it.

How many are fake names ?

My favorite payment is $10,000 to the Pavilion for substance abuse.
What????

It appears that dental work IS covered under flood emergency grants as I found another one with dental work paid for in the amount of $1,073.00. It was for Hugo Solorzano and shows a payment for Roland Ditto DDS and I think it says for dental work. Don’t know what else you ‘d be paying someone with DDS after their name for!

My favorite payment is to Monica Druck for $50 for flood related damage of cheerleading.

One question… Ryan and Lesa Tobeck were paid $6,006 for dental work and dental surgery. Exactly how is that covered under flood damage? Why was that paid? Should they not have to reimburse someone for that?

We have read through the list of grant recipients above and wonder about the criteria for receiving the grant $$. We can understand the need to replace furniture and appliences, but Gas cards? Mortgage payments? and why are some getting money a year after the flood? Were there forms to fill out with addresses, SS #s? The above tickets just appear to be an amount given for the amount requested and what it was for. I would hope there is a better accounting of this grant money. You guys are doing an amazing job in fearlessly tackling corruption we didn’t even know existed a year ago. We applaud you and our good friend, Rod Copas, for undertaking the huge task of “cleaning house” at the FIPHD and finding out where the OUR money went.
We go to your website every day to get your updates.

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