The City of Stuart Community Development Block Grant Housing Rehabilitation Program.
Do Not Trust The Guardians Of Public Trust – This is not a private matter! The Federally-Funded Programs are matters of public concern!
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program is a federal program that provides funding for housing and community development activities. FloridaCommerce administers the State Program in Florida through the Small Cities CDBG Program. This is a competitive grant program that awards funds to units of local government in small urban and rural areas.
DHR Project File No.: 2023-5606-C / 311 SW 3rd Street, Stuart, Florida 34994-Housing Rehabilitation FDEO HUD Small Cities CDBG.
On the Hamiltons Project this program includes a falsely notarized notice of commencement, the homeowner’s forged signature, negligent paperwork by the City and Guardian Community Resource Management, Inc., a firm contracted by the City to manage the project, incomplete, shoddy, destructive, and even fraudulent work by the CDBG contractor Patriot Response Group, cover ups by the City.
the City of Stuart Manager, Mrs. Gandhi-Savdas, and the City Council about the falsely notarized notice of commencement, and prior to that we also notified Mr. Mortell that the CDBG contractor didn’t submit the CDBG Scope of Work and faked the roof ridge vent system installation instead of installing it.
The City of Stuart passed the final inspection of the incomplete roof with the fake roof ridge vent system, destructive installation of the wrong hurricane ties without permit and specifications, etc., read more (including the homeowner’s forged signature)
Destructive installation of the replacement windows and the cover-ups by the City. The Hamiltons had to file a complaint with the State Department FloridaCommerce.
A Potemkin village is a fake construction that is intended to deceive people into believing that a situation is better than it actually is.
Timeline
March 9, 2020. The City of Stuart resolution to hire a consultant to apply for Community Development Block Grant Housing Revitalization Program (“just because it is the easiest program to get a grant for” – Ms. Gandhi-Savdas)
June 22 and June 27, 2020. The City of Stuart signed two agreements with Guardian Community Resource Management, Inc. to assist with the Community Development Grant (CDBG) and Related Programs administration and project delivery services. The Project Manager for the City with the authority to act on the City’s behalf with respect to all aspects of the Project is Pinal Gandhi-Savdas.
July 26, 2021. The City of Stuart announced it received $750,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the Housing Rehabilitation Program.
September 29, 2021. The City of Stuart signed the Subgrant Agreement with FloridaCommerce (former Department of Economic Opportunity), agreeing to abide by all applicable State and Federal laws, rules, and regulations, including but not necessarily limited to, the Federal laws and regulations set forth at 24 C.F.R. Part 570 Subpart I (except that the Recipient does not assume DEO’s responsibilities described at § 570.604 and the Recipient does not assume DEO’s responsibility for initiating the review process under the provisions of 24 CFR part 58); and chapter 73C-23, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), Effective: May 27, 2018; and comply with the historic preservation requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, the procedures set forth in 36 C.F.R. part 800, and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, codified at 36 C.F.R. 67, and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
March 7, 2022. The City of Stuart posted announcement on the CDBG workshop which was held on March 9, 2022.
October, 2022. The City of Stuart and Guardian Community Resource Management Inc., provided the Hamiltons with the Florida Housing Corporation SHIP Form to sign. Later, In September 2024, responding to the Hamiltons’ complaint, the Florida Housing Corporation Office of Inspector General wrote, “The City of Stuart is not a SHIP eligible city. The SHIP RIC form was inadvertently used and should not of been used for any program other than SHIP,” and directed the Hamiltons to the OIG for the Department of Commerce/
December, 2023. The City of Stuart and Guardian Community Resource Management, Inc. provided the Hamiltons with only two bids on the CDBG Scope of Work on their rehabilitation project. According to the City of Stuart CDBG documents, the work write-up was provided to the bidding contractors by the City. The contractors were reviewed by Antonio Jenkins of Guardian CRM, Inc. – “reviewer,” he determined the lowest responsible bid by Patriot Response Group.
March 13, 2024. The Hamiltons signed The City of Stuart CDBG documents on their rehabilitation project , including the contract with the CDBG contractor Patriot Response group and the Notice to Proceed.
May 22, 2024. The first roof deck replacement
May 23, 2024. The City passed the sheathing and dry-in inspection
June 13, 2024. The first roof deck replacement failed, resulting in the roof’s multiple leaks.
June 21, 2024. The second deck replacement. No sheathing and dry-in inspection recorded by the City.
June 22, 2024. The roof leaked again.
June 28, 2024. Metal Installation
July 2, 2024. The City Passed final inspection of the incomplete roof.
July 5-7, 2024 Destructive installation of the oversized replacement windows
July 10-13, 2024 Re-installation of the the oversized replacement windows (more damage was done to the historical building)
On July 19, 2024, we notified the City about the incomplete roof and damages to our building by the oversized replacement windows installation. The City proceeded with covering-up the CDBG program mismanagement and destructive and fraudulent work by their CDBG contractor on our historical building rehabilitation project. We had to file our complaint with the State Department FloridaCommerce. The City of Stuart and Guardian Community Resource Management, Inc. concealed the State Historic Preservation letter dated December 1st, 2023, from us on rehabilitation of our historical building. You are welcome to read the correspondence below.