TRENTON – Mayor Reed Gusciora admitted Monday that the city was in “danger” of having a $2 million lead-remediation grant clawed back by the feds if the funds weren’t spent within a certain timeframe.
That warning was relayed to the mayor last year, he said, without providing specifics about the conversation or who relayed the information.
His acknowledgement comes days after he seemed to blame a former mayoral administration for the problems he’s encountering, months out from an election that will determine whether he serves a second term as chief executive of the capital city.
“I had a conversation (don’t recall when) that a federal grant was discovered pertaining to lead remediation, and we had to spend it by a certain date,” Gusciora said by text. “The problem that was brought to my attention was that there was a danger of a claw back.”
The feds appear to be scrutinizing Trenton’s mishandling of that grant funding. Investigators dropped a subpoena on City Hall last week demanding extensive documentation regarding Trenton’s administration of the program.
It is believed the FBI agents may have also visited the home of at least one city employee, The Trentonian has learned.
The employee, Martin Moore, a registered environmentalist in the health department, denied that federal agents raided his home.
He refused to answer directly when asked whether FBI special agents visited or spoke with him at his Burlington County home in recent weeks.
“I’m gonna leave it at that,” Moore said, referring further questions to his boss, Health Director Dr. Adela Ames-Lopez.
Lopez, who was appointed by Gusciora in early 2021, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Although awarded before her tenure, Ames-Lopez’s department would’ve oversaw any unspent funding for the lead-remediation grant.
Trenton was one of 14 public entities that received the funding to help make homes lead free. It was awarded $1.96 million Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration federal grant and $194,445 in Healthy Homes Supplemental funding to address lead hazards in 145 low-income housing units where children reside, according to federal officials.
The allocation came months before the Trenton school district released results that showed capital city children had elevated blood lead levels that were greater than their counterparts in Flint, Michigan, the epicenter of toxic water.
One in five water sources in the district’s 22 schools and four administrative buildings were identified to test above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acceptable lead level of 15 parts per billion (ppb).
A whistleblower claimed to The Trentonian that the mayor was apprised of issues with the lead-remediation grant during a meeting last summer.
The Trentonian is not naming the whistleblower because the person fears retaliation for cooperating with the feds as far back as July 2020.
The probe appears to center on allegations that city officials may have falsified records pertaining to work done as part of the lead-remediation program.
City officials have not responded to Trentonian questions about how and when funds were expended.
The whistleblower alleged some employees may have inflated the number of hours of work they performed as part of the grant program.
Gusciora said he has refused to review the subpoena, but added that, based on conversations he had with members of his cabinet, the feds were targeting records from 2016, when former Mayor Eric Jackson was in power. The Trentonian has been unable to reach Jackson for comment.
Gusciora said Monday that he still hadn’t reviewed the subpoena and didn’t plan to, believing doing so could be perceived by the feds as obstruction of justice.
“I do not interfere with the investigation, nor do I want to create the impression that I am,” he said.
When pressed about the probe, Gusciora admitted having an inkling as far back as last year that something might have been hinky with the lead-remediation grant.
“My understanding is we inherited federal grant monies that were endangered of being clawed back,” he said. “We went into overdrive to ensure the job was getting done and the money was being spent. No one was under pressure to waste or abuse the funds. I suspect someone in the building said otherwise.”
Gusciora did not say what actions he took after being told about the possibility for the clawbacks.
When asked to clarify what he meant about “someone in the building said otherwise,” the mayor called it “speculation on my part.”
Gusciora was previously critical of predecessor Jackson’s botched handling of millions in Community Development Block Grants handed out to the city by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Gusciora administration estimated that the city lost out on about $6 million in CDBG funding under Jackson, money that it worked to help get unfrozen.
City legislators told The Trentonian that they’ve so far been kept in the dark about the ongoing probe.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” East Ward councilman Joe Harrison said when asked about the probe. “I don’t know who they’re investigating or what they’re investigating.”
He expected the administration to provide answers to lawmakers in the coming days.
“You can’t say that the investigation is here and everyone’s going to jail,” he said.
Trenton council president Kathy McBride, too, acknowledged having scant information about the probe. She declined further comment until she knows more.
South Ward councilman George Muschal served briefly as mayor when the feds targeted and took down ex-Mayor Tony Mack in a public-garage bribery scheme.
He believes the feds likely already have the goods on whoever they’re targeting if they’re dropping subpoenas and knocking on doors.
“They go right for the throat,” he said.
Trentonian Staffer L.A. Parker contributed to this report.
