Report rips Huberman's oversight of contracts - Inspector general says 'management failure' cost city $2.25 million

Report rips Huberman's oversight of contracts - Inspector general says 'management failure' cost city $2.25 million
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com
Copyright by The Chicago Sun Times
October 2, 2009
http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1802378,CST-NWS-huberman02.article


Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman -- Mayor Daley's former corruption-fighting chief of staff -- is being accused of a "significant management failure" that set the stage for alleged contract irregularities at the city's 911 center that cost taxpayers $2.25 million.

In an explosive new report, the city inspector general's office characterizes Huberman as so derelict in the oversight of a contract with Motorola while he was executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications that he should be suspended if he still worked for the city.

Adrienne Hiegel, Huberman's top deputy at OEMC in 2005, was accused of "altering documents" and failing to follow the city's procurement procedures.

If Hiegel still worked for the city -- instead of as a Huberman underling at the Board of Education -- she should be fired, the 38-page report states.

At issue are the March 2005 signatures of Huberman and Hiegel on a voucher for 18,000 radio accessories supposedly delivered by Motorola. Only after they signed on the dotted line was the company paid the $2.25 million. It was the largest of 130 vouchers that Huberman signed during his 13-month stint at OEMC.

In fact, no such radio accessories were ever delivered by Motorola, nor did the city need them.

It was all a scheme -- allegedly engineered by OEMC's first deputy Jim Argiropoulos -- that culminated in the falsification of documents to expedite the purchase of a new 911 dispatch console system from Motorola.

Chicago taxpayers have yet to receive anything for their money. The new console system that Argiropoulos portrayed after a 2004 system failure as a matter of life-and-death has yet to be delivered.

The inspector general's report accuses Huberman of a "significant management failure to supervise" the Motorola contract.

"The evidence does not support that Huberman knew that the paperwork submitted to the Finance Department was false," the report states. "Huberman's involvement appears to have been limited to his failure to review the details of one purchase voucher."

Hiegel did not get off so easily. The report accuses her of directing underlings to "work backwards to get to $2.25 million -- the cost of developing the Motorola software -- by using 18,000 radio parts to add up to" the same amount.

Hiegel could not be reached for comment. Huberman issued a prepared statement saying he was "disappointed" to learn after reading the IG report that "a few" of his OEMC underlings "failed to follow the procurement process."

"I regret that this misconduct occurred during my tenure," he said. "My involvement was the signing of one purchase voucher. As a [public official] who has always made it a priority to ensure that all policies and procedures are followed, I should have reviewed the document in question more carefully."

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that the inspector general's report recommends Argiropoulos be fired.

The report marks the first major detour in Huberman's meteoric rise as Daley's go-to guy -- from Chicago police officer to 911 center chief to Daley's chief of staff.

Huberman also served as CTA president before being appointed schools CEO earlier this year to replace U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Hiegel has followed Huberman virtually every step of the way -- and Huberman was silent on her role in the contract and her future.