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HomeMy WebLinkAboutContract 41634 (2)CITY SECRETARY CONTRACT NO. 1 L3H1 THE STATE OF TEXAS THE COUNTY OF TRAVIS Agreement Regarding Settlement I, Amadeo Saenz, Jr. P.E., Executive Director of the Texas Department of Transportation ("TxDOT"), on behalf of TxDOT, a department of the State of Texas ("State"), its successors and assigns, do hereby FOREVER RELEASE AND WAIVE all claims and/or causes of action against the City of Fort Worth ("City"), its officers, employees, agents and assigns for compensation, reimbursement or damages in connection with the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program ("STEP") Grants ("the Grants") administered by TxDOT and accepted and performed on by the City, more fully described below. The Grants to which this agreement applies include 1) the Comprehensive Grant, which addresses four categories of traffic laws; 2) the Click it or Ticket and Teen Safety Belt Enforcement Wave STEP Grant; 3) the Impaired Driving Mobilization Wave STEP Grant; and 4) the Commercial Motor Vehicle STEP Grant. The Grants are funding vehicles, through which TXDOT provides funds to the City to be used for traffic enforcement within the City's jurisdiction. These Grants are processed and provided on annual basis. This Agreement applies to the Grant periods (or portions thereof) including and encompassing Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008), Fiscai Year 2009 (October 1, 2008- September 30, 2009) and Fiscal Year 2010 (October 1, 2009-September 30, 2010), and specifically applies to the following grants: 1. STEP 2010 Comprehensive — 2010-Fortwort-S-SYG-0062 2. STEP 2010 CMV — 2010-Fortwort-S-SYG-0123 3. STEP Click It Or Ticket Mobilization — 2010-Fortworth-CIOT-0002 4. STEP Impaired Driving Mobilization — 2010-Fortworth-STEP IDM- 00004 5. STEP 2009 Comprehensive — 2009-Fortwort-S-SYG-0245 6. STEP 2009 CMV — 2009-Fortwort-S-SYG-0277 7. STEP 2009 Click It Or Ticket — 2009-Fortworth-CIOT-00069 8. FY 2009 STEP Impaired Driving Mobilization — 2009-Fortworth-STEP IDM-00031 9 STEP Comprehensive — 2008-Fortwort-STEP-0184 10 STEP CMV — 2008-Fortwort-STEP-0243 11 STEP Click It Or Ticket — 2008-Fortworth-CIOT-00047 12.STEP Impaired Driving Mobilization — 2008-Fortworth-STEP IDM- 00015 After discovering irregularities in connection with the grants, the City suspended enforcement on all STEP grants and notified TxDOT. Following OFFi ,estigatior!oh,into the irregularities, TxDOT requested that the City forego certain CITY SECRETARY Ft WORTH, TX Agreement Regarding Settlement Page 1 of 4 scheduled reimbursements from TxDOT and additionally pay the amounts specified below, in full satisfaction of the disputed matter. This release, receipt and waiver is provided in exchange for the following: 1) The City's agreement that TxDOT retain $105 483.40 in reimbursements previously designated for payment to the City for enforcement during Fiscal Year 2010 2) Payment by the City to TxDOT of $70,125.66 in connection with the Fiscal Year 2008 grants; and 3) Payment by the City to TxDOT of $55,755.76 in connection with the Fiscal Year 2009 grants, as set forth in TxDOT's letter of February 9, 2011 to City Chief of Police Jeffrey Halstead, attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein for all purposes as if set forth herein in its entirety. TxDOT acknowledges that the payment of the sum listed above is not an admission of liability by the City. This waiver and release is intended to release and forever discharge the City of Fort Worth, its officers, employees, agents and assigns, except as noted below, from any and all claims, actions, causes of action, damages, losses or expenses, including. attorney's fees, whether real or asserted, of every kind or character, arising out of the grant agreements listed herein and work performed or not performed thereunder, during the stated period. TxDOT, its successors and assigns, hereby releases, discharges and waives any and all claims and/or causes of action which it might have or have ever had against the City of Fort Worth arising under or related to the Grants named herein for the named periods. This Release, Receipt and Waiver is not intended to release or otherwise amply to anv individuals involved in the irreaulanties or assisted the individuals who were involved in the irreaulanties, under or from the Grants for the named periods. The signatories to this Agreement hereby represent and warrant that she/he is an officer of the organization for which she/he has executed this agreement and that she/he has full and complete authority to enter into this agreement on behalf of the organization. TxDOT hereby further acknowledges that it has received full and complete payment of all amounts due and owing as described above, regarding the Grants for the named periods. The signatories hereto further acknowledge and agree that this Agreement shall not affect the continued ability and standing of the City of Fort Worth to apply for and receive STEP Grants in the future, as long as all the standard conditions of the STEP Grants are observed and satisfied by the City of Fort Worth. The signatories to this Agreement have read this Agreement and fully understand its terms, provisions and conditions, and understand that such terms, provisions and conditions are contractual and not merely recitals. The signatories acknowledge that they have not been influenced to any extent Agreement Regarding Settlement Page 2 of 4 whatsoever by any representations or statements not contained within this Agreement. In the event that any of the terms or provisions contained herein conflict with any of the terms or provisions contained in the relevant grant agreements, this documents controls. [Signatures on Following Page] [Remainder of this Page Intentionally Left Blank] Agreement Regarding Settlement Page 3 of 4 C i tyy m f Fort rth a•-resess8\1° CharPes Daniels Assistant City Manager City ©f Fort Worth 1000 I hrockrnorton Street Fort Worth, Tx 76102 ez,/ Date: 63. /04, if Approved as to Form and Legality: By: (A MJ-Gc ( OV,"704C) (AM Monica Wofford Meid Assistant City Attorney Date: ll,A.(AA(,LL I G , d-o t I (i" (a, \ Aitested by: Texas Department of Transportation By: Ida Amadeo Saenz, Jr. Executive Director Texas Department of Transportation DeWitt C Greer State Highway Building 125 E. 11 th Street Austin, Texas 78701-2483 Date: OFFICIAL RECORD CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTH, TX t-co\zipp no 0 rat A 0" Tall 0 ° Agreement Regarding Settlement Page 4 of 4 as Department of Transportation DEWITT C. GREER STATE HIGHWAY BLDG. • 125 E. 11TH STREET • AUSTIN, TEXAS 78701-2483 • (512) 463-8585 February 9, 2011 Chief Jeffrey Halstead Fort Worth Police Department 350 West Belknap Street Fort Worth, Texas 76102 Dear Chief Halstead: The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has received your response dated January 14, 2011, regarding our request for repayment or additional documentation to refute the inappropriate use of funds under the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grants with the City of Fort Worth. We appreciate the time and effort the city staff spent pulling together documentation for our consideration. After a thorough review TxDOT has determined the documentation provided did not change our decision regarding the amount we are asking to be reimbursed. The documentation supports our decision that we should not allow any costs associated with the nine officers involved. During the three year period we are questioning costs (FY2008 — FY 2010), TXDOT provided the City of Fort Worth with 12 STEP grants Fort Worth officers worked a total of 25,755.7 hours under these 12 grants. We are disallowing the 5,239 hours worked by the nine officers that were investigated for potentially fraudulent submissions of overtime. We are not seeking reimbursement for the remaining 20,516.7 hours. Please send checks for the following amounts to cover the costs as originally requested by TxDOT in our letter dated November 7, 2010. The following amounts need to be returned to TxDOT: FY 2008 - $ 70,125.66 FY 2009 - $102,347.43 FY 2010 - $ 58,891.73 For FY 2010, the city submitted Requests for Reimbursement (RFR) totaling $105,483.40 which TxDOT has not paid pending results of the investigation. TxDOT's proposal is to reduce the unpaid RFR by the unallowable cost of $58,891.73 for FY 2010 leaving a balance owed to the city of $46,591.67. Instead of TxDOT reimbursing Fort Worth the remaining balance for FY 2010, TxDOT would reduce the $46,591.67 from the $102,347.43 of unallowable cost for FY 2009. The city owes TxDOT the following amounts: FY 2008 - $ 70,125.66 FY 2009 - $ 55,755.76 Total = $125,881.42 Chief Jeffrey Halstead February 9, 2011 Please submit separate payments for FY 2008 and FY 2009 by February 16, 2011 to: Terry Pence, TRF-TS TxDOT 125 E. 11 th St. Austin, TX 78701-2483 The checks should be made payable to the Texas Department of Transportation. Once TxDOT has received payment of the FY 2008 and FY 2009 funds, and our traffic safety and legal staff concurs with moving forward under the new Standard Operating Procedures developed by the city for STEP, we can discuss options to offer grant funding to Fort Worth for the remainder of FY 2011. If you have any questions, please contact Mr Terry Pence, Director, Traffic Safety Section, at (512) 416-3167, by email at terry.pence@txdot.gov, or me at (512) 305-9512. Sincerely, Amadeo Saenz, Jr., P.E. Executive Director cc: Carol Rawson, Traffic Operations Division, TxDOT Bob Jackson, Office of General Counsel, TxDOT Owen Whitworth Audit Office TxDOT Joseph Zschresche, Office of Inspector General Georgia Chakiris National Highway Traffic Safety Association Page 1 of 2 City of Fort Worth, Texas Mayor and Council Communication COUNCIL ACTION: Approved on 3/8/2011 DATE: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 LOG NAME 35TXDOTSTEPSETTLEMENT SUBJECT: REFERENCE NO.: **G-17221 Approve Settlement with Texas Department of Transportation for Disallowed Overtime Payments Made to the City of Fort Worth Under the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Grants in the Amount of $231,364 82 and Authorize Execution of Necessary Related Documents RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council: 1. Approve a settlement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in the amount of $231,364.82 to be paid as follows: a. Payment of $70,125.66 for reimbursements made by TxDOT in FY 2008; b. Payment of $55,755.76 for reimbursements made by TxDOT in FY 2009; and c. Retention by TxDOT of $105,483.40 that was previously set aside to be reimbursed to the City in FY 2010; and 2. Authorize the City Manager to execute any necessary related agreements or documents to complete the settlement. DISCUSSION: On March 2, 2010, the Fort Worth Police Department found and began investigating suspicious entries in traffic ticket citation books used by police officers performing traffic enforcement under theTexas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Selective Traffic Enforcement Program Grants (STEP). The Police Department immediately suspended all activities on the STEP grants and reported the incident to TxDOT. On March 11, 2010, the Department s Special Investigation Unit began a criminal investigation while the Department s Internal Affairs Division conducted an administrative investigation into the overtime charged to the STEP grants. The focus of the investigations was to determine the extent of and identify Department personnel involved in falsifying traffic citations and official government documents in order to receive overtime pay for hours which they did not work. The Department's investigations found that nine Fort Worth Police Officers had falsified traffic citations, Department worksheets and overtime reimbursement requests. The detailed investigations conducted into the practices of the nine officers revealed that legitimate work was actually performed on the four STEP grants, but that many hours for which the officers claimed overtime had not been worked On December 8, 2010, the Department submitted a detailed report to TxDOT outlining the results of the investigations. That report supported a conclusion that the City had made reimbursement requests, in reliance on the representations of the investigated officers, for $95 531.86 in overtime hours which were not actually worked. On January 14, 2011 the Department submitted a follow up report to TxDOT answering additional questions posed by the agency. In a letter dated February 9, 2011, TxDOT communicated its decision to disallow all overtime payments occurring during the last three years of grant participation for the nine officers found to be involved. During the three years under investigation (FY 2008 - FY 2010), the Department worked 12 http://apps.cfwnet.org/ecouncil/printmc.asp7id=14960&print=true&DocType=Print 3/29/2011 Page 2 of 2 STEP grants for a total of 25,755 overtime hours. TxDOT disallowed all of the 5,239 hours worked by the n ine officers, but has represented that it is not seeking reimbursement for any of the remaining 20,516 hours. The 5 239 hours of overtime disallowed represent $231,364.82 claimed over the three years by the n ine officers. In FY 2010, the Department submitted overtime reimbursement requests to TxDOT in the amount of $105,483.00, which TxDOT held in light of the ongoing investigations. That amount will be credited towards the $231,364.82 that TxDOT is requesting that the City repay. The resulting amount due to TxDOT is $125,881.42 and TxDOT has requested that the City remit this amount in two separate checks - - one check for $70,125.66 to repay the amount disallowed for FY 2008 and a second check for $55,755.76 to repay the amount disallowed for FY 2009. The City recorded the expenses related to these payments to TxDOT in FY2010, therefore, there is no current year effect on the budget. FISCAL INFORMATION / CERTIFICATION: The Financial Management Services Director certifies that this action will have no material effect on City funds. FUND CENTERS: TO Fund/Account/Centers FROM Fund/Account/Centers GG01 221000 0000000 $125.881.42 CERTIFICATIONS: S ubmitted for City Manager's Office bv: Oriainatina Department Head: Additional Information Contact: ATTACHMENTS N o attachments found. Monique Moore (4221) Jeffrey W. Halstead (4210) Charles W. Daniels (6199) Monica Wofford Wood (4262) http://apps.cfwnet org/ecouncil/printmc.asp7id=14960&print=true&DocType=Print 3/29/2011