It’s Christian City 1, Fulton County 0. A Sept. 14 letter sent to the Union City-based non-profit by Fulton County, accusing the organization of not fulfilling its obligations in connection with a $1 million federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) “forgivable loan’ and threatening legal action turned out to be more than inappropriate. The letter should have never been written.

“Perhaps it was just a breakdown in communication with Fulton County, but nevertheless, it is very unfair for the public to be led to believe that it was Christian City that was not taking care of business,” said Christian City President Bob Crutchfield over the HUD funding related to organization’s plan in late 2005 to add two new childrens cottages on its campus. “We certainly were.”

The convoluted set of circumstances began when with a Sept. 14 letter from Fulton County Attorney’s representative Steven Rosenberg to Christian City stating that Fulton County had been notified by HUD that funding provided to Christian City for the “purpose of creating two group homes for children” had been declared to be non-compliant with HUD regulations.

“(HUD) has demanded that Fulton County repay approximately $1 million to its Home Investment Trust Fund due to non-compliance,” Rosenberg said. “I write to advise you that should Fulton County be called upon to reimburse the Home Investment Trust Fund, Fulton County will take all steps necessary to recapture reimbursed funds from Christian City.”

Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director Joe Johnson said Wednesday his office received an email from Christian City after the organization’s Aug. 17 board meeting. It was at that board meeting that Christian City made the required changes to its internal policies pertaining to the HUD loan.

“We got the email but it didn’t say 100 percent that that’s what transpired,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the email was in general terms and was not specific enough to satisfactorily clarify the issue at hand. As a result, the Sept. 14 letter was sent.

After receiving the Sept. 14 letter, Christian City officials contacted Johnson. During his visit to the Union City campus Johnson was provided with the additional information he sought. The information Johnson received successfully addressed the issues relating to the organization’s procedural changes that had been held in question. Matters are now in order, Johnson said, provided Fulton County’s legal department has no further questions or concerns.

But what remains unclear is why the Sept. 14 letter was sent, given that nearly one month passed between the time of the board meeting and the letter being forwarded to Christian City. Also left unexplained is why no one from the county contacted Crutchfield to let the organization know that questions about the board action remained. Such a communication would have forestalled the entire matter. And finally, the Sept. 14 letter was written prior to that date and prior to Christian City’s Aug. 17 board meeting. A draft of the exact letter, obtained by The Citizen, was written Aug. 7, further questioning why the applicable departments in Fulton County government experienced such difficulty in communicating.

Commenting Thursday, Crutchfield expressed confusion and concern over the manner in which the circumstances unfolded. He noted the threatening tone of a letter that need not have been sent.

“This was a very routine matter, nothing controversial. Apparently, all Fulton County wanted was a copy of the minutes of the Aug. 17 board meeting. They were in our file and all they had to do was pick up the phone and ask for it,” Crutchfield said. “This whole thing is a puzzle to us. We did precisely what Fulton County asked us to do in our Aug. 17 board meeting and then promptly sent written notification to (HCD) to that effect. We received no response for nearly a month, then, out of the blue, we get a threatening letter from the county attorney accusing Christian City of not being ‘diligent in working with Fulton County.’ Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Fulton County Commission Vice-Chairman Bill Edwards also weighed in on the inappropriate communication with the non-profit.

“My goal is that we do not compromise the integrity of places like Christian City because of a lack of communication or responsibility on the part of the county,” Edwards said. “I’m glad we’ve worked this out so we can move forward.”

A second and completely separate portion of the overall approval process will come into play only when the children’s cottages have been constructed, Johnson said. At that point the county will need to verify compliance with issues such as those pertaining to houseparents and the methodology by which residents will pay their fare share for physically living at the facility, Johnson said. That portion of the overall approval process had no bearing and was in no way related to the Sept. 14 letter generated by Fulton County, he said.

Initial contact with Christian City over the potential for securing the HUD funds was made by then-HCD Director Camilla Moore. HCD was the conduit agency for the federal funds. Both HUD and HCD are currently conducting audits of all similar HUD funds routed through HCD prior to September 2006, Johnson said. Johnson assumed administrative responsibility for the department in June 2006.

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