OEMC Scandal
The inspector general's office is recommending the firing of the No. 2 man at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million.
Jim Argiropoulos, the $149,832-a-year first deputy who once served as OEMC's acting director, is accused of engineering a scheme that culminated in the falsification of documents to expedite the purchase of a new 911 dispatch console system from Schaumburg-based Motorola.
Chicago taxpayers have yet to receive anything for their money.
Without a contract to justify the console purchase -- and apparently unwilling to wade through the normal bidding process -- Argiropoulos allegedly ordered underlings to find a way to get it done. As a result, a phony voucher was issued for 18,000 handheld radios under an existing Motorola contract.
No sooner had the company started ordering software than Argiropoulos allegedly demanded an upgrade, with the $2.25 million payment applied to the new system.
When Motorola balked at the demand, Argiropoulos allegedly played hardball: If Motorola didn't give him what he wanted, its future city contracts would be in jeopardy, according to sources familiar with the inspector general's report.
Labels: corruption
posted by SCC at 12:02 AM
39 Comments:
holy phuk
19A no crime here, dup it to City Hall, squad
I hope NY hears about this. Weren't those Motorola radios that failed to contact NY police and firefighters buried in 911 rubble? Thanks, you sanctimonious prick. Another graduate of the Mayor Daley school of Chicago Graft. How do these people sleep at night???????? Tell me how this guy shouldn't have as much time as Brian Dugan. Please, someone explain it.
WOW, 18,000 RADIOS?
That would mean that every police officer on the job, all ranks, could have a take home radio 24/7/365 and we would still have 6,000 spares?
There would be enough EXTRA radios for every alderman, asst. alderman, clout wanna-be streets and san man, asst. asst. to the toilet cleaner, caps field directors, etc.
18,000? WOW!
Any comment from shanks?
NAH!
Another heavy Greek caught dirty?
Where is John Kass?
I would have to say that Argiroupoulus (?) always treated me decently and was always a big help when we called for oemc printout and stuff. Sorry he got caught up. He was'nt the worse city employee out there.
I love how these scandals only surface when Da Mayor is on one of his taxpayer funded junkets.
Move along...there's nothing to see here..everything is ok.. it's all normal operating procedure, it's just the chicago way! By the way, the mayor knew nothing. Just keep the Daley machine greased with corruption and everything will be just fine. Back the bid for Rio!!!!
"The inspector general's office is recommending the firing of the No. 2 man at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million"...
WWWWooooohhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
The Number two guy? WTF? Shouldn’t the Number one guy have knowledge of all of this shit? Where is his culpability?
Come to think of it, isn’t the Number one guy Weis? What is his extra check for? Hmmmm? Doesn’t Weis have TWO jobs?
This OEMC story.....
http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1795986,CST-NWS-scheme29.article
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2009/10/oemc-scandal.html
.....is the THIRD story since Tuesday of last week that potentially could draw the interest of Homeland Security - in this case w/r the contracting, at least. The FAA report on the airport looks like a red flag for more reasons than just the contracting. And when Terry Mason resigned as Commissioner of CDPH, the Tribune went so far as to reprint a Feb 3rd story, within the breaking story.......
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/09/city-health-chief-resigns-for-cook-county-job.html
..... detailing the problems at the CDPH drug warehouse - pharmaceuticals had disappeared, which further implied that if someone could get in that easily and take things out, someone could also have adulterated a supply of vaccines or pharamceuticals.
City Hall spins the FAA story into "We take these complaints very seriously, we've already taken care of 90% of it, and will have those runways perfectly clean by 2016" But the real question, one which the IOC should be asking, is "Is this how the City runs routinely? How many other such mismanagement problems exist which are still under the radar of the media?"
Here's another story that just broke - ...... refreshingly, at least there are no apparent international security problems in this one.....
---------------------------------
New CTA chief Terry Peterson has ties to public housing corruption scandal
"BY MEGAN COTTRELL on 09.30.09
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/one-story-up/2009/09/new-cta-chief-terry-peterson-has-ties-to-public-housing-corruption-scandal.html
"One firm even got a contract worth $3 million the same day it just happened to make a $2,500 contribution to the 17th ward...... The fact that the SunTimes uses the word "embarrassed" to describe this scandal just plain weirds me out. No one should be embarrassed. Embarrassed is what you are when your fly is open. Peterson should be ashamed, and we should be outraged."
---------------------------------
And here's the FAA story reprised....
************************************
THE FAA WARNING (the in-depth-article)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ohare-runways-24-sep24,0,6297221.story
THE OFFICIAL REACTION
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/daley-downplays-safety-violations-at-ohare.html
THE BLOGGERS
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2009/09/wheres-money-going.html
"The in-depth article is damning beyond belief:"
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/politics/Mayor-Daley-Dismisses-Real-World-facts-61445667.html
"There is no fact too big or too small for this administration to contort to its liking. It would be a cliche to call it Orwellian. It would also be an understatement. Daleyeillan is a much larger - and more dangerous - phenomenon. It's not just about the language, it's about reality."
************************************
18,000 hand held radios? Someone is smoking crack.
There isn't that many radios in the entire police and fire department combined. I have an old Motorola that is at least 8 years old and my piece of shit car computer hasn't had a battery for at least 6 years and still runs Windows 98 and crashes regularly and the display flickers constantly as it is in the midst of computer death throes.
If someone bought 18,000 radios I wonder where they went because they sure didn't go to officers on the street.
The radios were never delivered, the citizens of Chicago never got anything for the money. And look deeper, Huberman is all over it.
Hold on partner. I've worked with Jimmy on a few occasions. This story is much more complicated that what the media prints.
You may think that Jimmy sits behind a desk in a suit and barks orders. Fact is, Jim is a regular guy who knows the 911 system better than anybody there. He too is frustrated by the Daley sent people there and incompetence. Jimmy is on our side.
A chance for the City, the County, or the State to step up to the plate. Any or all have the authority to conduct a criminal investigation, and place charges if necessary. If a non-connected P.O. was accused, J-Fed wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. Why must we always wait for the Feds? Makes us all look like a bunch of crooks every time.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"The inspector general's office is recommending the firing of the No. 2 man at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million"...
WWWWooooohhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
The Number two guy? WTF? Shouldn’t the Number one guy have knowledge of all of this shit? Where is his culpability?
Come to think of it, isn’t the Number one guy Weis? What is his extra check for? Hmmmm? Doesn’t Weis have TWO jobs?
10/01/2009 02:50:00 AM
...........
The number one "Guy" (I use the term loosely) at the time was none other than Ronnie Lubberman! You know, the mayors favorite hatchet "man".
Hold on people. Jimmy A is one of the few civilians who gives a shit about the police officer and the firefighter. Was he strong-arming Motorola? Probably, because they've been strong-arming the City for decades. This wasn't for personal gain. Nobody walked away with $2 million in their pocket. He knew we should have a better system, he figured he'd try to get around Purchasing by billing it under an existing contract and then played hardball with those bastards at Motorola. Remember how they sold those ignorant firefighters a non-functioning dispatch system years ago and the City tried, unsuccessfully, to get their $6 million back?
If Jim screwed up it wasn't for himself, but for us.
He's not the smoothest operator, but he's no scoundrel.
Anonymous said...
Hold on partner. I've worked with Jimmy on a few occasions. This story is much more complicated that what the media prints.
You may think that Jimmy sits behind a desk in a suit and barks orders. Fact is, Jim is a regular guy who knows the 911 system better than anybody there. He too is frustrated by the Daley sent people there and incompetence. Jimmy is on our side.
10/01/2009 07:23:00 AM
Being a "good guy" won't keep him from getting thrown to the wolves if Daley thinks he needs a Fall Guy. And unless he is related by blood to the Daley Crime Family or can trace his ancestors back to at least three generations of Bridgeporters he better have his resume up to date.
Post 1 of 2
Here are the facts as stated by testimony noted in the IGO’s report and not the inaccurate rants of the coward Fran Spielman at the Chicago Sun Times:
1. Complete failure of the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) at the OEMC
2. McDonald calls an emergency meeting to discuss what has happened with the UPS failure with Heigel, Lodding, Argiropoulos and someone to take notes.
3. Huberman makes an appearance and says to Heigel and Argiropoulos “get this fixed, whatever it takes no excuses”. Argiropoulos you find a way to fix it and Heigel you find a way to pay for it and then he leaves.
4. Motorola says they can build new switch for $5.5 million with payment of $2.5 million up front for development of software - Generic software cannot be used for something of this nature.
5. Huberman gives the ok, he tells Argiropoulos to give Motorola the go ahead (BEFORE purchase voucher request is even drafted and sent to procurement for payment), Huberman tells Heigel to submit a purchase voucher to procurement.
6. Heigel reviews existing Motorola contract and instructs her staff how to draft the purchase voucher.
7. Purchase voucher is drafted listing “parts” in fractional amounts and procurement rejects the voucher stating “duh, you can’t purchase half a part!”
8. Heigel instructs her staff to list “widgets” (later to be known as hand held radios) at $125.00/ea as it is easily divisible into $2.5 million and purchase voucher is submitted to procurement a second time.
9. Procurement approves voucher and Motorola is paid.
10. $2.1 million of the $2.5 million initial payment is paid to Plant/CML by Motorola to develop the software needed leaving a balance of $150,000 for Motorola.
11. Executive Directors change at the OEMC
12. A better, more efficient VOIP switch option becomes available from Motorola.
13. Argiropoulos and manager of radios, Leong, has meeting with Motorola to find out if software being developed can be used in VOIP system. Argiropoulos is told by Motorola rep Williams, “yes, we believe it can be and we will find out cost increase for modification.”
14. Argiropoulos and Leong meet to discuss what enhancements may be dropped until another time in order to keep the price at $2.5 million, therefore, incurring no new costs
15. It is discovered by new financial guy, Shiels, who replaced Heigel, there was and is no contract to use in order to pay Motorola the $2.5 million they have already received.
16. Project is put on hold.
17. Shiels alerts the IGO.
18. Investigation begins – November of 2006!
19. During the discovery process documentation is presented with Huberman and Heigel’s signatures on the purchase voucher requests sent to procurement.
20. IGO questions both Huberman and Heigel. Both admit it is their signatures and their signatures alone on the purchase voucher. Huberman says he signs many documents each day and completely relies on his staff to vet everything before presenting to him for signature. Heigel admits to falsifying the purchase voucher and shows no remorse.
21. IGO recommendation for Argiropoulos – Termination if still employed by City
22. IGO recommendation for Heigel – Termination if still employed by City
23. IGO recommendation for Heigel’s staff who falsified purchase vouchers – Suspension if still employed by City
24. IGO recommendation for Huberman – Suspension if still employed by City
Post 2 of 2
So, by all accounts presented in the IGO’s report what we have here is a guy, Argiropoulos, who did what he was told and found a solution to the problem with the aging switch and negotiated the price with Motorola. We then have Heigel who does as she was told by Huberman and found a solution to fund purchase and verifies it is her signature, NOT that of Argiropoulos approving payment of the voucher. We then have Huberman who continues to slip through the cracks even though this was the largest purchase voucher submitted during his tenure at the OEMC and he verifies it is his signature, NOT that of Argiropoulos, approving payment of the voucher.
There were three (3) levels of upper management in place above Argiropoulos, Lodding (who was the direct boss of Argiropoulos and he was not even interviewed by the IGO!), Heigel (director of finance) and Huberman (executive director) who all had intimate knowledge of the discussions with Motorola and were directly responsible for approving by signature the purchase voucher and submitting the purchase voucher request to procurement for payment. Argiropoulos was only in charge of negotiating the price. He was not in charge of contracts, finance and he was not the executive director.
So let’s see, Lodding, Heigel and Huberman all no longer work at the OEMC and even after admitting to falsifying, approving and signing the purchase voucher request and submitting it to procurement for payment it is recommended that Heigel (director of finance who drafted the purchase voucher request and falsified documents) be terminated and Huberman (the executive director!!!!) only be suspended. Is this a circumstance of “blame the last man standing”, the only person who is still employed with the City?
Some have said Argiropoulos is a tyrant who plays hard ball to get HIS price with vendors. Some vendors have been known to say they hate dealing with him because they know when they sit down at the table they will not get away with any “fluff” in the price and it hurts their commissions. Some have said he is a difficult person and is unwilling to give any vendor a green light on price in round one. In my opinion, this is man who is a tough negotiator, NOT a criminal as the media as portrayed him to be, with the taxpayer’s money nonetheless, then I for one would want him in my corner getting the best price possible to spend MY tax dollars for payment. It’s easy to sit and read the newspaper or watch television and form an opinion of people we have never met because of what the “story” says. It’s easy to sit behind a computer and “anonymously” defame someone. However, I think we need to ask ourselves if the article continues to say “alleged” then what might the true facts be before we conveniently crucify someone we don’t even know over circumstance we know nothing about.
You may think that Jimmy sits behind a desk in a suit and barks orders. Fact is, Jim is a regular guy who knows the 911 system better than anybody there. He too is frustrated by the Daley sent people there and incompetence. Jimmy is on our side.
10/01/2009 07:23:00 AM
SIGNED JIMMYS MOM.
YEAH HE LEARNED EVERYTHING HE NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT OEMC UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYE OF HUBERMAN
Anonymous said...
Hold on partner. I've worked with Jimmy on a few occasions. This story is much more complicated that what the media prints.
You may think that Jimmy sits behind a desk in a suit and barks orders. Fact is, Jim is a regular guy who knows the 911 system better than anybody there. He too is frustrated by the Daley sent people there and incompetence. Jimmy is on our side.
10/01/2009 07:23:00 AM
regular guy? making 140K no political connections? Son put down that crack pipe kid!
The radios were never delivered, the citizens of Chicago never got anything for the money. And look deeper, Huberman is all over it.
10/01/2009 07:18:00 AM
Yes, the Huberman stink is all over this one! Just another casualty in his wake.
Where's the #1 guy?
ummmm..the number one guy at the time this happened at the oemc was ron huberman
jimmy a is a good guy who would bend backwards to help any blue collared worker out there
sorry to see him get caught up in the cogs of dick's machine
The #1 guy (if you'd call him a guy) at the time was Ron Huberman. When Ron said "Get it done," Jimmy did as he was told. Since the Golden Boy and Little Richard are sharing a mattress, the #2 guy is getting dumped on.
Soon, there will be no one left to steer the OEMC ship.
Those of you leaving comments about Jimmy who don't know him nor know the work he does, should really check their facts. Jimmy is on OUR side. Jimmy listens to us when we have beefs with the system. He pays attention and goes above and beyond in his long work day to get the small details taken care of. Just because the media spits out garbage about some supposed scandal doesn't mean we all have to jump and get down on him. Give him a chance to explain. If it is scandal, then, yes, I say he deals with the consequences, but odds are there is a reasonable explanation behind this.
Those radios you have are actually good if they were used correctly. In order to use them correctly, you need techs who know how to set them up correctly. But since they have no fucking clue, they are just as good as the old brick saber radios. The only reason fire was supposed to work on those radios was because fire was going to be switched to UHF instead of VHF. But that hasn't happened.
Hold on partner. I've worked with Jimmy on a few occasions. This story is much more complicated that what the media prints.
You may think that Jimmy sits behind a desk in a suit and barks orders. Fact is, Jim is a regular guy who knows the 911 system better than anybody there. He too is frustrated by the Daley sent people there and incompetence. Jimmy is on our side.
10/01/2009 07:23:00 AM
Hold on to yourself.
JA = no good double-dealing low-down city hall snitch mother fucker.
Bye-bye JA. Good riddance to your fat ass.
How come Huberman isn't getting the dump? He only get promoted.
Bring back Tom Folliard to run OEMC.
He was there keeping a lid on things until the big man (paramedic guy)in OEMC fucked with him one too many times.
Anonymous said...
WOW, 18,000 RADIOS?
That would mean that every police officer on the job, all ranks, could have a take home radio 24/7/365 and we would still have 6,000 spares?
There would be enough EXTRA radios for every alderman, asst. alderman, clout wanna-be streets and san man, asst. asst. to the toilet cleaner, caps field directors, etc.
18,000? WOW!
Any comment from shanks?
NAH!
10,000 to spare!!
Huberman cant be touched... he is the golden boy next Supt... you heard it here first... Lets find a fall guy!
You don't know how Jimmy A works. I used to check this site out everyday from a computer at the OEMC. JA had his ass kissers write those bullshit comments and then he filtered the site!!! I CAN NO LONGER ACCESSS THIS SITE FROM THE OEMC. He doesn't want us to tell you what a huge piece of shit he is. He is a backstabbing, nervous control freak. He is a dirty dealer who covers his ass better than anyone at city hall. If he is so great why did he fire the person who was cooperating with the investigation? Why did he filter out the SCC website after his suckholes presented his case. He is a piece of shit. He needs to go. He has no clue what he is doing. He eliminates city jobs and hires contractors who are only loyal to him. I hope the others at OEMC who know and hate him go home and write the truth about him since we can't do it from work anymore.
Hold on partner?
Hold on people?
Looks like the same ass kissing piece of shit writing in like they are two different people. His suckholes are nervous now. They are the most unqualified group of workers in the city. The only qualifications they have is their ass kissing loyalty to JA. When he's gone. They won't be qualified to mop floors. Time for a good old fashioned house cleaning.
SCC, you're on the wrong side on this one. Really on the wrong side.
It's funny to read all the comments defending JA. Sure, he may have been nice to you, even went so far as to help you out of something. But most of you have no idea about the dark side.
How many times did CAD crash in the middle of the night because JA got a burr up his ass to try to patch the software from home? A patch that was untested, and unneeded. He had no clue what he was doing.
"JA was very smart!" Bullshit. He would have people come in, give their ideas, then have them escorted out of the building and claim their ideas as his own. I've seen this done firsthand. A Cisco Network guru comes in, devises a plan to save the CAD networks, and is shown the door. Days later, his plan is being billed as the brainchild of JA and his minion.
Now let's talk about the minion for a minute. Someone the OEMC all knows and loves, Janice Miller. This woman has no knowledge of the CAD Systems that she's working on. Hell, the only knowledge she has is being a PSYCHOLOGIST. WTF?? Well, that, and carnally knowing good ol' JA. I'll leave that one alone.
And finally, I can maybe see why the directors need a CAD setup in their homes. They can check out what's going on without actually being here. But why would JA need access to the voice loggers from home? Maybe to delete certain records? Records that would expose certain response times that are in question in a then-pending multimillion dollar lawsuit?
Fact is, JA thought, and acted, as if he were God. He did quite a lot of bad shit, and I'm happy to see him go. I actually feel safer living in Chicago now that he's gone.
2:50am, actually, the number one guy was none other than RONNY HUBERMAN!!! This happened under his watch.
Bring back Tom Folliard to run OEMC.
He was there keeping a lid on things until the big man (paramedic guy)in OEMC fucked with him one too many times.
10/01/2009 11:11:00 PM
Throughout his career at CPD, and just as he did at OEMC, Folliard cuts and runs the very minute the going gets a little rough. Leave him where he is in Jazzle Fest, Sillinoise. We do not need him here, again! Besides, if he were brought back, he would just run away again at the first tough moment, so let's pass on Folliard and really gets somebody with knowledge of our job.
Folliard has no knowledge of call taking or dispatching. He avoided Communications while at CPD because it was one, tough place to work. He only came to OEMC after retirement from CPD so he could double-dip, and that was not even enough to keep him here beyond three months. Just Say No to Folliard!
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