The Trenton Times published the following article on November 12, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Trenton business administrator says he will not reassign clerk despite receiving warnings
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on November 12, 2013 at 6:59 PM, updated November 12, 2013 at 7:00 PMTRENTON— City Business Administrator Sam Hutchinson said today he does not believe he has violated federal grant funding guidelines by reassigning a clerk in a federally funded housing program to work in the administrative offices instead.
“I in no way aimed at skirting federal guidelines,” Hutchinson said in a phone interview.
He said he would not reassign Chikia Robinson, who was rehired from the city’s layoff list in October 2012 to the Department of Housing and Economic Development, but a day after her hire date was instructed by Hutchinson to work in his department under his direction instead.
Hutchinson continued to keep Robinson working in the city administration despite receiving several warnings from city employees that it was inappropriate to continue to pay Robinson’s salary with Community Development Block Grant funding when she was not actually working on projects the funding was intended for.