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Despicable city employees November 2, 2022
Several people were complicit in the persecution of Lansing resident Tammie Arend, but only a few were caught on record. Others may have had an even larger part in the crime, but managed not to get caught. Mayor Andy Schor very likely was aware of what was going on, but we have no evidence. He had the power to put an end to it, and apparently chose not to.
In case you are unfamiliar with the matter, here is a list of the stories I've written over the last 2 years.
The four City of Lansing employees named below were deeply involved in denying that contractor Scott Frederickson bungled the replacement of Tammie's roof, ruining the home and it furnishings. They were willing to endanger her life to protect Scott Frederickson. We can only speculate about what sort of hold he had over them.
Tammie is a 58 year old who suffers from agoraphobia. Her only income is $803 from SSA/SSI. She lives alone and has no family support system. She had to deal alone with the excess moisture and mold and the cold from having to leave windows open. She's had no shower for 4 years because the Frederickson's crew broke her shower door. She's had no hot water since May 2021 because the chimney was plugged preventing it from venting properly. She had to get a bank loan to pay for repairs, putting a squeeze on her already meager monthly income. Her health has deteriorated.
Donald Kulhanek was Development Director at the time Tammie Arend got her roof replaced through a program administered by the Development Office in Lansing's Department of Economic Development & Planning. The contractor bungled the job. The roof leaked, soaking floors, ceiling, walls and insulation. Then it was discovered the roof wasn't properly ventilated, which kept things from drying out and caused mold to grow. The house was ruined. Tammie pleaded with the Development Office to make the contractor fix the roof and repair the damage, but they ignored her. After a while, she complained to HUD, which funded the program. It was a November 17, 2020 email from Kulhanek responding to HUD's inquiry that revealed how low he would go. He says
It is true that there was no leaking a year and half after the roof was done. But he does not mention that a major leak occurred 3 months after the roof was installed. The leak was fixed soon after, but the damage was done. Then he says
Is he saying that she is less credible because she is poor enough to receive utility assistance? That reaching out to Human Resources and the mayor when Development won't talk to her makes her a serial complainer? That since she signed off on the work, she has no right to complain when major defects come to light three months later? There was, after all, a 1-year warranty.
Then he quotes some comments from an unnamed assistant attorney "which summed up Ms. Arend's activities pretty accurately." You will see how accurately when when we address Amanda O'Boyle.
Kulhanek mentions a November 19, 2019 inspection. He attended that inspection along with inspectors James Bennett and Steve Guel. We have an account of that visit written by Melissa Huber, who knew of Tammie's situation through Facebook. She never got Kulhanek's name, but she refers to him as the "tall gentleman". These excerpts reveal Kulhanek's suspicious behavior:
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What was going on was Kulhanek and Bennett were conspiring to claim in the report that there was no evidence of the roof leaking after it was replaced.
Kulhanek retired in July 2022 and now is with the legal firm Cohl, Stoker & Toskey of Lansing. Barb Kimmel replaced him as development manager.
Amanda O'Boyle. The assistant city attorney Kulhanek quoted in his email to HUD was Amanda O'Boyle, who has been with the City since 2017. It was directed to Mayor Andy Schor and City Attorney Jim Smiertka with copies to Economic Development & Planning Director Brian McGrain, Code Enforcement Manager Scott Sanford, Citizen Advocate Mark Lawrence, Human Resources & Community Services Director Kim Coleman and Venus Kumar of the city attorney's office. The full email is here.
I will address it paragraph by paragraph:
The dead tree wasn't in Tammie's yard, it was in the next door neighbor's yard. She was not responsible for removing it and she was concerned that varmints were living in the rubble and that they could cause diseases, one of which was Leptospirosis, not leprosy. In fact, her dog did contract this disease and was kept at a veterinary hospital for a week. She spoke about the issue at a council meeting in 2015 and followed up with an email. Next paragraph:
That visit by "Code" O'Boyle refers to was the one by Kulhanek, Bennett and Guel described under Donald Kulhanek, above. It resulted in an inspection report that made no mention of mold. It was a whitewash, and we wouldn't have known otherwise if Melissa Huber hadn't witnessed it. She said the mold was so bad the inspectors had to step outside from time to time for fresh air. Next paragraph:
This is where O'Boyle really gets confused. Either that or intentionally misleads. She appears to be getting her information from a pair of August 31, 2018 emails with the subject "Milk Crates violation" in which Tammie repeats posts from several outraged east side residents. Those posts appeared on the Eastside Neighborhood Organization's Facebook page. It all had to do with a crazed Code Compliance officer named Amy Castillo who was out to clean up the neighborhood and was snatching anything left outside a house - in the yard, on the porch, anywhere. O'Boyle seemed to think it was Tammie saying all this stuff, although Tammie says at the top of the second email:
If that statement doesn't make it clear that they weren't Tammie"s own comments, she also starts each one with the name of the commenter. For example, the business about Code officers pocketing the money for every ticket they write came from Brian Backhaus:
The bit about a stolen bike and bribing her landlord came from Nikkolas Gage:
In O'Boyle's final paragraph, she continues to question Tammie's credibility, defends the contractor and denies that the City has any obligation to help. She also says Tammie didn't follow through on a FOIA request for her records. That was because the City wanted to charge her nearly $200. For her own records.
Did her email destroy Tammie's credibility with Mayor Andy Schor and the others it was addressed to? Not likely. They'd already ignored her pleas for help for almost 2 years.
James Bennett. Bennett's complicity was in the November 19, 2019 inspection he did with Kulhanek and Steve Guel. He authored the inspection report that made no mention of the excess moisture and mold. He did say "There does exist evidence that the roof leaked at some point in the past and necessitated the re-roofing work. [Emphasis added.] If there was evidence of a leak, how could he have known that it occurred before the re-roofing rather than after? He couldn't. In fact, he knew it was after because another inspector - Dennis Graham - had visited the home a day or 2 after Tammie reported it and saw how accumulated water burst through the ceiling and soaked walls and floors. Bennett lied in the inspection report.
He also failed to inspect the roof ventilation. Under Interior Inspections in the report, he says "[G]iven the nature of the complaint was related only to moisture issues . . ." If continuing interior moisture was being reported 15 months after a new roof was installed, a competent inspector would have wondered if it was properly vented. His report contains no mention of his having looked.
He lied in the report about when the leak occurred, failed to examine the roof ventilation and was abusive during the inspection. He would not talk to Tammie. He even stopped her from making an audio recording of what was going on - in her own home!
Barb Kimmel. On August 8, 2022 Brian McGrain, Director of Economic Planning & Development and Barb Kimmel, Development Director appeared before the Lansing City Council's Committee of the Whole.
You can view the video of of the whole meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdcnqRmrQmQ. Or just click the photo above. The part about the Development Office starts at 11:38.
At 29:19, Councilwoman Wood asks what happens when a project is complete, everyone including the homeowner signs off, and a few months later everything starts falling apart. Barb Kimmel responds:
How could she say that with a straight face? Note that McGrain looks on approvingly.
Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.
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