Council withholds final payment to longtime CDBG consultant after large August invoices

Lede: Antioch city council on Aug. 26 pulled multiple warrant payments to a longtime Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) consultant after public questions about large, lump‑sum invoices submitted in August. Nut graf: The warrants in question totalled six‑figure sums for a consultant who has administered Antioch’s CDBG program for many years. Council approved the remainder of the warrant register but removed the items tied to the consultant pending staff documentation and reconciliation. Body: A council member flagged two invoices in the Aug. 1–14 warrant register: one for $134,932.50 and another for $9,092.50, which together equal $144,025.00; during public comment an attendee cited an additional billing that raised the consultant’s total to roughly $188,000 over a recent period. Public speaker Andrew Becker urged council not to approve the payments without full documentation of hours and historical billing patterns and requested that the city make the consultant’s billing packets public. City staff responded that the consultant tracks time daily on functional time sheets required by HUD and other grantors and that, because her work crosses multiple grants with overlapping rules, she reconciles and allocates time annually or semi‑annually. Staff said federal rules require every billed hour to be tied to a documented, grant‑eligible task and that annual billing is a long‑standing practice for this consultant. Staff also noted the consultant’s work effectively represents a director‑level role and said the city plans to bring the function in‑house when the consultant retires in December. Action: The council moved to approve the warrant register with the Terry House items removed. Council approved remaining warrants 4–0 (Council member Wilson absent) and separately approved the housing successor warrants with the consultant warrant excluded. Council members asked staff to provide detailed billing documentation and historical payment records before authorizing the withheld payments. Ending: The withheld warrants will be reviewed by staff and returned to council for approval only after the requested supporting documentation is provided. The city flagged a personnel transition (consultant’s planned retirement in December) and indicated the work will be converted to an in‑house housing manager position in the near term.