Preckwinkle Wants Answers On Botched Flood Relief
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle wants to know what went wrong with a program designed to help repair flood-damaged homes.
It all has to do with a federal grant of $10.3 million to help victims of the spring flood of 2008.
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The Chicago Tribune reports that Preckwinkle will meet with state officials next week to discuss the federal grant program. The program was operated during the administration of former board President Todd Stroger, and Preckwinkle wants to know why his relatives were hired to oversee it.
Stroger also threw a $79,000 party at Brookfield Zoo for flood victims, even though their houses remained in disrepair, the Tribune reported. In many cases, relief and repairs were never completed at all.
Also, state officials said they have only authorized $1.7 million in reimbursements for the county, and local taxpayers would have to swallow the rest, worsening an already-shaky financial situation at the county, the Tribune reported.
