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NEWS City to pay $230K to settle suit / 2H
EDUCATION See 2010-11 school calendar / 4H
BUSINESS Closed business draws complaints / 5H
SPORTS
LIST OF REGION RUNNERS INMERCEDES KIDS MARATHON 11H
Wednesday u February 17, 2010 u Section H
STORMWATER RUNOFF PROGRAM
EPA raises concerns after auditBy VAL WALTONNews staff writer
The U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency has raised concernsabout the city of Hoover’s efforts tomonitor and prevent stormwaterrunoff pollution and said the citycould be subject to penalties.
The EPA’s general audit, dated
Jan. 19, said Hoover’s current illicitdischarges and improper disposalprogram do not yet meet require-ments of the city’s National Pollut-ant Discharge Elimination Systempermit.
However, the report said full im-plementation of the program de-scribed in the city’s stormwatermanagement program has not yet
been accomplished.The EPA said it was unclear how
many city employees are workingon stormwater issues or what fiscalresources are necessary to operateits municipal stormwater sewerprogram.
Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos saidmost of the EPA’s findings of “po-tential deficits” have already been
addressed with the city’s adoptionof an illicit discharge ordinance inearly January, which city officialsdescribed as the first of its kind inthe area.
But Petelos said the city takes thereview seriously, and he will beamong city officials to meet with
See AUDIT Page 2H
Andy Craigshould speakfor schools
Becoming the leader ofan organization car-ries with it certain re-
sponsibilities.One of those is the abil-
ity and willingness to speakon behalf of that organiza-tion as the need arises.
That need is amplifiedwhen you’re talking abouta public entity such as, let’ssay, the city government ofHoover or the Hooverschool system.
There’s an interestingcontrast in Hoover.
On one hand, you haveHoover Mayor Tony Pete-los, who bends over back-ward to make himself avail-able to speak on citymatters.
Petelos views himself asTHE spokesman for thecity. When there are ques-tions about city govern-ment, he wants to be theone to talk about it.
Sometimes it’s moreuseful to be able to talk topeople directly involved inthe issue. It lets the publichear directly from thesource and cuts down onmisunderstandings.
But I appreciate themayor’s willingness tospeak on behalf of the city.
On the other hand, wehave Hoover schools Su-perintendent Andy Craig,who often walks awaywhen a reporter ap-proaches, refuses to an-swer questions or gives an-swers that don’t addressthe point of the questions.
Craig tries to funnelquestions and informationrequests through JasonGaston, the media liaisonfor the school system.That’s understandable forroutine matters. It’s calleddelegation.
But the superintendentof a school system shouldbe available to commenton matters of significanceand matters that involvethe superintendent’s deci-sions.
Craig tries to avoid an-swering media questionswhen he makes appear-ances at public meetingsand events, and he some-times wants interviewquestions submitted inwriting. Sometimes he re-sponds. Sometimes hedoesn’t. Frequently whenhe does, he does so by e-mail. His reply may not ac-tually answer the question,and interviews by e-mailare not conducive to fol-low-up questions or dis-cussion.
Requests for public doc-uments are met with resis-tance as well. School offi-cials frequently drag theirfeet in responding to themand throw up roadblocks.If News reporter TiffanyRay had not been per-sistent in seeking informa-tion related to Spain ParkPrincipal Billy Broadway,you have to wonder if thenews about financial irreg-ularities would have eversurfaced. Broadway mighthave just quietly retired.
Still, audits of Spain Parkreleased to The News gaveno indication of improprie-ties. Why is that? Craig andChief Financial Officer Ca-thy Antee should be theones with answers, andthey direct questions toGaston, who doesn’t haveanswers. It’s avoidance.The people of Hoover de-serve better.
Jon Anderson is Hoover edi-tor for The News. Write [email protected] his Hoover blog athttp://blog.al.com/hoover.
SPAIN PARK HIGH
Spendingproblemsweren’tnoted inaudits
Hoover High band director retiringafter 37 years of success
By TIFFANY RAYNews staff writer
A week after Superinten-dent Andy Craig disclosedfinancial irregularities atSpain Park High School, it’sunclear just how the allegedmisspending came to light,or whether it’s connected toPrincipal Billy Broadway’simpending retirement.
C r a i gdisclosed tothe schoolb o a r d o nFeb. 8 thatB r o a d w a yspent pub-lic moneyon a stringof personalitems, in-cluding fiveMont Blanc pens and refillsvalued at $1,442, framing forpersonal memorabilia suchas high school and collegediplomas, and personalizeditems framed for himselfand other administrators re-lated to the school’s receiptof a national Blue Ribbonaward last year. The totalamounted to less than$5,000, Craig reported.
Craig told the board hewould report the informa-tion to the Alabama EthicsCommission for investiga-tion.
Craig and Cathy Antee,chief financial officer for theschool system, have de-clined to answer questionsabout the alleged misspend-ing, referring them insteadto school system spokesmanJason Gaston.
Gaston said last week hedid not know whether the ir-regularities were connectedto Broadway’s decision toretire, a move that was ap-proved by the school boardin January. He said Broad-way remained on the joband, as far as he knew,would continue to serve outthe rest of the school year.
Broadway declined to beinterviewed for this article.
Gaston said after lastweek’s board meeting the fi-nancial irregularities hadbeen discovered during a“routine audit.” And a newsrelease issued last week byCraig attributed the discov-ery to “financial reviews of
See BROADWAY Page 7H
BroadwayNEWS STAFF/JOE SONGER
NEWS STAFF/JOE SONGER
Hoover High School band director HarryMcAfee leads the symphonic band in a rehearsal last week.McAfee will retireMay 31 after 37 years of teaching, including nine at Hoover High.
Mr. McAfee’s codaBy LIZ ELLABYNews staff writer
When Harry McAfeetook over the HooverHigh School band in2001, the transitionshould have been an
easy one.The band director — who made
his mark by reviving a near-deadShades Valley High School programin 1991 — would be leading an al-ready polished, high-profile bandslated to march in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade.Instead, McAfee found himself in
New York City with his predecessorhunting lodging for 400 band mem-bers and chaperones after the Sept.11 attacks took down the WorldTrade Center and a Marriott Hotel.
McAfee, who is retiring from a37-year teaching career May 31, saysthat’s the only negative he recallsduring his years at Hoover, wherecolleagues say he led students tomore advanced music.
The Hoover school board ap-
proved McAfee’s retirement lastweek.
“It took me a while to come to thedecision, but I’m moving ahead,”McAfee said. “It’s certainly withmixed emotions.”
McAfee said he’ll have more timeto spend with his daughters, Erin,10, and Kate, 12. At 60, he says he’slogged “a million miles in TheCheese,” as students call schoolbuses, ferrying the band to
See RETIRE Page 4H
JUST A CHAT CHRIS AND GLORIA ROBINSON
‘My dad calls us the twins because we’re always together.’Biography: Chris Robinson, 51, isin banking and works in the con-sumer collections department atRegions Bank in Hoover. His sister,Gloria Robinson, 55, is an informa-tion technology project managerwho is currently unemployed. Theygrew up in Crawford near PhenixCity and have lived in upstate NewYork, Atlanta, and Columbus, Ga.Gloria moved back to the South in1996 and Chris came back in 1999.They have lived in Alabaster since2006.
Chris, have you and your sister
always lived in close proximity?Yes. When Gloria was in Atlanta, Imoved there. Then I was here (inAlabama) first, and I submitted her
resume at my job. We just helpeach other.
Gloria, have you and your brotheralways been close? Yes. He’s thebaby. My dad calls us the twins be-cause we’re always together.
Gloria, you used to live in Syra-cuse, N.Y. What prompted you toleave? I wanted to be closer to mygrandmother. And I was toothrough with the cold. The day I leftit was Mother’s Day, and there wassnow. That just validated my deci-sion to leave. I was tired of shovel-ing my way to work.
Gloria, what are some of your hob-bies? Traveling, shopping andspending time with family.
Chris, what are some of your hob-bies? I write poetry. I like golf, fish-ing, traveling and hanging out withfraternity brothers.
Chris, is there a poet who inspiresyou? Of course, Langston Hughes.Also Nikki Giovanni and Sonia San-chez. I actually met Sonia Sanchezoutside of Surin West. She was wait-ing for a ride and the ride was late,so we just talked.
Rahkia Nance