By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 1, 2006

Mayor Anthony A. Williams asked the D.C. Council to approve $53 million in emergency spending yesterday, including $750,000 to create an "Office of Baseball" to oversee ballpark construction and nearly $8 million to cover a massive shortfall at the troubled agency that cares for the mentally and physically disabled.

The request also includes a grab bag of grants, such as $200,000 for the Special Olympics, $750,000 to pay off the mortgage on the National Council of Negro Women headquarters and $2 million to buy routine equipment for Greater Southeast Community Hospital.

And there's an additional $6.8 million for a trouble-plagued new city-run phone system that so far has failed to generate promised savings compared with Verizon.

Williams, who is leaving office in January, briefed council members at a breakfast meeting on the request, which seeks to allocate a special reserve fund set aside for unexpected expenses in the fiscal year that ends in September. Such supplemental requests, as they are called, are a routine part of the budget process.

"When you consider the budget is a $5 billion operation, this is a relatively small number," said mayoral spokesman Vince Morris.

But throughout the John A. Wilson Building yesterday, council aides and even some executive staff members were startled by some of the items on this year's list. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D), a mayoral candidate, said she plans to schedule a public hearing on the proposal. Meanwhile, council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), also a mayoral candidate, blasted the document, calling it a mess of giveaways and bad fiscal management.

Fenty, who chairs the council's Human Services Committee, was particularly critical of the shortfall at the city's Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration, which "as of last Friday . . . had spent or obligated all of its FY 2006 dollars for residential placement services," according to the mayor's budget request.

"The agency is at a breaking point. If we don't quickly get some top-flight management in there, it doesn't matter how much money we put into the system, we're on a one-way train to receivership," Fenty said.

The developmental disabilities agency is struggling with the skyrocketing cost of group homes and other residential placements, which has opened an $18 million hole in this year's budget. To keep residents in their homes through September, Williams is proposing to use nearly $8 million from the city's reserve fund and to transfer an additional $10 million in unused cash from the budget for public charter schools.

In addition to its financial troubles, the agency faces a long list of allegations over mistreatment of group-home residents. The U.S. Justice Department, citing 14 "preventable and questionable" deaths since January 2003, is asking a federal judge to rule the city in contempt, and a group that represents clients is asking the judge to take over the agency. At his weekly news conference yesterday, Williams (D) said that "receivership is not the answer," adding that his administration is working hard to improve oversight.

Williams also touted his plan to create an Office of Baseball to "streamline" oversight of the city's $611 million stadium project in Southeast and keep construction on track for completion in 2008.

"I love this project. It's my baby," Williams said. "But, let's face it, I'm not going to be here forever."

Williams said he plans to name Stephen Goldsmith, the former Indianapolis mayor who chairs the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., to head the new office and improve communication among the many groups involved in the ballpark project. The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission is overseeing construction; the waterfront corporation is charged with developing a ballpark entertainment district; and the Theodore N. Lerner family is the new owner of the Nationals. Already the parties have disagreed on key issues, notably construction of two massive parking garages.

Fenty criticized the proposal for an Office of Baseball, saying the Anacostia Waterfront Corp. and the sports commission "are already funded" to oversee the project. Cropp praised it, saying, "We don't need to have 100 different groups looking at baseball."

Staff writers David Nakamura and Thomas Heath contributed to this report.