New Haven Independent

As the board of the CAA attempts to gather forces after corruption-spawned implosion, a new crew has fallen into dispute over who gets to select the rest of its 18-member board. CAA is the region’s largest provider of services like home heating oil for the poor and “meals on wheels” for the elderly.

Amid the back-and-forth at a Board of Directors meeting Monday night, someone let slip this classic CAA conflict-of-interest inside deal: An insurance agent contract had been given to the brother of the former board chair, Darrel Brooks. Smith stamped out that arrangement — finding a new carrier who charged at least $40,000 less yet gave better coverage.

Recovering from what he said was a brazen break-in of his office, Smith endured a barrage of questions about potential conflicts of interest with new appointees.

The Pilfering

“… I am saddened to announce that we have had a series of breaches to our security,” Smith announced in a written report submitted to the board Monday. “Files from my office have been deleted and hard copy files have been removed.”

The first break-in happened a month and a half ago. It appeared to be someone familiar with the agency, Smith said. He had the locks changed.

The thieves, as of yet not apprehended, were brazen enough to leave a stolen document in the photocopier, he said. Who was it? Smith said he didn’t know. “There has been a history of trying to undermine me — I do know my files have been pilfered.”

The physical obstruction was one of a list of obstacles recounted Monday.

Brotherly Arrangement Nipped

When Smith came aboard, he found a classic CAA arrangement was still on the books: Darrell Brooks, who was president of the board at the time, had assigned his own brother, Theodore Brooks, Jr., to act as broker of the agency health plan.

Smith said he became aware of the arrangement when an audit came out in late September/October of 2006. He kept Brooks on until the health plan ran out in January, at which point the CAA ended the relationship.

The agency re-thought its health plan, got a new broker and applied along with a greater pool of employees, and ended up with a better plan that actually cost less money, with a savings of $40,000 to $60,000 per year, said Smith. A new contract, with lower co-pays, started in February 2007.

John Rowland & Co. Start The Job

As the once-imploded Board of Directors builds back up to its full size of 18, five more faces have joined the table: Snow Turner, Leonard Smart, Georgina Lucas, Larry Steward and a local man by the name of John Rowland (not the former governor).

The nominating process has already caused tension between the board chair, Easter Howard (pictured at left), and Penny Rogers (pictured at right). After a series of arguments over who got to chair the nominating committee, Rogers was voted into the position.

Recent controversy popped up over how the five got selected for the board, and whether their status as board members should be recognized. Questions were raised over how many of the 15 to 20 applications were actually reviewed before selection, how the process was done, and if they were properly vetted for conflicts of interest, reported The Register’s Mary O’Leary last week.

Pending a closer examination, the appointments were temporarily sanctioned in this letter by the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, the state agency that swept in to take charge of the CAA in the wake of corruption and muddled accounting. Monday, they took their seat at their first monthly board meeting and dived into the task of reinstating public trust, and proper funding, to the agency.

Edith Karsky, who directs the state umbrella organization of community action agencies, defended the nominating process as “entirely open and transparent.”

Most of their efforts were focused not on the wide services CAA provides — home heating oil for over 12,000 families; over 30,000 meals to the elderly — but on sticky struggles over personnel.

Attorney Patricia Boyce Iassogna, counsel for Chubbs Insurance, showed up to announce the CAA had just settled one discrimination complaint with a former employee, and had two pending complaints.

Smith wouldn’t comment on how much the former employee — his predecessor, Darnell Goldson — got, or what the other cases entailed. He responded by pointing to an historic “culture of entitlement” among CAA staff.

Smith, who formerly worked at the Community Foundation as a health disparity director, is staying afloat while being asked to defend his relationships with the five newest appointees.

One new appointee, Snow Turner, through her job at the city health department, interacts with a program at the Foundation called Healthy Start. Smith used to run it, and maintains a contract that allows him to return as a consultant if need be. Smith said the contract hasn’t posed a conflict: “My goal was not to have any contact with them for a year.” He says he’s upheld that goal so far: “I’ve not done any work for them in 10 months.”

Is Larry Stewart, who runs a contract management firm and does business in Fair Haven, Smith’s personal friend? a reporter asked, echoing board member’s questions.

“We share a reading club together,” responded Smith. It meets sporadically.

“I don’t have anything to hide!” he called out as he left for the night.

The board’s first six members — Easter Howard, Jeff Klaus, Evelyn Dejesus-Vargas, Penny Rogers, Robert Pellegrino, and Linda DeRosa — were chosen by former board Chair Mike Smart. The new five were questioned and selected by a committee formed by Rogers, Dejesus-Vargas and Pellegrino.

Smith bemoaned that the current “chatter” over the nominating process is obscuring real progress he’s made with the CAA.

“People don’t want to give money to a place that continues to appear to be in crisis.”