With its old board of directors “imploded,” this year’s books balanced, and a new building in the works, the city’s most corruption-mired anti-poverty agency is starting anew. “It was just time to move forward and restore the hope and integrity of the organization,” said new Community Action Agency CEO Amos Smith (pictured at right), after a meeting Thursday night at which the board of directors was almost entirely turned over.
The agency is a whopping $2.5 million in debt, auditors announced Thursday. Smith, who took charge of CAA on May 23, hopes to create a transition —” from an agency plagued by muddled accounting and political favor-giving, to one that effectively delivers services to the poor. CAA’s fate matters to thousands of low-income family who rely on it for home-heating assistance, meals on wheels, and other services.
At the suggestion of the state Department of Social Services, which took charge of the agency in October, almost all 30 board members resigned, including former Board President Darrell Brooks. Brooks acknowledged “personal difficulties” within the board. “I would like to thank all of you individually, despite whatever differences we may have had,” he said before passing the torch to Wooster Square Alderman Michael Smart (pictured above at left, with Brooks in middle).
Three board members were chosen to remain: David Eliscu, Dwight Alderwoman Joyce Chen, and Smart, who will serve as board president. Chen was not present at the meeting; nor were most of the departing directors.
The dramatic upheaval represents a new direction for the CAA, said Smith. He and the DSS said part of the agency’s troubles lay in how board members were selected —” chosen to represent different neighborhoods and towns, they used their position to clamor for services or holiday parties on their home turf.
The “history of difficulties of the agency” lay in its “inability to control or manage how people came to the board,” said Amos. “There were competitive kinds of interest, one neighborhood over another.”
For the next three months, the “imploded” three-person board will oversee a bylaws revision to change the criteria by which board members are selected. The new board will be half the size and will reflect three areas: The private sector, elected officials and the “community,” said Smith.
Another change-up has also taken place: John Letizia has resigned as CAA’s legal counsel, replaced by attorney Michael Jefferson.
Breaking Even, For a Change
CAA is still drowning in a deficit of $2.5 million, accumulated over the past “10 or 15 years,” said Reed Risteen, a senior partner with Blum & Shapiro, which conducted an audit of CAA. Most of that money is owed to the state and other grantors, he said.
Debt accumulated when the agency procured a grant, didn’t use all the funds for that intended purpose, then neglected to give back the overage, explained CAA’s new chief financial officer, Bob Podeswa (pictured). A huge chunk of that debt, about $1 million, was accumulated in the two most recent fiscal years (FY04 and FY05).
Last year (ending Sept. 2005), the agency fell $550,000 in the hole by “spending more than you’ve got,” said Risteen. His firm has rifled through years of shoddy accounting books and finally set them straight.
This fiscal year is looking up: For once, the agency is more or less “breaking even,” not even in the red! Parting directors seemed amazed at the news.
For the good fortune to prevail, Risteen had a few suggestions: Train your employees to use the accounting software; cut some staff in the finance department (“way more people than you need”); and remember: Don’t take employee reimbursements lightly. “It’s critical that you not reimburse something that’s not rock solid.”
A New Home
In a rare (for CAA) show of transparency, Smith gave a clear report of his observations and actions in his first month in the CEO chair. The agency still has a ways to go, he noted. In the workplace: “difficulties among staff,” “blurring of individual accountability,” and “low morale.” On technology: “what we have and what we need are at opposite ends of the universe.”
But Smith was optimistic about a plan to move the agency into a new building in the New Haven Plaza at 850 Ella T. Grasso Blvd. The CAA is in “final negotiations” with the owner, said Smith. The agency hopes to relocate in August to the facility, which will be closer to other social service buildings.
