nothin Bartlett Contracts With Employee’s Group | New Haven Independent

Bartlett Contracts With Employee’s Group

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Bartlett: Sees no conflict of interest.

The city’s Youth Services Division directed $36,500 in state and federal grant money over the last two years to a gospel choir co-founded and run from the home of a city employee — who manages the books for the youth division itself.

Since early 2017, Kergyma Ministries Inc., a West Haven church group that travels cross-country for gospel concerts, has contracted with the city to buy gift cards and food for kids and to find summer jobs for teens.

The Kergyma choir was co-founded in 2001 by Gwendolyn Busch Williams, the city Youth Service Division’s business manager, and Arnold AJ” Johnson, a real-estate agent who previously ran a homeless shelter.

Jason Bartlett, the director of the Youth Services Division, said he personally approved the no-bid contracts. He said sees no conflict of interest in hiring an employee’s organization with state or federal money to do city work.

In fact, Bartlett said, he asked Williams for input on which group should get the contract. He went with her organization, he added, because he trusted it could do the job for almost nothing.

Kergyma, which is derived from the Greek word for preaching,” has won national awards for its original hymns, including a 2018 Rhythm of Gospel Award. Within the 26-member group, Williams is known for her singing.

According to federal tax records, the nonprofit has been run from Williams’s house in West Haven since 2016.

At City Hall, Williams is in charge of the Youth Services Division’s finances. She’s the one who accepts invoices from coworkers and contractors and sends all the documentation to the Hall of Records for reimbursements. She also manages the city’s Youth@Work program, though another employee supervises her in that capacity.

Bartlett stated that Williams did not manage the grants that funded Kergyma’s work. He said she only handled the paperwork for their payments.

Williams declined to comment for this story, because she said she was unfamiliar with Kergyma’s contracts with the city. I was not the negotiator for the contract and do not wish to misrepresent its intent,” she wrote in an email.

Bartlett said he has no doubts that Kergyma had done life-changing work for the city’s youth.

Gwen has integrity and Kergyma has integrity. They’re volunteers that basically sing, and they put anything they do make back into their ministry,” Bartlett said. At the end of the day, I’m comfortable with the services we rendered for our children. We served the needs of our kids and we developed relationships with non-profits.”

City & State Rules

Professor Cadden: Bad idea.

Bartlett said he doesn’t see a conflict of interest in awarding contracts to a city employee’s organization.

An ethics expert disagreed, saying that even the perception of an inside deal can swiftly diminish trust in City Hall.

David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University’s business school, called hiring a city employee’s organization to do city government work a mistake.”

I can understand, with a small agency like this, the desire to hire someone inside. It could be absolutely innocent. But I take the approach that, when dealing with the public’s money, you have to be purer than Caesar’s wife,” he said. It was a mistake. It could easily easily be just a mistake in appearance. It may be a lack of management experience, rather than something pernicious. But those have consequences.”

Cadden said that people are often willing to look past insider dealing in a business, but government isn’t afforded the same leeway.

If it occurs in a corporate setting, the people who make those decisions can be rapidly fired. People respond, Well, the corporation acted accordingly,’” he said. Even if this person is dismissed, it leaves a bad odor on the city organization. We’re always so much more willing to believe that government is corrupt, rather than that corporations are.”

New Haven’s charter, in broad terms, prohibits any conflicts of interest,” which it defines as any conflict between the duties and responsibilities of public office and one’s private affairs.”

In particular, it specifies, the mayor may initiate removal proceedings for transacting city business in which the employee, directly or indirectly receives a financial benefit” — unless the contract was awarded through a competitive bidding process, formal or informal.”

Federal guidelines also prohibit conflicts of interest in grant spending.

The Department of Justice states that all decisions related to its funds must be free of undisclosed personal or organizational conflicts of interest, both in fact and in appearance.”

The feds state that means avoiding any less-than-arm’s‑length transactions,” a term for buying goods or hiring employees from a related party, like a family member or business associate.

The Department of Justice states that following the rules means avoiding even the appearance of using an official position for private gain,” giving special treatment to any person,” or losing complete independence or objectivity.”

Bartlett said he doesn’t believe he’d violated any of those rules.

I don’t have a problem with Gwen being associated with the organization,” he said. She’s not benefiting. It’s a Christian nonprofit, and it’s mostly singing.” He continued, To some extent, we have to rely on the community. We’re trying to engage community members to get involved, to work with kids. At some point, you have to decide, do you want community people working with us, developing relationships, or do you not?”

Bartlett said he prefers to have an outside group handling the work, rather than hiring more employees within his division.

You know, we could go out and get a full-time person or try to hire several people to work part-time,” he said. We’d probably pay more money and get the same results.”

Bartlett added that going through a competitive bidding process was unnecessary. For a contract of that size, he didn’t believe that he could get a better price, he said.

Do you want me to do an RFQ [request for qualifications] on who should be doing our basic needs?” he said. They don’t charge me; they’re not making a profit. Do you want me to slice and dice $50? I think we do a damn good job getting great outcomes, for not a lot of money.”

Contract #1: Programs Outsourced

In 2017, the Youth Services Division brought Kergyma in for two jobs: buying items and finding summer jobs for teens.

The city allocated $20,000 for Kergyma to run the two programs for six months.

Bartlett said he skipped a competitive bidding process because one had no markup and the other had a low rate.

Through a state grant from the court system, Kergyma was paid $10,500 to administer a Basic Needs Program, which was meant to provide kids with essential items that they needed to survive.

In order to function, your basic needs have to be met,” Williams explained, so [the Basic Needs program] is for the natural, fundamental needs we have: food, heat, clothing.”

(The program is part of Youth Stat, the Harp Administration’s program that supports young people at risk of dropping out of school or getting involved in the criminal-justice system.)

The money went to pre-paid gift cards, T‑shirts, prom jackets, senior dues and other school fees, a couch from Ashley’s Furniture and lots of food. According to the contract, all of the purchases were approved by the Youth Services Division.

Bartlett said that Kergyma didn’t charge anything on top for buying the items. It’s not like they got paid to administer the Basic Needs,” he said. That was basically a free service.”

(That fiscal year, the city also paid two other nonprofits to administer the Basic Needs program: $10,000 for the Justice Education Center and $200 for Nasir’s Youth Interest Group. Bartlett said he needed to bring in Kergyma as an additional provider to keep up with the demand for services.)

File Photo

In 2016, three Youth@Work participants built a new fence at the Grand Acres Community Garden.

The group was also paid $7,500 to expand the Youth@Work program, recruiting for-profit companies to offer summer jobs to kids.

According to the contract, the group was paid $30 an hour to get in touch with local businesses for a minimum of 10 hours a week.

In an unsigned report to Tomi Veale, the Youth@Work coordinator and Williams’s boss, Kergyma said that it visited 32 businesses, including grocery stores, cleaners, package stores, bodegas, beauty parlors and barbershops.

The group also reported taking on extra work for the Youth Services Division, including mapping Youth@Work’s sites for subsequent monitoring, assisting with a venue search for a conference and soliciting prices for goodie-bag items, and delivering summer programing guides and other documents to outside agencies.

The contract also tossed in $2,000 for insurance and administrative overhead.

The agreement, which expired on June 30, 2017, wasn’t officially signed until May 31, 2017. But the work was back-dated to begin on Jan. 9, 2017.

Bartlett said those types of delays are pretty typical” for new vendors.

Only Johnson’s name, as Kergyma’s co-founder, appears on the contract. Williams is not mentioned.

The contracts include a clause about conflicts of interest. It prohibits any city employee who exercises any functions or responsibilities in connection with carrying out of the project” from having any personal interest, direct or indirect” in the arrangement.

Invoices from that year show Kergyma was paid in full for the contracted work. The choir also received $450 for facilitating a workshop and $5,000 on behalf of the Eastern Star Order of Novae, another group that organized a youth trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for which it was acting as a fiduciary.

Contract #2: Byrne Grant Tapped

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Alder Delphine Clyburn, with Bartlett: “It’s not right.”

In early 2018, the city re-upped the contract with Kergyma, offering another $16,500 to continue the two programs for another five months.

The contract included one change that allowed the Youth Services Division to tap into another pot of funds for this grant. Kergyma narrowed the Basic Needs Program to Newhallville to qualify for the federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, a $1 million award aimed at reducing violence in the neighborhood.

Unlike other contracts paid through the Byrne grant, Kergyma’s agreement wasn’t vetted by the grant’s governance board, which included Newhalville’s three alders and other neighborhood residents.

Instead, the contract was budgeted into a line item for Youth Stat, giving city employees more discretion” over the spending, Bartlett explained. The governance board did approve that total budget, he said.

They were only an advisory group” anyway, he added. They don’t have any power.”

Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn said she had had no idea.

It’s not right. If [Bartlett] did that, it is not right. I’m definitely unaware of it. I don’t know of her program in Newhallville,” Clyburn said. She said her board has been pushing for a full accounting of Byrne Grant spending, to no avail. We have been asking for a budget. We want to see numbers,” she said. Don’t just tell us. Show us.”

This time, the contract allocated only $5,500 to the Basic Needs Program, less than half of the previous year.

The money went to The 180 Center’s shelter and rehab, household items, office supplies, and again, lots of pre-paid gift cards and lots of food.

Another $9,500 covered expanded canvassing for Youth@Work.

In another unsigned report, Kergyma reported visiting 35 businesses to meet with the owners.

The report states that the group again took on additional projects for the Youth Services Division, like searching for vendors and venues for a conference and distributing summer programming guides and energy conservation brochures throughout the city.

The renewed contract included the same $2,000 for insurance and administrative overhead.

Again, only Johnson’s name, as Kergyma’s co-founder, appears on the papers. There’s no mention of Williams.

Bartlett said the Byrne grant has dramatically reduced violence and changed the schools in Newhallville.

The services that we’re delivering are working,” he said. What are our outcomes for youth in New Haven, compared to Bridgeport and Hartford and some of the other intractable urban centers?

Our chronic absenteeism is down, leading the state there. Suspensions are down. We have better school climate,” he went on. Our kids aren’t shooting up each other. Our streets are safer. You don’t see kids milling about in every broken lot. There’s not 20 kids hanging out at Dunkin-Donuts. That’s because the kids are involved. People feel good about the city and their neighborhood because we’re engaging.”

Shift To PayPal

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Most recently, city government wired money directly to Kergyma’s bank account through one of the city-issued credit cards. On July 12, 2018, Michael Fumiatti, the city’s purchasing agent, transferred $500 to the choir through PayPal.

Bartlett said that Kergyma was being reimbursed, at cost, for supplying food for the first three days of Youth Stat’s summer school, before their cooks started working. We weren’t funded yet, and we had to start buying food,” he said.

(Bartlett has turned down federally funded summer-school meals, which are available starting in late June, because, he said, they aren’t appetizing or filling. We’re purchasing food ourselves and making it,” he said. He said he believes that the cooked meals keep attendance high.)

As the business manager, Williams sent that explanation up to Fumiatti to make sure the money went through to her organization.

On Nov. 1, the Independent asked Laurence Grotheer, the city’s spokesperson, about that charge. As this story was published, he had not provided an explanation for how it was handled. He also did not answer emailed questions about the general policy for wiring money to city employees through PayPal.

Community Choir, Focused On Helping Kids

Tom Breen Photo

Youth Service Division’s Gwendolyn Busch Williams and Jason Bartlett appear at a Board of Alders hearing.

Kergyma’s co-founder said that the choir’s work with the city builds on the charity the group has done since its founding. He said he was aware of the potential conflict of interest, so he took steps to minimize his co-founder’s involvement.

Singing is just a portion of what we do,” said Johnson, who previously served as the Emergency Management Shelter Management Services executive director until he resigned from the role this summer. Our goal is to be a blessing for the community.”

In recent years, the choir turned its attention to New Haven’s kids.

On Oct. 30, 2016, Kergyma sang for free at a benefit for The Escape Teen Center, which Bartlett has been working for years to try to open on Orchard Street.

The choir, which performed the opening act, didn’t charge anything. We let our honorarium go,” Johnson said. Our staff on the payroll, they understand it’s a way of giving back to the city.”

File Photo

In 2016, teens work on The Escape Teen Center construction.

In total, the concert cost at least $17,000 to produce: $4,500 for the headliner Jason Nelson, $11,200 for the sound system and instrument backline, and $1,250 for the printed programs.

It was very expensive,” Bartlett said. It was beautiful and I was happy to do it, but gospel concerts are not money-makers. We didn’t do it again.”

A few months later, after performing at a Winter Wonderland toy giveaway on Dec. 18, 2016, and after Williams earned a promotion on Dec. 19, 2016, Kergyma began contracting with the city.

Sometimes choir members would pay for the Basic Needs purchases from their own pocket, or they would work a business connection to get a donation or discount, Johnson said. They would then drop their haul off at the Youth Services Division. Kergyma did not deal with the teens directly, he added.

Something as simple as a pair of eyeglasses, food for a family, sheets and comforters for a bed, toiletries for a house, they can speak volumes more than we realize,” he said. When they see or hear that people are investing in them, it’s a big thing. It goes a lot longer in the mind of a child. They don’t forget when you give them something.”

He said he didn’t remember recruiting for Youth@Work.

Johnson said he has personally handled the contracts with the city because he didn’t want to create a conflict of interest with Williams’s job.

Purposefully, I never asked Gwen to do that. I never wanted it to be done in an under-the-table way; we do everything above-board,” he said. We definitely had a discussion — Gwen and I have been friends for over 30 years — and I said I don’t want to cause any conflict with your employment. She understood, and she stayed out of it.”

Johnson and Williams have not taken one dime from Kergyma for our pockets,” he added. We’re blessed to have careers that allow us to live comfortably. There’s no need to take money from the ministry.”

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