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NORWALK, Conn. – Patricia Wilson Pheanious considers the city of Norwalk to be in a "breach of contract" with the nonprofit she came to shepherd in the wake of a shakeup. She plans to make her case to Mayor Richard Moccia next week.
Pheanious, interim president of Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now, will try to persuade Moccia to grant NEON a special appropriation. If the South Norwalk anti-poverty agency doesn't get a commitment for the $1.2 million she wants, she will be forced to begin laying off staff members within the next two to three weeks.
"If we do not get the whole thing, we're going to have some significant operating problems in the future," she said.
Moccia and the Board of Estimate and Taxation did not include a $937,875 grant for NEON's Head Start program in the city's 2012-13 operating budget. Nor did they include a $389,500 grant for NEON's operating expenses.
Moccia was motivated to withhold the money because of a federal audit that showed the agency misused more than $400,000 in federal money meant for Head Start and other problems. During the budgeting process, Moccia said he could not set aside money for NEON because he did not know how much the agency would need because he did not know who might get the next federal contract for Head Start.
Pheanious convened a special meeting of NEON's Board of Directors on Thursday evening to discuss the request.
"We know this is a time when the city is strapped for funds and coming in for an appropriation of this nature is not going to fall happily on people's ears," she said. "Frankly, that's a lot of money, and we know it's a lot of money. And we know it's money we've had and utilized in the past, and we know we did not satisfactorily account for these dollars. We also know that this agency cannot run effectively without these dollars."
She asked board members whether the agency should ask for less money. "It's not as if it's an inflated number, it's the amount that we need," said Gregory Burnett, board chairman. "It's the amount we can account for."
"It's not NEON it's hurting, it's the children," said Brian Baxendale. "So we go for as much as we can." Although 275 children are enrolled in the Head Start program, Baxendale said NEON touches the lives of 500 children.
The city has been giving NEON the grant money for about 20 years, board members said. Although the more than $900,000 grant is described as for Head Start, Pheanious said about $600,000 went to operating expenses and $300,000 went to the 20 percent matching funds required by the federal grant for the program. "There may have been a misunderstanding," she said. "These city dollars have been used to fill operating holes in various ways."
Moccia has said he wants former NEON President Joe Mann off NEON's payroll. Pheanious said the agency is contractually obligated to pay Mann. She was seeking the board's approval to do it out of the Orchard Street account, so that no federal, state or city money would be used.
A majority of board members attended and indicted they supported that idea. But there were not enough members there to reach a quorum. Another special meeting is planned for Sunday.
Moccia had indicated he was not happy with the lack of answers from NEON. Pheanious said she has presented him with every contract the agency has. "He not only knows where his $1.2 million was but every other dime that comes into this agency," she said.
"I know the city has a million," she said. "It's just whether our constituents are considered worthy of it. Let's get right down to brass tacks here. The money is there, either we're worth it or not. I understand the problems with the agency. ... I do not fault the mayor for withholding the money. I wish he had put it in escrow and not allow it to be spent."
The timing of layoffs would be especially bad, she said, because more than 70,000 Connecticut residents will run out of unemployment benefits next week. The Department of Social Services is working with NEON to deal with those who live in Norwalk.
NEON's deficit will touch every program it has, she said. But the agency took on Head Start more than two decades ago with the understanding that the city would provide support.
"Frankly I consider it a contract that they have breached, but that's just me," she said.
Pheanious has an appointment with Moccia to discuss the request Tuesday morning. "I don't mind being held accountable, I don't mind being transparent," she said. "But I am not Rumpelstiltskin and I cannot make gold out of straw. We need those dollars."
Comments (8)
The City had the money, but held it back until moccia was satisfied that Joe Mann was out. Mann is still on the payroll and moccia just got the board of estimate to give the board of education another four million to cover their "shortfall" before any effort to determine why they are four million short.
The money for NEON, may still be in place, or not. Moccia will not be happy with the suggestion that the deciding factor could be a judgement about "if our constituents are worth it". There is a still unresolved question about the head start program and who the providor will be.
How arrogant can Pheanious be to ask for money when the agency misused more than $400,000 in federal money meant for Head Start and other problems!
top cat
My understanding is that the $400,000 were not stolen, they were simply used to cover legitimate NEON expenses that were not in a category covered by the federal grant money received.
From what I have read the issues regarding Mann were expense account abuse, concealment of critical information from NEON's board, and inappropriate use of NEON resources in the form of free housing and utilities given to Mann's ex-wife. A large and bipartisan group of elected officials held a press conference in which they demanded Mann's resignation, so this obviously can't be dismissed as merely a personal vendetta.
I don't have much familiarity with NEON but it appears they do good work and are an asset to the community. I hope that in spite of Norwalk's extremely tight budget, NEON will find a way to secure the funds it needs to serve the community. However I take exception with Ms. Wilson Pheanious's comment that "It's just whether our constituents are considered worthy of it. Let's get right down to brass tacks here. The money is there, either we're worth it or not."
I respect Ms. Wilson Pheanious for her service but I find this sort of comment repugnant. The money is where, exactly? Will Ms. Wilson Pheanious kindly share with us what items in the City budget she would cut that will add up to $1 million in savings? Does she feel we should fire 10-20 Police Officers in order to fund NEON? Is this simply another case of someone with a worthy cause who doesn't really care who pays the price as long as her own cause is funded?
When you're asking for $1 million from taxpayers in an extremely tight budget year, I don't think the best approach is to say "give us $1 million which we KNOW you have, and if you don't give it to us, then you don't consider our [low-income, minority] constituents worthy." Even if Ms. Wilson Pheanious feels that way personally, in the long run she might serve NEON better if she were a bit more diplomatic.
A lot of us, not just the NEON director, figure the money she wants is in the same place the mayor just found 4 million for the board of ed, without any investigation of why they needed it this close to the end of the school and budget year.
She is only asking for the money the City has given to NEON for a long time, budgeted this year, and then held back until Mann was removed and some questions were answered.
Moccia claims he is still waiting for some answers and Mann is still on their payroll.
That should be a very interesting meeting. Moccia does not do well with strong women. She would be smart to bring a trusted witness.
If I remember the story, the money was used to help Stamford and waterbury...NOT Norwalk. In which case you "could" say it was stolen/misused. And Also (correct me if I'm wrong) some money was unaccounted for.
I believe the issues in Stamford and Waterbury were related to NEON merging with organizations there, which would mean that NEON would assume the debts of those organizations. Mann did not share with the NEON board a report which recommended against merging, or recommended collaborating with those organizations but doing it differently. That's what I was referring to when I alluded to concealment of critical information from NEON's board.
In any case, whatever mistakes were made, there's no way to undo them. Even though they still haven't terminated Mr. Mann, NEON do appear to have cleaned house in other respects, so the only question now is whether or not the services NEON provides to the community justify raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere. The decision of whether or not to fund NEON can't be made in a vacuum - the City has a lot of other competing expenses - and it doesn't help matters one bit to accuse the very people you're asking for funds of not caring about NEON's constituency.
I like Pats style,she can't be touched by any of Moccias men,she is right when asking if the residents are worth the money,what we see is a woman standing up to Dick,if anything it will make his blood pressure go up and he will lose time on the links.Free dogs this weekend at the club its been said.
Good luck getting anything out of the mayor. He is committed to the idea that Joe Mann has to go before he will even consider any money for NEON . By then, it may be too late as he has already convinced the board of estimate to give the board of education FOUR MILLION to cover a "shortfall" in their budget, and he doesn't want any finger pointing there, much less anybody's job.
Could be he figures any finger pointing would be at him ? It was an audit that gave him ammunition to force Joe Mann out, but, for some strange reason, he is not pushing for an audit at the board of education. Maybe because he sits on that board as ex-officio chairman ?