Community Action Board Suspends Two Employees/Gives Up Head Start

Veronica Wallace, acting interim director gives a report.

In a meeting that lasted over three hours, the board of the Southeast Arkansas Community Action Corporation continued to deal with a variety of issues in their attempt to get the agency back on track and functioning in a business -ike manner, while dealing with personnel matters.  The board dealt with a number of issues during the March 19th meeting.  Some were routine, while others were more serious and time sensitive.

Board Secretary Angela Meeks chaired the meeting in the absence of the board chairman.  The board continues to have trouble getting the minutes from a number of past meetings approved and continues to hear complaints from board member Darryl Johnson of Crossett concerning his allegations that some board members in the past have been illegally serving on the board.  Mr. Johnson has been a longtime critic of the board, some staff and the state, both prior to being appointed to the board and since he was named to the board.  While the meeting generally functioned smoother on the 19th, there were moments of intense discussion.  There were staff members of the Department of Human Services and the Governors Office present.  For months, the board has struggled to function orderly and there has been conflict with the former interim director, who recently retired.  Several new board members have come on board and have worked hard at restoring order, facts and a business like atmosphere.

Three new board members were approved during the meeting.  These consist of: Jared May of Desha County, County Judge Richard Tindall of Desha County and Rose Bates of Chicot County.   The board then voted to solicit bids for a financial consultant.  The board also voted officially to relinquish management of the Head Start program.  This matter has been under discussion for a few of weeks, due to a finding by the federal funding agency that there has been a "lack of oversight" of the program by Southeast Community Action.  The board voted to give up the program, which will allow them to reapply in September of this year.  In the meantime the federal agency will award the program to another agency to run.  Who that will be is unknown at this time.

Action on hiring a new executive director was tabled.  According to an existing succession plan, Mrs. Veronica Wallace, current head of the CSBG program, will serve as Acting Interim Director until further action is taken.


The board discussed workers compensation issues.  It was reported that the agency had failed to respond to several matters which created legal problems.  Later in the meeting after an executive session, the board voted to suspend Human Resources Manager Lakeshia Lattimore for five days without pay, as a result of the problems with workers compensation.

In other action taken after the executive session, the board voted to suspend Head Start Director Amy Howard for ten days without pay as a result of the problems that led to the board having to relinquish the Head Start Program.

The board heard reports on various programs and conducted as much routine business as they could.  There was no official financial report given as a result of the former interim executive director having left the agency.  She had also been serving as the finance director.  Some information on available cash was reported.

At the end of the meeting, public comments were allowed.  A number of agency employees, apparently most of whom worked in the Head Start program spoke.  They were concerned about the future of their jobs and seeking answers to when they would be paid.  Acting Chairman Meeks informed the employees that efforts were underway to get them paid by Friday, March 22nd.  They are normally paid on Thursdays.  Other board members stated they would do their best but that was all they could do.  This led to a lengthy and rather heated discussion between a number of the employees in attendance and several board members about keeping the employees informed and the problems caused when people are not paid timely.  Several of the employee speakers voiced their concern that the board had not planned in advance for dealing with the issues faced by the agency.  Some of the employees took exception to comments by a few board members that the employees felt expressed a cavalier attitude toward their concerns about getting paid on time.  The meeting got somewhat rowdy  (not violent) as employees and some board members talked back and forth, often at the same time.  It was obvious, that the employees are concerned they will not be paid on time and are concerned about their future.  It was pointed out by Board member Andrew Tolbert, that Southeast Community Action will not control who will be hired by the unknown entity that will take over the Head Start program, but he hopes the current employees will get the opportunity to continue to work for the program.  He also hopes Southeast Community Action will get the program back as soon as possible.  Mr. Tolbert and other board members asked a number of questions throughout the meeting and were obviously striving to get the agency back on track and providing proper services to those in need throughout Southeast Arkansas.