More turmoil at ComLinks: “She had a license to do whatever she wanted.”
ComLinks, based in Malone, may touch more North Country lives than any other independent non-profit in the North Country — but that fact hasn’t spared the organization a ton of chaos the last few years.
Long-time executive director Nancy Reich was suspended in June 2009 and eventually let go, after growing accusations of mismanagement, favoritism, and improper record-keeping.
Now state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has released one of the most scathing reports I’ve ever seen, describing an organization riddled with mismanagement, nepotism, favoritism, and poor financial oversight.
Here’s DiNapoli’s summary:
“What happened at ComLinks was awful – on so many levels. When you’re charged with helping people who need it, you don’t take the money meant for them and stick it in your pocket. These are taxpayer dollars meant to deliver services to those greatly in need. These things happened either because someone was asleep at the switch or people let the executive director do whatever she wanted with a wink and a nod. She had a license to do whatever she wanted.”
As part of the report, ComLinks board president Marc Lashomb offers a lengthy written response, in which he still praises Reich for her leadership and vision.
He declines to speak in detail about the allegations because of the likelihood that the case will be investigated by Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne.
When I spoke this afternoon with current executive director Brian Cassinni, he declined to speak about the report until he had reviewed it more closely — but he said it will be the subject of a board meeting tonight.
We’ve tried to reach Reich for her views on the report, with no success. You can read the full audit here.
It is very disturbing and telling that even now after all of this the head of the Board of Directors refuses to condemn Reich’s actions and instead praises her.
Not for Profits should be held to a higher standard in that all of their resources come from the public trust either through the government or through donations.
Hopefully Comlinks will not go the way of CAVA but who knows maybe they should? At least then the public dollars that they suck up can be reallocated to better managed and non-corrupt agencies in Franklin County.
Amazing how long it has taken for this to catch up. There are over 25 years of stories that you will likely not hear about of this organizations leaders behavior in meetings and behind the scenes. The boards were always packed with cronies and looks like it still is. The board should shed their fear and clean house. No matter what the alleged vision was of this ‘leader’, the means to the end were a lesson to us all in how not to run organizations- not for profit or otherwise. Good riddance. It is about time things have caught up to this evil.
I’m curious as to why, given the results of this audit, Mr. Cassinni and Ms. whatever are still employed by this organization. And not knowing exactly the hierarchy and the relation to county gov’t, why the county legislature hasn’t stepped in and taken over this program. Usually with programs like this, the county gov’t is the grant recipient and may have agreements in place to allow outside agencies to administer such programs.
If this isn’t the case and after a complete investigation/ prosecution by the Franklin County District Attorney, the county should consider a full take over. Hire a competent Director and bring them under the county “umbrella.” Another option would be to roll these funding streams and services right into the Social Services Dept. whereupon the Commissioner of Social Services could provide supervision. These two alternatives would at least bring oversight of the programs under an elected board and not a group ripe with conflicts of interest and obvious incompetence.
As someone who has served as a board member of two organizations who are required to complete an annual audit and also worked as a supervisor for an agency required to complete the same annually, I’m shocked that this type of thing occurred for what appears to be years before anyone questioned the blatant fraud and abuse. These types of stories are what really upset tax payers. And rightly so.
The county can’t simply take over a private not for profit. It can cancel its contracts with this agency and re-allocate those contracts to another not for profit which it should do. The county could never afford to do those contracts as they pay far to much for them to do the same work for the same price, even with the fraud and abuse at comlinks. One of the main reasons that the state subcontracts with not for profits is that private not for profits paying low wages can do the work for far less money as they do not pay comparable wages or benefits.However Comlinks has a variety of state contracts that are not held by the County and the state agencies should pull these contracts also. This is what happened at CAVA, the board refused to really reform itself and the funding agencies simply canceled the contracts which left the agency without funds and it closed. This should probably be what happens at comlinks.
In my opinion the board should also be held personally liable for this corruption along with the old and possibly current executive directors.
I’ve worked in human services in Franklin County for twenty years. Beyond the financial costs at ComLinks are the cost to former employees who quit because they could no longer live with the corruption. There has been a parade of professionals who were forced to leave because any criticism or protest was cause for dismissal. The outrage has simmered and brewed for years. The board has never had anything but disdain for the employees, and they protected Reich from the people whose careers and contributions she disregarded. The people of Franklin Couty were defrauded not just financially, but by the stain ComLinks had on the whole human services field. When the director of an agency this size becomes a byword for immorality and greed, when the agency becomes a code word for mismanagement, a good-old insiders network and abuse of the trust they are given, the influence permeates the culture and lasts for years. The harm may not be irreprable, but to those whose moral outrage cost them their jobs and their careers; to the dispossessed whose services were limited by mismanagement of funds, the shadow of ComLinks will be long remembered.