(The
Page 4
Fortiani» (Obstruer
December 14, 2011
Audit Check Sinks CEO
tin.
spending, so the county, as stew
A ccording to Poe, the funds ards o f the public m onies, can
taxpayers to reconsider the fund provided by the county are im ensure the funds are being spent
ing they provide the organization. perative for the service delivery correctly.
M ultnomah County said last to seniors in northeast Portland.
“We have an obligation, given
week the audit revealed $44,000 in He said, “95 percent o f the county this bad econom y, to make sure
questionable reim bursem ents for funds we receive go
dollars are stretched
spending from M undy’s credit to support our senior
as far as they can go
card that has no clear connection services.”
to deliver those ser
to the business o f the U rban
Poe said the orga
vices,” said Austin.
League and their mission.
n izatio n also p ro
“The Urban League
“This isn’t about the agency vides a num ber of
is an im portant part
or the county’s judgm ent of the o th e r s e r v ic e s to
o f that social service
a g e n c y ,” sa id A u s tin . “ T he those in need.
delivery.”
c o u n ty c o u n ts on the U rban
“ W e do a d v o
The scrutiny sur
League to deliver these important c a c y , w o r k f o r c e ,
ro u n d in g M u n d y ,
services to seniors, low income H ealthy S tart p ro
who has been CEO
people and other vulnerable popu gram s for kids. We
and president o f the
lations, and we need them to show do a n u m b e r o f Marcus Mundy
o rg an izatio n since
us the controls are in place in things for the city
2006, began in 2009
order to continue the funding re of P ortlan d and the state o f O r after he failed to provide receipts
lationship.”
eg o n ,” he said.
fo r th e L e a g u e ’s u se o f a
T he c o u n ty has giv en the
A lthough the Urban League M asterCard during a review.
league, which operates on a bud plays an im portant role in helping
The financial investigation of
get of roughly $1 million annually, vulnerable populations, A ustin the organization’s spending prac
about $250,000 a year, said A us said they m ust account for their tices, however, is the third o f its
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t
kind in over 20-years.
During the late 80s, the organi
zation suffered a $400,000 debt
a ttrib u te d to p re s id e n t H erb
Caw thorne, and again, financial
problem s em erged in the late 90s
under president Lawrence Dark,
who resigned after accusations
for the m isuse of funds.
“W hen we see receipts that
they are spending on a bunch of
different things that d o n ’t appear
to be at the core o f the Urban
L eague’s m ission,” Austin said.
“T hat is p ro b lem atic, and we
w ould be rem iss ifw e d id n ’t take
action and address this issue.”
Poe said, “We, as a board, are
p re p a rin g
to
re s p o n d
to
M ultnom ah County, and we will
p ro v id e o u r re s p o n se to the
county audit request this w eek.”
Poe said he, along with other
Urban League board members and
staff, are appreciative of everything
Mundy has provided the organiza
NEW
tion in the past, but they are in
support of his decision to resign.
“He resigned because he didn’t
want to continue to be a distracter,”
said Poe. “He didn’t want to con
tinue to be a distraction or take
away the focus from the great and
necessary work that the Urban
League o f Portland is doing.”
Although the county has yet to
hear from the Urban League, A us
tin said he expects to hear from
them soon.
“The county’s goal is to con
tinue to work with the Urban
L eague and sort th ro u g h the
spending issues,” he said. “We
hope that they will put controls in
place that prevent this from hap
pening again.”
Poe said, “The staff and the
board o f the Urban League of
Portland are focused on continu
ing quality and necessary services
we are delivering to north and
northeast Portland.”
Port Shuts
Down
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
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Limited operations continued
through much of the day at the other
two terminals.
The longshorem en's union said
it sym pathized with the goals of
the Occupy m ovem ent but d is
agreed with shutting down opera
tions that would deprive its m em
bers o f pay.
A couple o f hundred protest
ers blocked tractor-trailer rigs from
making deliveries at two major ter
minals, one that handles grain and
potash exports and the other for
container imports and exports.
About 100 people stood at T er
minal 5, with 12 police officers on
bicycles between the protesters
and the street. Passing trucks oc
casionally honked their horns, and
a few that tried to enter the term i
nal were let through.
Gov. John Kitzhaber said al
m ost 5,000 Oregon com panies
depend on exports and employ
thousands o f people who are part
o f the so-called 99 percent that
the Occupy Wall Street protests
purport to represent.
"In trying to force a public de
bate — and I cheer the public
debate, I think it's im portant — I
think the movement does some
damage to the people that it's o s
tensibly trying to help,” Kitzhaber
told reporters at a gathering of
business and political leaders in
Portland.
-Associated Press