HOPE Board Hears Accusations Against Smith: Ex-Employees Testify at June 15 Meeting

On Saturday, June 15, 2013, members of the HOPE Community Action Agency Board of Directors met at the Farmville Library to discuss the status of HOPE.

Six members of the board were present: Ellsworth Bennett, Dorothy Hatchett, Jasper Hendricks, Tom Robinson, Howard Simpson and Janice Welborn.

A PowerPoint presentation, available at http://slidesha.re/12VErzs, was shown to the assembled group, utilizing the organizational chart to show that there were no services or programs left at HOPE. Additionally, there were only four employees remaining: Executive Director Kitty Smith, Administrative Assistant Vernetta Bolden, Warehouse and Inventory Control Manager Kevin Bolden, and custodian Odessa Holman. All other employees and programs were no longer in place.

The Board then heard statements from former employees. Their statements are excerpted below.
A former Project Discovery employee stated that insurance premiums were taken from their paycheck and not paid to the insurance company. Another employee later reiterated this fact, stating that more than $1,500 was taken from their paychecks and never paid to the insurance company.

Three former Weatherization employees stated that they’d been asked to perform work on Executive Director Kitty Smith’s home, including using trucks paid for by the state grant to move Smith from her home in Charlotte County to a new home in Prince Edward County. They also claimed that the “Weatherization team” built a new deck and sunroom on Smith’s new home in P.E. County, “all… done on HOPE time.” One of the Weatherization employees also stated that money was taken from his regular paycheck for child support but never submitted to the proper authorities to be sent to his wife.

HOPE’s former “housing counselor” stated that Smith ordered them to work on the clock “to accomplish what she needed to have done to close out a construction loan on her personal home.” “On another occasion, I was asked to go out to Smith’s home that was under construction. She asked me to make statements and ask questions of the builder that would imply that I had authority or perhaps was the inspector… having a specific thing done with the construction of Smith’s home. Again, I was paid through HOPE for doing personal work for Dr. Smith.”

Board members thanked the former employees for their statements and offered an apology on behalf of the Board.

Since there was not a quorum present, the Board members in attendance were unable to take any action, but the six members present agreed to make a recommendation at the next Board meeting that the Board take a vote of no confidence in the Executive Director and release her from her position for cause.

At the next Board meeting, June 27, the Board was unable to take any action as the meeting dissolved into a shouting match and was adjourned with no action.

The following Monday, the Board met again, and again the meeting dissolved into chaos. Following a motion to adjourn, some members of the Board left before a vote was held, leaving the meeting open and still in session. The Chairman, Ellsworth Bennett, and four other Board members continued the meeting. At that meeting, they voted unamiously to ask for Executive Director Kitty Smith’s resignation. Smith resigned Wednesday, July 3rd.

HOPE Community Services is a non-profit Community Action Agency serving the a six county area including: Amelia, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Lunenburg, Nottaway and Prince Edward. According to their 2010 tax documents (covering the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011), the organization brought in $4,826,305 in grants and $6598 in other revenue. They show 279 employees and 400 volunteers in their tax forms.