MORGANTOWN – In Part 5 of our six-part series on alleged misspending of public funds by the Dunbar School Foundation Stop program – offering COVID vaccine and testing services to the black community in a four-county area – we look at meal spending and a contract with an out-of-state juice truck offering marketing services.
Salaries revisited
In a prior story on Stop’s executive salaries, we did not record an Oct. 4, 2021, grant change order for the period of July 1, 2022, through May 31 this year. CEO Romelia Hodges’ salary was listed as $130,000 but at 60% of time on the grant, the publicly funded portion of the salary was $71,500. Former COO Tiffany Samuels’ salary was also $130,000, but at 39% of time on the grant, her publicly funded portion was $35,750.
Out-of-state contractor
Stop has a contract with Jamgood Juicery, a Cincinnati, Ohio, mobile juice bar, for $40,000 per year for “marketing, branding, event promotion and other duties assigned.”
Jamgood filed as a business with the Ohio secretary of state on Jan. 29, 2021, and its listing shows it is still active. But its Instagram page has been taken down.
The owner, Jennifer Troutman, attempted a failed Kickstarter campaign in 2018, raising only $1 of its $6,800 goal to buy a juice truck. The plan was a “mobile Juice and Smoothie Bar catering to youth athletics and sports programs, focused on true wellness and nutritional awareness.”
She wrote at the time, “I’m a newbie to the mobile juice industry but have extensive experience in marketing/public relations that will serve me well when building an audience that matters!”
Troutman is now assistant director of Student Engagement & Diversity in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
We asked the DHHR if it reviews COVID grant contracts to question spending of public money.
DHHR provided the lengthy answer about federal grants cited previously, and included, “With respect to whether the DHHR reviews COVID grant contracts to question this kind of spending, the answer depends on the subrecipient. DHHR is required to evaluate each subrecipient’s risk of noncompliance with federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the subaward for purposes of determining the appropriate subrecipient monitoring to apply to the subaward.”
CEO Romelia Hodges said one of Stop’s stated aims was to hire culturally competent individuals for its outreach to the black community, and Troutman has ties to the community and had worked in community before the grant. She has marketing and crisis management experience, Hodges said.
Meals
DSF Stop’s checking account records and general ledger show a number of restaurant purchases which appear to be local or travel lunches and dinners charged to the DSF Stop account. They include nine purchases categorized as “indirect” expenses, totaling $1,335.70, the single largest being $830.68 at a Morgantown restaurant on June 22.
DHHR explained that “indirect costs are costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefiting more than one cost objective and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefited without effort disproportionate to the results achieved. Because of the diverse characteristics and accounting practices of nonprofit organizations, it is not possible to specify the types of cost which may be classified as indirect cost in all situations.”
DHHR again said, “DHHR is attempting to review all the expenditures charged to the grant and the supporting documentation related thereto. Once the review is complete, DHHR will have a better understanding of the reimbursement methodology for these meal purchases.”
There was on purchase, $64.09, for pizza, labled as “vaccine outreach.” DHHR said, “Once the review is complete, DHHR will discuss internally and make a final determination on whether to allow or disallow the pizza purchase labeled as “vaccine outreach.”
And there were five purchases of beauty supplies, four made during a trip to Pittsburgh, totaling $488.93, also not charged to the grant. “Once the review is complete, DHHR will have a better understanding of the reimbursement methodology for these beauty supplies.”
Regarding food purchases in general Hodges said they had to employ some unique methods to draw the community out. “We were dealing with some very hesitant and vaccine-resistant individuals.”
At events they gave out gift cards, beauty supplies and food. “It was a very important draw. Culturally we gather around food in the African American community.” This helped make events successful, she said.
Stop had 14 meal purchases totaling $140.51, labeled as not charged to the grant, but taken from the grant account. Hodges said Stop also has unrestricted funds donated from other sources.
Stop also had eight restaurant purchases totaling $977.37 labeled as “marketing.” The single largest was $447.16 at a Bridgeport TGI Fridays on Oct. 24, 2021.
DHHR again said, “DHHR is attempting to review all the expenditures charged to the grant and the supporting documentation related thereto. Once the review is complete, DHHR will discuss internally and make a final determination on whether to allow or disallow the restaurant purchase labeled as ‘marketing.’”
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