MORGANTOWN — After more than two decades with Bartlett Housing Solutions, Keri DeMasi has been fired as the nonprofit’s executive director.
DeMasi confirmed to The Dominion Post that she was terminated on Tuesday.
“I am not surprised as I knew it was coming when I refused to remain quiet about the corruption,” DeMasi said.
She elaborated in a social media post, alleging corruption, lies and cover-ups. She did not say who she was referring to with those allegations, nor to whom she reported them.
Later Tuesday evening, the Bartlett House Board of Directors put out a press release but did not directly address DeMasi’s firing or allegations.
“The Board of Directors would like to thank Keri for her more than two decades of leadership and service to our community’s most vulnerable population,” the release states.
“The Board of Directors has opened the position and is currently seeking qualified candidates who are passionate in social services and would like the opportunity to lead our organization into the future. This position will be formally posted in the coming days. In the interim, the Board of Directors has appointed Joe Sengwalt and Elizabeth Edwards to lead the organization during this transition.”
The firing comes days after the nonprofit’s March 11 announcement that it was closing its emergency shelter in Hazel’s House of Hope by June 30 after learning it would not receive its annual state allocation of $166,649 due to a poor ranking in a newly implemented competitive grant process for shelters statewide.
The West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, which allocates shelter funding on the state’s behalf, told The Dominion Post on March 13 that Bartlett House could still receive the money if certain measures were taken.
DeMasi told The Dominion Post she didn’t know if her firing was one of those stipulations.
There’s been no word from Bartlett House on whether the shelter will be able to make the necessary improvements needed to receive the funding or remain open.
“I believe with every ounce of my being in the mission of Bartlett Housing Solutions. Sadly, our mission has been hijacked. Any growth or attempt to “right the ship” was stonewalled and shut down by some of the very people tasked with protecting the mission, its integrity, its transparency and honesty and the very people it aims to serve: the ENTIRE community, the clients and their team of employees,” DeMasi wrote to social media. “At the end of the day, lies are still lies. The truth WILL come out.”
Bartlett Housing Solutions Board President Nick DeMedici told The Dominion Post that the release “will be our official statement for the time being. We are coordinating a lot of things and making sure everything transitions as smoothly as possible.”
