dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – The Dunbar School Foundation must refund $460,362.96 to the state Department of Health for unallowable expenses associated with the DSF Stop COVID-19 vaccine program.
The refund represents 42% of the Stop program’s $1,100,649.60 taxpayer-funded grant provided through the state Office of Epidemiology and Prevention Services for the period of April 1, 2021 through June 30,2022, according to the report provided to The Dominion Post.
The 107-page “Findings and Technical Assistance Report” spells out the unallowable expenses in detail.
They include $262,048.05 for personnel questioned costs; $32,171.86 for personnel miscalculated expenditures; $12,222.27 for unallowable cell phone costs; $25,240.78 for unallowable vaccine outreach costs; $12,484.22 for unallowable event supplies; $17,353.32 for unallowable building rent; $44,051.65 for unallowable marketing costs; $17,043.51 for contractual costs with “very weak supporting documentation”; and $11,974.94 for unallowable technical device and software costs.”
The Dominion Post ran a series of stories on allegations of misspending by DSF Stop program leaders starting in May 2023, following months of research that began in fall 2022.
We learned at the time that DSF Stop was already under review by what was the Department of Health and Human Resources. DSF Stop ceased operations in June 2023 and abandoned its headquarters building near downtown Fairmont, across the street from the former Dunbar High School.
We reported last October that DSF Stop was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential misuse of public funds. The foundation and former DSF Stop CEO Romelia Hodges were ordered to provide an array of documents to the DOJ by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Aloi.
DOJ investigators cited reporting by The Dominion Post in their case, saying its investigation “indicates that Dunbar Stop may have misused the grant funds for nepotism, excessive executive salaries and bonuses, ATM withdrawals, luxury vehicle rentals, travel, and food.”
DSF Stop was created to serve the African-American population in Marion and surrounding counties and funded through federal COVID funds channeled through the former DHHR. Stop received two grants to conduct its operations. Its initial grant budget for the period April 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 was $1,197,421 (different from the number in the report). A second grant, for July 1, 2022 through May 31, 2023, was for $990,000.
The report is dated Jan. 17, 2024 but was only released to The Dominion Post earlier this months after two Freedom of Information Act requests and regular contacts throughout 2023 and 2024.
Hodges could not be reached by phone for comment on the report, and did not respond to three requests sent by email which included questions about how the money would be repaid. The Dominion Post also reached out to the Department of Health with questions about repayment of the funds. Other than asking for our deadline following the first email, DH did not respond to three subsequent reminders.
Former Dunbar School Foundation President Houston Richardson was one who alerted The Dominion Post of concersn in late 2022; he raised questions about potential misspending of public funds, nepotism and lack of accountability.
Regarding the report, he said on Wednesday, “If the information reported is factual, I find it to be very sad for the public and especially the black community. This program was started to help inoculate our citizens against the COVID virus and we (Dunbar School Foundation) all felt that the program as presented would save lives.”
A look at the numbers
The report sifts through unallowable spending line by line. We can look at a few highlights here.
On the $262,048.05 for personnel questioned costs, it notes missing certifications or timesheets for various personnel across five reporting quarters.
Questioned costs for Hodges totaled $162,000. Questioned costs for Chief Operating Office Tiffany Samuels totaled $42,500. And questioned costs for Stop’s medical supervisor totaled $22,600.14.
The report consistently critiques the program’s financial management and internal controls. Often noting relatively small amounts.
For instance, on four occasions, Stop bought snacks totaling $377.87 for vaccination events. The report notres that Bureau for Public Health staff twice told Stop that food is not an allowable purchase: Stop never requested food in its budget and it was never approved.
And 13 unallowable fuel purchases totaling $577.37, including at gas stations in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania were charged. DH said the purchases were made outside Stop’s program area. Another $204.30 for fuel was charged after the grant period.
For the $12,222.77 in unallowable cell phone costs, Stop could not provide invoices with the customer, employee and usage information. In two instances, the only documentation was debt settlement letters.
The report records five instances of unallowable vehicle rentals for personal use, totaling $2,000.32; turnpike tolls for personal use totaling $40.30; and $1,922.23 in state sales taxes on vehicle rentals.
For the June 2022 Juneteenth vaccination event, Stop billed $948.71 ofr travel expenses: $476.09 for Hodges to pick up a speaker in New Jersey, and $472.62 for hotel stays for three people.
The $25,240.78 for unallowable vaccine outreach costs included $21,988.98 for unallowable entertainment costs, such as a bounce house, yard signs and banners, a 45-foot paratrooper drop, a rapid slide, “Tubs of Fun” and a rock wall; plus $948.75 for food.
The report says of this portion, “The disallowed costs represent 90.6% of the total vaccine outrach costs that were charged to the grant.”
And the $12,484.22 for unallowable event supplies represented 48.6% of the event supplies costs charged to the grant. Among them was a $3,350 cash withdrawal paid to Hodges for “unallowed … unnecessary and unreasonable expenses for the federal award.”
We reported on the building rent issue in June 2023, noting at the time that Stop was $11,000 in arrears for rental of the former Dunbar school cafeteria that Stop remodeled for its headquarters. The last rent check was received in November 2022.
Hodges at the time acknowledged the delinquency and said that as part of the DHHR review, the state said DSF and Stop did not have an arm’s length lease agreement; the state views them as one organization and wouldn’t allow it to pay itself rent. So they had to modify that line item in their budget and were waiting to hear back from the state.
The lease set rental payments at $6,250 per month. In the report, DH said four lease payments of $4,338.33, totaling $17,353.32, were unallowable because “less-than-arm’s-length” agreements are only allowed up to a set figure for depreciation, maintenance, taxes and insurance. The foundation was responsible to cover those four items. The remainder – the $4,338.33 per month – was not a qualified expense.
The unallowable marketing costs totaled $44,051.65. That included $23,333.36 to the owner of Jamgood Juicery, a Cincinnati, Ohio, mobile juice bar. Hodges contract with the owner, Jennifer Troutman, for $40,000 per year for marketing, branding, event promotion and other duties.
IN May 2023, Jamgood was filed as a business with the Ohio secretary of state, its Instagram page had been taken down. Troutman had 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!” In 2023, she was assistant director of Student Engagement & Diversity in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Other unallowable marketing expenses included $7,500 for a Ferris wheel and $6,000 for Zoogang Touring, termed by Stop as an “influential marketer.”
The report details extensively what advertising and public relations costs are allowed and which are not. The section concludes with, “Grantee should improve internal controls to ensure that expenditures are utilized for programmatic purposes.”
Conflict of interest
We conclude with an item in the final section of the report, devoted to technical assistance. Under the heading “Conflict of Interest,” the report says Hodges and Samuels awarded themselves bonuses of $12,000 and $7,500 respectively.
(In May 2023 we reported that in December 2021, 10 Stop employees each received $200 bonuses. Hodges and Samuels at that time awarded themselves $5,000 bonuses.)
In 2022, DHHR asked about this issue, and if DSF Stop had a board of directors that approved these payouts. We reported at the time, using Aug. 23, 2021, foundation minutes, that “Romelia and Tiffany requested the board to approve Executive Privileges within the grant. This will allow them the authority to make decisions on employees, compensation, bonuses, and other items that are allowable within the confines of the grant.”
That was moved, seconded and approved.
Former foundation President Houston Richardson told The Dominion Post at the time that the board lacked the expertise to establish and oversee a COVID program. He regretted that he realized too late they should should have set up an independent oversight committee to oversee all aspects of Stop’s operations.
The report notes that policy requirements on conflict of interest say, “The Grantee will establish procedures to prohibit employees from using their positions for a purpose that constitutes or presents the appearance of personal gain.”
The report cites the minutes indicating that the foundation board approved the bonus pay structure.
