State to extend troubled EOB’s contract

Cy Ryan and Molly Ball

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 10:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Despite the problems with the Economic Opportunity Board in Clark County, the state Welfare Division is going to extend a $9.8 million contract with the nonprofit group for six months to provide child care to low-income families.

The six-month extension would give the agency a chance to look for other contractors, Welfare Director Nancy Ford said today.

The welfare division wants more than one contractor -- the EOB currently is the sole one in Clark County -- partly because the program has expanded so much, Ford said. She added that the troubles in the management of the EOB "have spurred our decision."

A "Request for Interest" was published today to see what ideas other agencies in Southern Nevada may have. Those responses are due in mid-May, she said.

Then a "Request for Proposals" will be sent out to seek bids for the contracts.

Ford said she hoped that there would be more than one contract for the child care services. One way the contract could be split, she said, would be for one agency to handle the finances and pay the child care centers that provide the services, and another decide who is eligible for the program.

At present, she said, EOB handles everything for the program, which serves about 10,000 children. One of the problems the EOB has been facing in recent weeks is that the EOB hasn't been able to account for $2.1 million that was intended for the child care program.

The EOB, an anti-poverty agency created in the 1960s, is under investigation by federal officials and consultants for various financial and management problems. The agency runs 30 programs and has a budget of about $60 million a year.

Among the programs are Head Start for preschool children, job training and alcohol and drug abuse projects.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas and a spokesman for the nonprofit agency, said in a press conference Friday that the $2.1 million was deposited into the agency's general fund account last summer shortly after a new financial officer had taken over.

Debra Santos, the financial officer, "looked at the general fund and said, 'Oh, we have a lot of money,"' Neal said. The money was then "expended on various programs and other things within the agency."

Neal did not specify what those things were. The press conference was the first the nonprofit agency had held since the Sun broke the news of its troubles a month ago. It was announced to the press only hours before Neal was to speak at the agency's offices at 3680 N. Rancho Drive.

The EOB's extended contract for child care assistance will be presented to the state Board of Examiners Tuesday for its final approval. The EOB has held the contract for more than a decade.

The state Purchasing Division said it did not seek bids on the six month extension, which ends in December, because the EOB was currently considered the "sole source" for the services.

A contract for a year amounts to about $20 million, said Ford. Of that total 76 percent comes from the federal government and 24 percent, from the state.

The EOB program has been rocked by resignations recently. Executive Director Marcia Rose Walker resigned her $125,000-a-year job; Assistant Director Mike Husted left his $100,000-a-year post; and George Cotton, the human resources director, departed his $80,000-a-year job.

To avoid financial problems in the future, the EOB has set up separate accounts for its various grants and activities, Neal said Friday.

At the same time, the EOB's problems have not affected the services it provides, Neal said. "We have problems with procedures, and that is because we're weak in administration at the top," he said.