EOB financial officer Grey resigns her position

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

Christie Gray, the assistant to the chief financial officer at the Economic Opportunity Board, resigned Thursday, saying: "You can't save a sinking ship."

Gray was the assistant to the chief financial officer of the EOB, the Las Vegas Valley's largest nonprofit organization and the subject of three federal reviews. The EOB has lost most of its top staff and three board members in recent months.

Gray's boss, former CFO Debra Santos, was fired by former Executive Director Marcia Rose Walker Jan. 30. Walker resigned a few weeks later. At least three other resignations followed, and Gray, who had been working at the organization for less than three years, became the member of the financial team with the longest tenure.

"I don't agree with the steps they're taking to improve the stability of the agency," Gray said Thursday.

Gray, an accountant, said she didn't think the organization would be financially viable for much longer. She said that the EOB had difficulty paying its employees on time the past three pay periods. The paychecks were delivered on pay day, but just barely, she said.

She also said the EOB was recently seeking to have its line of credit with Bank of America restored to $3 million. The bank had cut the credit line by a third in recent weeks citing concerns about the organization's financial stability.

She also said the organization, which runs about 30 programs for the poor in the valley including Head Start and child care, has been showing "poor judgment in dealing with the state and federal government ... and is not being responsive" to their demands in the wake of inquiries about finances and programs.

Gray said the EOB had not been able to provide documentation to the Health and Human Services Department in recent weeks that the federal agency had asked for. The department wanted the documentation to reimburse the organization for funds spent on the Head Start program.

"This creates an unstable environment," Gray said.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, a board member and spokesman for the agency since the Sun broke the news about its troubles accounting for $2.1 million in child care funds in March, said he didn't know about Gray's resignation, which was effective today.

At the same time, he said, "I don't think it will affect anything. We have people under her who can do the work," Neal said.