Editorial: The clock is ticking

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | 9:02 a.m.

All this year we have been reporting on the lack of financial accounting at the Economic Opportunity Board, the state's largest nonprofit organization that uses public money to fund dozens of programs for low-income people in Southern Nevada.

With millions of dollars unaccounted for, the state brought in two people from Iowa with experience in managing nonprofit groups. During the course of their contract, which began July 7 and ends Nov. 26, Mary Twitty and Dan Miller are charged with responding to three reviews of the organization. Two were done by the federal government and one was done by the state. The reviews identified numerous financial, management and program problems at the EOB.

The two new managers promised to have new policies governing the EOB's 23 credit cards in place by Aug. 30, yet none have been forthcoming. The lack of oversight over credit cards was noted in the reviews and was also the subject of a complaint by a former EOB board member. On July 28 Twitty told the EOB that she was preparing an updated financial report on the organization, but that's not ready yet either.

Twitty assured the Sun last week that "our practices are in order." That may be, but the clock is ticking. The public needs an accounting of what's been going on at EOB, and it needs it sooner, not later.