Aug 4 2020
Central Appalachia Empowerment Zone (CAEZ) held their monthly
Board meeting via ZOOM internet services on Aug 4th. The
meeting got underway at 6pm. New Chair Micky Boggs conducted
the not so public meeting minus her agenda. Absent from
duty were three key Clay County Boardsters, Linda Rhodes,
Connie Kinder and Fran King. Long time CAEZ Director Connie
Lupardus (Big Lup to many) was also AWOL.
The group's financial report was OK'd minus discussion with Ms Boggs admitting, she had never read the documents. From what was said out loud, CAEZ has $6500 in their campground account, $4200 in the Kiddy Patch Day Care account and, just $3100 in the Clay Apartment account. Note, it takes right at $1600 each month to keep utilities on at their Valley Fork Grade School building. The long missing recent audit report, it remains missing in action. Office Manager Michelle Bodkins reported, Big Lup has it and a copy has been mailed to State Regulators.
Mandatory annual audits have not been performed for years. Big Lup did not tell her Board and the public of the deficiency until a recent Board meeting when she was pressed on the matter. During the July meeting, Lup said the audit (s) were being performed and would be made public soon.
Here's the bomb shell for the night.
CAEZ is a non profit agency. All their grants and tax deferred status hinge on the IRS designation, 501 status. All grants they receive, received, depend on being a lawful IRS non profit. Big Lup kept things away from her Board and public. That's how she has operated since the beginning of time.
With the Director absent from the meeting, Office Manager Michell Bodkins was doing the advisement to the Board on Aug4th. Not being one that sneaks around corners, Michelle informed the Board, the CAEZ has lost their non profit status. There was silence on the ZOOM conference video. Then past Chair Michael Martin, Why?
Michelle felt, the loss of the license was due to not having annual audits.
Silence again
For months, Big Lup told her Board, they had applied for Corona assistance and had been unsuccessful. During the July meeting, she went so far as to say, we're applying again. Never once did she tell her employer, they had lost their non profit status.
Gulp!
Finally, after some thought, Michael Martin, Is that the reason we did not receive any Corona $$$ ?
With fresh aglow, each Boardster was realizing, they had been lied to or at least, left out of the loop by the Director.
The truthful office manager: the IRS will look at their application after receiving the audits and reconsider the license status.
One of the few sources of revenue for CAEZ is the Kiddie Patch day care center at Valley Fork. That operation has been shuttered since the Corony struck in March. Back then, there were only two brats enrolled there. With a motion and vote of the Board, the decision was made to close the place permanently. Helping to make the obvious decision, word came, the place has a bunch of black mold present on the walls. Moving all the equipment from the basement operation will begin this month. A couple dehumidifiers will be secured and put in use.
During each monthly meeting, CAEZ Boardsters from the five county region update the group on good stuff happening in their neighborhoods.
For Clayberry: Rockin S Drive in will open soon; a new CBD store will open Sept 1st; Honey Pot and Altered Wood ( ? ) plan to open; and the Hub restaurant will reopen this week in downtown Clay.
Deliciously Vivid committee plans to hold a Gun Show and Flea Market over at the Dundon Campground. Questions came up on whether the local Health Dept would approve of such mass gatherings. The Board gave the thumbs for the DV fundraisers.
As required by bylaws, the CAEZ is required to host a general membership meeting each Sept. Those special meetings are the only times that by laws may be amended. Such changes require a vote of the full membership of the agency. During this meeting, the Board voted to postpone the General Membership meeting until at least Jan 2021 due to corony bugs.
The meeting was over in 41 minutes.
Without any projects in the works for years and now knowing, they aren't properly licensed, the question is, does the CAEZ actually exist?
AW
The group's financial report was OK'd minus discussion with Ms Boggs admitting, she had never read the documents. From what was said out loud, CAEZ has $6500 in their campground account, $4200 in the Kiddy Patch Day Care account and, just $3100 in the Clay Apartment account. Note, it takes right at $1600 each month to keep utilities on at their Valley Fork Grade School building. The long missing recent audit report, it remains missing in action. Office Manager Michelle Bodkins reported, Big Lup has it and a copy has been mailed to State Regulators.
Mandatory annual audits have not been performed for years. Big Lup did not tell her Board and the public of the deficiency until a recent Board meeting when she was pressed on the matter. During the July meeting, Lup said the audit (s) were being performed and would be made public soon.
Here's the bomb shell for the night.
CAEZ is a non profit agency. All their grants and tax deferred status hinge on the IRS designation, 501 status. All grants they receive, received, depend on being a lawful IRS non profit. Big Lup kept things away from her Board and public. That's how she has operated since the beginning of time.
With the Director absent from the meeting, Office Manager Michell Bodkins was doing the advisement to the Board on Aug4th. Not being one that sneaks around corners, Michelle informed the Board, the CAEZ has lost their non profit status. There was silence on the ZOOM conference video. Then past Chair Michael Martin, Why?
Michelle felt, the loss of the license was due to not having annual audits.
Silence again
For months, Big Lup told her Board, they had applied for Corona assistance and had been unsuccessful. During the July meeting, she went so far as to say, we're applying again. Never once did she tell her employer, they had lost their non profit status.
Gulp!
Finally, after some thought, Michael Martin, Is that the reason we did not receive any Corona $$$ ?
With fresh aglow, each Boardster was realizing, they had been lied to or at least, left out of the loop by the Director.
The truthful office manager: the IRS will look at their application after receiving the audits and reconsider the license status.
One of the few sources of revenue for CAEZ is the Kiddie Patch day care center at Valley Fork. That operation has been shuttered since the Corony struck in March. Back then, there were only two brats enrolled there. With a motion and vote of the Board, the decision was made to close the place permanently. Helping to make the obvious decision, word came, the place has a bunch of black mold present on the walls. Moving all the equipment from the basement operation will begin this month. A couple dehumidifiers will be secured and put in use.
During each monthly meeting, CAEZ Boardsters from the five county region update the group on good stuff happening in their neighborhoods.
For Clayberry: Rockin S Drive in will open soon; a new CBD store will open Sept 1st; Honey Pot and Altered Wood ( ? ) plan to open; and the Hub restaurant will reopen this week in downtown Clay.
Deliciously Vivid committee plans to hold a Gun Show and Flea Market over at the Dundon Campground. Questions came up on whether the local Health Dept would approve of such mass gatherings. The Board gave the thumbs for the DV fundraisers.
As required by bylaws, the CAEZ is required to host a general membership meeting each Sept. Those special meetings are the only times that by laws may be amended. Such changes require a vote of the full membership of the agency. During this meeting, the Board voted to postpone the General Membership meeting until at least Jan 2021 due to corony bugs.
The meeting was over in 41 minutes.
Without any projects in the works for years and now knowing, they aren't properly licensed, the question is, does the CAEZ actually exist?
AW