THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280514
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 47 lines
A state child care council that ceases to exist today will turn over to the FBI records that an in-house investigator says suggest impropriety in awarding contracts.
Mark D. Kindt was hired by the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs in January to delve into concerns raised in a March 1995 report by the state auditor of public accounts. The auditor cited the council for several violations of state procurement laws.
``My opinion is that a citizen council is not a good place to put a $17 million federal block grant unless there are tight internal controls,'' Kindt said. ``There's an issue of public accountability that gets lost.''
The auditor's report prompted Gov. George F. Allen to replace the entire 15-member citizen council. The council administers about $17 million a year in federal child-care funds.
The 1996 General Assembly abolished the council, effective June 30, and the Department of Social Services will take over administration of the federal child-care money.
In a June 17 report to the governor, Kindt wrote that the previous council allowed the leadership of the Virginia Child Care Resource and Referral Network to participate in writing contract specifications. The network is a nonprofit organization consisting of both private nonprofit and government agencies that deal with child care.
``There is reasonable cause to believe that these activities led them to illegally steer federal funds to their member affiliates,'' Kindt wrote.
The report, dated June 17, was delivered to the governor's office Thursday. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press.
Kindt, a former assistant attorney general in Ohio and West Virginia, said it was not his job to determine whether there was any criminal wrongdoing. However, he said the council agreed in executive session at its June 17 meeting that there was enough evidence to turn records over to the FBI.
Mary Ellen Verdu of Salem, who was executive director of the council at the time the contracts in question were awarded, did not immediately return phone calls left on her answering machine at home.
Kindt said the three contracts that caused the most concern were awarded in the spring of 1993 to network affiliates to operate ``Centers for Families That Work.'' He said affiliates who won the contracts participated in a roundtable process in which bid specifications were drafted. by CNB