The website of the Community Action Organization says of board meetings, "the public is always welcome to attend these meetings." However, Monday night, three armed guards barred anyone who was not on a list to enter.
The CAO has been undergoing an internal convulsion since a board majority voted to fire CEO Nathan Hare and call in a forensic accountant. Four board members were fired by Hodgson Russ lawyer Adam Perry, a confidant of Mayor Byron Brown.
Four of the directors were outside the CAO office Monday night and were barred from the board meeting. Former board member Doris Cummings-Ford said she received a letter from Perry saying she was off the board, with no indication why.
Cummings-Ford says she voted to fire Hare and was on the board as a representative of low-income citizens.
"I was appointed by the community," she said. "I had to get the statements from the low-income that I was needed on the board."
The agency spends around $50 million a year, most from various governments.
The four members kept out of the meeting were accompanied by lawyer Jennifer Friedman, who said she was shocked the members were barred. In a written statement, Friedman said the forensic audit has apparently been canceled. She called the closed meeting a "deeply concerning" lack of transparency.
