The Durham City Council voted Monday night to suspend an audit of North East Central Durham Reinvestment Inc., after the discovery that its executive director had falsified documents of the city-funded agency.
NECD, a non-profit agency that provides day care and other services to poor families in Durham, received city funding through June, when City Council officials raised questions about how the funds had been spent and ordered an audit. After the suspension, Jackie Wagstaff, NECD director, a member-elect of the Durham school board and former City Council member, forged checks worth $1,452 from the city to a bus company so she could take a group of children on a field trip.
The agency is plagued by other allegations of criminal activity. The Herald-Sun of Durham reported that NECD spent nearly $7,000 in phone bills over a one-year period and used city money to paint a board member's house. The agency also owes about $19,000 in rent.
Several council members called for the district attorney to investigate Wagstaff's check forgery. But some Durham residents urged the council to reform the organization instead of cutting off funds. They argued that the program's benefits to the community outweighed any wrongdoing on the part of its management.
"Mend it, but do not end it," said Durham resident Anita Hammond.
However, the council voted to suspend the audit and discuss in the near future whether to continue funding the organization or cut it off completely.
"Before we move forward with any more expenditures, I think we need to know where we are," said council member Thomas Stith.
The council also rejected a motion that would have paid an architectural firm to make plans for up to $1.3 million in renovations to the City Hall building, where the council meets.
"I would like an office free of mildew and those other types of things that cause respiratory disorders," said council member Cora Cole-McFadden.
Some members thought that other projects should take priority in a tight budget year. "In light of all the other demands on the City of Durham and the City Council, I don't really count this as a priority," said council member Howard Clement.
The $1.3 million had been raised by a bond issue and allocated as a capital expenditure by the last council, meaning the funds have to be used to renovate or build a number of city projects in a designated period of time. If the money is not used in the near future, the city will have to make interest payments. The council has until July 2003 to make a final decision.
The council also discussed how to finance the Barnes Avenue Initiative. The initiative will renovate historic houses and build other homes in the struggling Barnes Avenue neighborhood and will cost around $8 million to $9 million by the time it is completed.
The council voted to use $545,700 of federal funds and $270,300 in local bonds to pay for property in the area.
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