Updated 4:38 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, to add comments from the Rev. Tommie Jackson and to delete now-redundant information from board members near the end of the story.
Updated 6:05 p.m. with comment from governor’s office.
NORWALK, Conn. – When payday rolls around this Friday, all Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now employees will be up to date on their wages, NEON Board of Directors Chairman Mike Berkoff said Sunday night.
NEON workers in the Norwalk office said Friday that W-2 forms had been mailed Jan. 31 from a company in New Jersey, although other workers said they had not received them by the weekend. Jan. 31 was the deadline for companies to send out the tax forms to employees.
And NEON has applied to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for a jobs training program to begin next fall.
All of this is happening against the backdrop of infighting on the board that has pit several members against Berkoff, transitional Chief Executive Officer the Rev. Tommie Jackson and other board members.
The group, which requested anonymity, contacted NancyOnNorwalk Saturday night with a scathing email and copies of emails sent to Berkoff and Gov. Dannel Malloy demanding various actions.
At the center of it all: a belief that deposed interim CEO and President Chiquita Stephenson was treated unfairly and was railroaded out of her position by a cabal of board members past and present, Jackson, several elected officials and management at the state Department of Social Services (DSS) and the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
Contacted Sunday night, Berkoff and board member Jack O’Dea declined an immediate response, saying they would not respond to anonymous accusations.
Jackson replied Monday to a late Sunday email, refusing to respond to the anonymous email but reasserting the reason for Stephenson’s removal.
“At least two reasons for the termination of Mrs. Chiquita Stephenson was failure to follow a directive from Michael Berkoff as NEON Board Chairperson, and knowingly issuing bogus checks to employees when there was insufficient funds in the checking account,” he wrote.
Jackson also addressed the delayed paychecks prior to the bounced checks.
“The problem with the three paychecks, September 2013 to October 2013, was no money,” he wrote. “Cash flow was virtually non existent as the government turned off its spigots to NEON. The government action was taken, in part, due to accounting and documentation of costs as well as other reasons.”
Stephenson had blamed the late paychecks on a change in payroll companies and technical issues.
Among other things, the letter to Malloy, with a copy to Attorney General George Jepson, accuses the governor of intending to “dismantle the organization from the start.” It also says Berkoff, Jackson and O’Dea said Malloy “wanted a male in the position of CEO/President,” and that Berkoff said Malloy wanted NEON to fail so he could have its programs and services awarded to DOMUS, a Stamford-based social service agency.
The group accuses DSS Commissioner Roderick Bremby of demanding a merger between NEON and Stamford’s failing anti-poverty agency CTE (see attached letter), a merger that ultimately overstressed NEON’s budget.
The letter pins the blame for NEON’s loss of programs and services on Bremby and DSS and calls on Malloy to absolve Stephenson and the current board of claims of mismanagement; to begin an investigation into the “interference and sabotage of NEON by local, state and federal elected officials”; an investigation of former Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia and ACF for the removal of Norwalk’s Head Start program from NEON control; an investigation of the Norwalk Housing Authority, Norwalk Community College, Stepping Stones, state Rep. Bruce Morris, state Sen. Bob Duff and U.S. Rep Jim Himes for their “interference and sabotage of NEON and its programs”; and to clear Stephenson’s name and stating that she, “on behalf of NEON, shared all findings as well as worked diligently with DSS to correct deficiencies found that benefited not only NEON but DSS and the state during their audit.”
Andrew Doba, a spokesman for Malloy, confirmed his office had received the communication from the NEON group.
“The letter contains not a single shred of truth,” Doba wrote in a Monday email. “The administration has been involved throughout this process to make sure that services are actually being delivered to residents of Stamford and Norwalk, and that taxpayer dollars are being used for their intended purpose.”
In the email to NoN, the group states it intends to try to dismiss Berkoff and Jackson, and that it intends to hold a press conference in the near future.
A NEON board meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, at NEON’s Stamford office, 34 Woodland Ave.
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