The East Baton Rouge Council on Aging this morning outlined new transparency measures for receiving and spending dedicated local tax dollars, one day after two Metro Council members announced they are seeking oversight of the nonprofit.
COA administrators say they have taken steps for increased “transparency and accountability” since voters in November agreed to dedicate a 2.25-mill property tax that will send nearly $8 million per year to the agency. The council receives most of its funding from federal, state and local tax dollars.
The COA plans include a task force that will advise the agency’s board and staff on how it should spend the new source of funding, as well as a series of community meetings this spring to outline the council’s expansion goals.
The task force membership has not been finalized, a COA news release says, but it will include members of governmental agencies, faith-based organizations, nonprofits and elected officials, as well as Metro Councilwoman Donna Collins-Lewis.
In a separate statement, COA CEO Tasha Clark-Amar says the measures were not created in response to news reports raising questions about the council’s campaign activity or to Metro Council initiatives in the works designed to expand its oversight of the COA.
“Certainly, recent news reports and attention has provided an opportunity to again reiterate EBRCOA’s commitment to transparency and accountability,” Clark-Amar says.
Republican Councilmen Buddy Amoroso and Dwight Hudson on Wednesday told Daily Report they are planning to get the Metro Council the power to approve or reject COA’s board members and force the the agency to comply with several other transparency measures. The Parish Attorney’s Office is drafting a cooperative endeavor agreement with the COA that includes the new language, and Amoroso and Hudson are hoping to bring it before the full Metro Council in February.
“Any transparency, I think, is good,” Amoroso says of the COA’s new initiatives. “That’s been the problem historically going back to the founding of Council on Aging of Baton Rouge, which has had a pretty turbulent history. I’m in favor of anything they’ll do that would be more transparent.”
Amoroso says the new measures will not stop his plans to add Metro Council oversight to the city-parish’s agreement with the COA.
Controversy has surrounded the Council on Aging in recent months as investigations into its campaign activity found an alleged comingling of the nonprofit’s resources with a super PAC to pass the dedicated tax. The Legislative Auditor’s office is currently conducting a review of the agency.
In its news release, the COA says the Metro Council already has representation on its board, with Collins-Lewis serving as vice chair. The agency also insists it abides by the state’s open meetings laws and public records act, and is audited annually. Amoroso and Hudson say they want the COA to submit regular financial reports to the Metro Council, and will ask that its staff and board attend yearly ethics training, among other things.
COA Board Chair Brandon Dumas says in the statement the new funding stream will allow the agency to serve more seniors, as there are waiting lists for some of its services, which include Meals on Wheels, in-home personal care, and recreational and wellness classes.
—Sam Karlin
