Re: [WardFive] Tim Clark Should Resign as ANC 5C03

Commissioner Ransom's message referenced grants awarded to the Bloomingdale Civic Association (BCA) in 2009 and 2011 and my service on the Grant Committee. Please see my notes below regarding those topics. As noted below, when I joined the BCA Board as president, the new Board members and I inherited a troubled grant. The Board and I acted quickly by reaching out to ANC 5C to resolve the issue. When the BCA received an official assessment of the grant in August 2011 it returned the unused grant funds. The 2011 grant was applied for, received and properly reported to ANC 5C in accordance with ANC 5C rules. Moreover, while it is true that I served on the ANC 5C Grants Committee in 2011, the Committee was advisory in nature (i.e., decision-making authority remained under the purview of the Commission, not the Committee) and as such, I did not have any undue influence over matters related to the BCA. In that regard I take issue with the following excerpt from Commissioner Ransom's message:

 

"Created a Grants Committee of members of the ANC 5C area which included a prior and future grantee who had not submitted financial reports, receipts, or refunds for grants in a timely manner, such as: Teri J. Quinn, President, Bloomingdale Civic Association"

 

Teri Janine Quinn has never been awarded a grant from ANC 5C - the BCA has but I have not. I did not serve on the Grants Committee as a representative of the BCA. It is true that prior to my presidency, the BCA did not file its reports related to the 2009 grant in a timely manner, but that is not true of me as an individual or of the BCA since I've served as its president.

 

For a more detailed explanation, see my notes below. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I don't believe you have to look very far in Bloomingdale or the surrounding communities to find someone who can attest to the progress the BCA has made in the three years that I've served as president. Likewise, you'd be in for a short search to find neighbors who can vouch for my integrity. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding the ANC 5C grants to the BCA and/or my service on the ANC 5C Grants Committee, feel free to contact me directly.

 

Best,

 

Teri Janine Quinn

President, Bloomingdale Civic Association

 

 

2009 BCA Grant 

 

The grant in question was issued approximately 15 months prior to my election as president of the Bloomingdale Civic Association (BCA). I was elected president of the BCA at the end of 2010. During the first Executive Board meeting after my election, I made it clear to the Board that resolution of this issue would be a top priority. During the following BCA public meeting I announced that the Board had decided to take action to return the unused grant funds. Shortly thereafter, I contacted the then-Chair of ANC 5C, Ronnie Edwards, to seek guidance with regard to addressing the BCA's outstanding grant. Chairman Edwards referred me to Commissioner Clark. In February 2011, I sent related documentation to Commissioner Clark and in March 2011, I sent that information to Commissioner Ransom. While anxious to resolve the issue completely, the BCA Executive Board was concerned about issuing a check to refund the unused funds only to later learn that the Commission had rejected our documentation and sought additional funds. While the Board was confident that the expenditures made and receipts submitted were valid, prior officers expressed concern that ANC 5C had repeatedly requested information that had already been submitted to the Commission. As such, the Board decided to wait for a written final assessment of our documentation before issuing a payment. In late March or early April, I spoke with Commissioner Clark who explained that we would receive an official assessment of the grant from the auditor and I confirmed that the BCA would issue payment upon receipt of the assessment. We did not receive the assessment until sometime in August. Very shortly thereafter he recieved the assessment the BCA treasurer, Michael Fine, mailed a check to ANC 5C, however, we later learned that the address we were provided was incorrect which resulted in Chairman Edwards picking up a second check in person on 9/15/11. The the delay in completing the reporting process for the grant was unfortunate but once in office,the new Board and I, took action to work with ANC 5C to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. At the bottom of this message I have pasted supporting emails. I have other emails and documentation that confirm my recollection of the events concerning this grant after I became president of the BCA. I cannot account for any events related to the grant that occurred prior to that time. Should anyone have questions or concerns related to this issue feel free to contact me directly and I will gladly share such documentation. 

 

ANC 5C Grants Committee

 

I served on the ANC 5C Grants Committee in 2011. The Committee had no decision-making authority and was merely advisory in nature. I joined the committee after receiving a general solicitation from then-Commissioner Youngblood to provide input on the Commission's grants process. I mistakenly thought I was signing up for an ongoing round table discussion. I responded that I could not make the first meeting but would willing to attend future meetings. After that first meeting I received an email from Commissioner Clark summarizing the meeting which made it clear to me that by responding to the solicitation I had inadvertently joined the Grants Committee. Thereafter, I recall there being two more meetings, one via conference call in June 2011 and one in person in October 2011. The first meeting I attended occurred while the 2009 grant was outstanding and prior to the application for the 2011 grant. That meeting covered the following topics: implementation of the new grant guidelines for grants, the policy for reimbursing Commissioners for expenditures and I believe Commissioner Clark gave the group status updates on outstanding grants, which at that time would have included the 2009 BCA grant. The second meeting I attended was held after the BCA applied for and received the 2011 grant. That meeting addressed the outstanding grants - which no longer included the 2009 BCA grant but technically would have included the 2011 grant (the deadline for submitting our final report had not passed so it was outstanding but not overdue), a report on a recent meeting between Commissioners and the auditor and a proposed moratorium on ANC 5C grants. At no time during those meetings did I participate in any decision making with regard to BCA grants. Moreover, any final decisions with regard to the resolution of outstanding grants and/or approval of grant requests would not have been made by the Grants Committee but rather by the Commission, of which I was not a member. I did not draft, review or present (to ANC 5C) BCA's 2011 grant request. I did not attend the ANC meeting during which the application was presented. I did not participate in any committee or Commission discussions regarding  the approval of the BCA's 2011 grant request - in fact there were no Committee meetings during the time when the BCA 2011 grant application was pending. However, I did ensure that the BCA made a timely report on the use of the grant funds it received in 2011. Again, should anyone have questions with regard to my service on the ANC Grants Committee please feel free to contact me directly.

 

Best,

 

Teri Janine Quinn

President, Bloomingdale Civic Association

 

*****************************************************************************************************************

In Response to Commissioner Ransom's 3/4/11 email:

 

tj quinn <terijanine@gmail.com>
3/4/11

to Ronnie, tim, Albrette, Gigi

Ms. Ransom,

 

This is one of the first issues I raised with the executive board of the BCA when I became president in late January.  We fully intend to work with the ANC to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. I began that process in early February by reaching out to Commissioner Ronnie Edwards who, in turn, referred me to Commissioner Tim Clark. I will forward you copies of relevant emails shortly, including a draft final report that I sent to Commissioner Clark on February 15th.  Our treasurer is out of town this weekend so I am not sure that she will have time to amend her draft final report before March 8th.  If she cannot, perhaps I can prepare a short amendment to that report to correct any inaccuracies that are apparent to me.  I look forward to working with you to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

 

Best regards,

 

Teri Janine Quinn
President, Bloomingdale Civic Association
214-908-1913

 

*****************************************************************************************************

 

In Response to Commissioner Ransom's 7/2/11 email:

 

from: tj quinn <terijanine@gmail.com>
to: Gigi Ransom <gigifor5c12@yahoo.com>

cc: "Ransom, Albrette Gigi (ANC 5C12)" <5C12@anc.dc.gov>,
 "Edwards, Ronnie (ANC 5C11)" <5C11@anc.dc.gov>,
 Fredericka Shaw <fredericka.shaw@dc.gov>,
 Lynard Barnum <Lynard.Barnum@dc.gov>,
 "Clark, Tim (ANC 5C05)" <5C05@anc.dc.gov>

date: Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 1:13 PM
subject: Re: FW: ANC 5C Grant Awarded to Bloomingdale Civic Association, $4,000.00, 7/2/2009
mailed-by: gmail.com

 

The Bloomingdale Civic Association (BCA) remains willing to resolve this issue. The last word I received regarding this issue was about a month ago from Commissioner Clark who indicated that the BCA would receive an official assessment of the grant from the auditor and I confirmed that the BCA would settle the bill upon receipt of that assessment. We would certainly prefer to issue one final check to resolve the issue.  The BCA has no preference as to which Commissioner handles this matter and remains open to working with whoever the Commission determines has responsibility for this issue.

Best,

Teri Janine Quinn
Bloomingdale Civic Association  

 

**************************************************************************************************************************

From to the BCA Executive Board after receiving the Auditors Assessment: 

 

tj quinn <terijanine@gmail.com>
8/27/11

to bca-executive-.

Executive Board Members,

 

We received a letter from the ANC requesting the return of the remainder of the ANC grant funds. Consistent with the Executive Board's vote in its first meeting, announcements made to the body of the BCA during the February and March public meetings and discussions I've had with the ANC over last eight months, we will return the funds right away.

 

Stay dry (and safe),

 

Teri Janine

 

**************************************************************************************************************

From then-BCA Treasurer to Commissioner Clark and then-Commissioner and BCA Board member John Salatti: 

 

Michael L. Fine, CSA <[OMITTED EMAIL ADDRESS]>
9/15/11

to Tim, me, John

Tim and Teri Janine, Please be advised that I just placed a check for the repayment of the grant funds in Ronnie's hands. He also informed me that the address we were provided, which apparently came from the ANC website is not correct on the website which was what I thought initially here this morning. Anyway I guess the ANC is correcting that as we speak but on our end the BCA has now repaid the grant funds so we can all go out for a beer and put this all behind us!!! Regards,

 

Michael L. Fine, CSA
[OMITTED CONTACT INFO]

On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 1:17 PM, Gigi Ransom <gigifor5c12@yahoo.com> wrote:

This is a follow-up to the post: [ward5] Tweet from AHM ✈ (@blackmanhelping) (Wed, 6/19/13) 4:27pm.  Since the post's current status has been combined with another subject matter, I wanted to respond to the original post on Tim Clark. There will be no sound bits.

 

I agree that Tim Clark must resign as the ANC for 5C03. I fully understand what Aaron is stating and wanting Tim Clark to do what is ethical for his unethical behavior.  He was elected and has a responsibility to those who elected him to have the integrity to step down due to his illegal actions.  Having being given the responsibility for this account should have been of utmost important to Tim for the integrity of CM McDuffie and the W5 office. No matter the amount stolen from the Ward 5 Constituent Service fund, whether $1.00 or $227.00, he needs to resign as a Commissioner.

 

I feel comfortable in stating that his thinking is that he may have spoken to soon since what he did had nothing to do with his ANC position.  Well that thinking is wrong.

 

With all that has transpired in the past 2 years with our elected officials, the negative publicity with these officials also being men of Color, no matter that Tim Clark is an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and an officer  of the Commission, resigning is the right thing to do!  Former Commissioner William Shelton resigned due to his transgressions.  The same applies here.

 

Though the ANC can't legally remove Tim as a Commissioner, a Commissioner can be removed as an officer for misconduct or negligence of duty.  Tim is the ANC 5C Secretary.  Along with his misconduct in McDuffie's office, I've also heard allegations of negligence in his duties as the current 5C Commission's Secretary which has delayed this Commission from becoming fully operational.  Simple things which a Secretary should do!

 

There are OAG Legal Advices on the matter.  The Commission could also make contact with the newly established Board of Ethics and Government Accountability to consider their options and processes on this matter.  

 

I can now look back and confirm that  during Tim's tenure on the pre-redistricted ANC 5C, he has the tendency to rationalize his missteps, ethical lapses, and attempts to undermined and/or control situations and individuals he deems in his way of his plan to a higher office he was pursuing.

 

  Tim has always stated and shown himself wanting to be accepted as someone "in the know" even though he lacked the skills, character, personality and knowledge.  His low-self esteem came through as "one who wanted to be in control" to cover his lack of abilities, especially effective and honest leadership.  He believed he was elected into his position over then Commissioner Denise Wright because he was the better person (2010 General Elections).  There was only a few votes difference.  However, truth be told, Commissioner Wright did not campaign as she should have, and admitted it.  The same was confirmed by residents of the then SMD.

 

The weekend after the election were certified by BOEE, at a meeting on the McMillan, I talked with Tim about supporting me for the position of 5C's Treasurer. While talking with him; Tim shared he also had an interest in the position.  Since my intent in being elected for the position of Treasurer was to perform the duties (I was once an Accounting Mgr), but wanted to clean up the 5C grant program (over $41,000.00 outstanding) and to organize and create a standardized grant status reporting system which could be easily updated, to begin contacting the problem grantees, and show the problems in collecting outstanding documentation and/or refunds to the 5C account for DC Council review for amended ANC laws. I offered to train Tim during the current year so that he would have my support for him to have the position the next year.  Tim stated he had accounting/budget skills from his work at DDOT.

 

Approx a week before the first meeting of the newly elected 5C Commission, Tim circulated what he called the budget for 5C for the coming year.  It was sad to see.  The Excel spreadsheet was poorly formatted, he used the colors red, green and black to highlight certain numbers (yellow is normally used), but more telling, the numbers didn't add up!  He wanted to spend all the money we had in the bank which was about $160,000 at the time. I still have this document.  To at least have a better reference of what a draft Budget should look like and a reasonable spending plan, I created a better formatted, understandable spreadsheet for the Commissioners.

 

At the first meeting of 2011, I was elected ANC 5C treasurer over Tim.  For the record, it was not a life or death situation for me if I wasn't elected Treasurer.

 

This was the first reveal of Tim's human character deficiencies, which came forth as a sore loser.  At our first Executive Committee meeting, there was the presentation of proposed Committees and their leadership.  Tim proposed to be chair of a Committee called "Finance and Grants".  This was setup to give Tim "oversight over me".  He had support on this (I knew there was "the crabs in a barrel mentality" behind this act).  Remember I was the Treasurer, and the one who was bonded. Also there is nothing in the ANC laws that give "oversight" over a Treasurer, plus throughout the prior years of this Commission, there was never such a Committee, nor after I served my term.  Nor was I able to find any other Commission which acted in this manner.

 

To avoid discussion and the truth to be revealed about this Committee's structure and no guidelines, at the next regular meeting (Feb. 2011), with a packed house of attendees, the vote on the Committees and Chairs was proposed to vote on the whole slate of Committees, which passed.

 

For further Tim Clark pettiness, we voted to approve disbursements for other Commissioners, but when it came to my request for funds to purchase simple items to maintain the Commission's financial records, Tim stated that "he would have to take this request up with his committee".  Yes, there was very heavy discussion. If it wasn't for members of the community in the audience shouting "give her the money", I would have had to wait for this committee meeting, which probably wouldn't happen if left up to Tim.  Obstruction of Duties. Another sad commentary!

 

Examples of problems under Tim Clark's dysfunctional leadership as Chair of this "Finance and Grants Committee":

 

·         Changed a very good, established grant application that only needed minor tweaking, to one that listed the amount requested on the last page of the document;

·         Removed the ANC approval section from the Grant application.  The Chair and Treasurer would sign off;

·         Wrote a scathing report on ANC 5C for prior awarding of grants based on misinformation;

·         Never established grant review standards to be approved by the Commission;

·         Refused to accept grant applications from certain potential applicants. All applications should have been accepted, with the Commission making the final determination whether or not a grant application is acceptable;

·         Refused to accept my ideas to separate the Grant Guideline section from the grant application; and to enhance the Grant Guidelines to include: A clause which includes accountability to the DC Auditor and the Office of the Attorney General for legal action if receipts, and/or refund requested for unexpended or unauthorized expenditures were made which the grantee to sign off on, which could be used in case of legal action;

·         Created a Grants Committee of members of the ANC 5C area which included a prior and future grantee who had not submitted financial reports, receipts, or refunds for grants in a timely manner, such as: Teri J. Quinn, President, Bloomingdale Civic Association, which as of March 3, 2011, had not submitted their financial report or reimbursed 5C for a $4,000.00 grant issued July 2, 2009.  After EMs to Robert Brannum, then Teri Quinn on Mar 3 &4, 2011, the financial report dated April 2010 for the 2009 grant, was received approx Mar 7, 2011;

·         The DC Auditor had directed me to follow-up on the BCA and the HELP Foundation's outstanding grant documentation;

·         The BCA finally refunded 5C on a check dated 9/15/11, $3,768.79, the same day the BCA submitted a new grant application in the amount of $3828.40 for their annual House Tours.  Ms. Quinn was still an active member of the ANC 5C Grants Committee;

·         Since Tim claimed responsibility for the grants, he didn't review the required grant financial reports for deficiencies, which lead to an increase in the amount to be deducted by the DC Auditor in following ANC 5C quarterly allotments;

·         I had requested a $100.00 refund from World Mission Extension Center for spending funds on entertainment from their awarded 5/31/12 grant, which is not allowed according to the DC Auditor;

·         Tim responded in an EM that the $100.00 in funds do not have to be reimbursed; World Mission should submit another receipt for the same amount;

·         Shortly after the submission of grant applications for a 5C Fall 2011 grants round, Tim wanted to add a criteria for his grant application reviews which was not requested before we announced the new round, nor would the requested information be in the applications that were already received;

·         Tim did not prepare a grant report for the 2011 awards. To avoid future embarrassment, I created one which was on the Dec. 2011 Special Meeting agenda, and was reviewed and voted on;

·         Tim was to get a status on or obtain missing documentation from the Cougars Cheerleading Group, which he didn't;

·         The documentation was to be lists of the club's members, ages, with contact information who would be receiving the uniforms.  I had learned that most members of this cheerleading team lived in PG County, and that DC potential members had to pay $700.00 to receive a uniform, which ANC 5C already paid for; and,

·         That was a $949.61 check that had been written to Staples for supplies needed by grantee "Do the Write Thing.  This group had claimed that Staples wouldn't accept the check and they needed the check written directly to their organization.  This was not the truth.  I had made numerous purchases at Staples using an ANC check.  I just showed ID.  After several rounds of discussions on the matter, Tim was to deliver the check again to "Do the Write Thing".  This was never done.  However, Tim never returned the check to ANC 5C, claiming that he lost it in his office at DDOT prior to his move to CM McDuffie's office.

 

There is more, however, it is easy to see the pattern of behavior displayed by Tim.  Whether this is another case of what has been described as "Post Civil Rights Entitlement", since his father has a reputation in DC, I don't know, but there seems to be a sense of "I can do what I want".

 

No matter, based on the continuing pattern of behavior, for the good of the residents of 5C03, the Commission and the city crying out for ethical leadership, which has not be displayed by Tim, especially with the illegal actions in CM McDuffie office, Tim should resign.

 

For the record, I have all the documents necessary to back up what I stated, so any desire to sue me for telling the truth will be met with a strong countersuit.

 

Albrette "Gigi" Ransom

Former Commissioner, ANC 5C12

Former Treasurer, ANC 5C

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