Texas children's center keeps records of director's resignation in the dark; Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County gets 82 percent of funding from government

A publicly-funded children’s support center in San Angelo has refused the local newspaper’s request for public records and turned the results of an internal investigation over to the FBI.

According to a story in the San Angelo Standard-Times, the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Tom Green County was placed on administrative leave ealier this year. The paper filed public information requests for related documents.

The center, whose board includes the county sheriff and the local chief of police, appealed the request to the state Attorney General’s office, claiming the center was not subject to the state’s transparency laws because it was not entirely dependent on public funding.

According to the center’s tax form 990, it received 82 percent of its money in 2009 from “government grants.” Also on the 990, the center states that “all public documents are available on request from center’s executive director.” The report says 68 percent of the center’s $795,919 in revenue in 2009 went to salaries, including $75,269 to the administrator, Debra Brown, who resigned in March.

The 45-day timeframe for the AG’s office to decide whether the records are open has come and gone with no word from the state, according to the story. One funder of the center, the United Way, cast a decided vote of no confidence in the center and now wants to see a more thorough accounting for its monthly contribution:

In April the United Way allowed the CAC to reapply for funding it had suspended a month before. The motion included a mandate that all money go directly to children services. The center submitted the revised application to the United Way’s Community Impact Council for review in early April.

Under the mandate voted on at the April meeting, the CAC will be required to “follow directives in a United Way monitored corrective action plan,” which will include the CAC sending monthly reports demonstrating expenditures for the project.

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Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.

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Photo of ‘Entering Tom Green County’ by flickr user J. Stephen Conn, used via a Creative Commons license.

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