Friday, ORCCA’s board of directors finally responded to my request for clarification on issues surrounding a $172K budget deficit for the South Coast Food Share. Chairperson Christina Alexander, invited me to attend an executive committee meeting with the board and the executive director, Mike Lehman, to discuss “the Executive Director’s and board’s plans to stabilize the organization as we move forward…” Lehman already provided me an overview in a July 10 email which was referenced in an earlier post, so meeting with him would be redundant. Also, in light of his misrepresentations to The World newspaper and revelations of possible ethical violations within the human resources department that have not been addressed by the board, Lehman is simply not a credible or reliable source of information.
A complaint filed last week with the Oregon Department of Justice goes further and alleges the board hired Lehman to be the face of ORCCA knowing he was too inexperienced and unqualified to run a $10 million non-profit agency. The complaint infers that Lehman’s inexperience combined with the board’s lack of oversight has left the human resources director, Carol Douglas as the de facto executive. This in itself is problematic because internal complaints have been lodged against Douglas for “tainting” the hiring process for key positions.
Taking the above into consideration with other information that will be presented here in the near future, what’s newsworthy is that the board still maintains confidence in its choice for executive director.
On a side note, Joel Peterson, the chairman of JetBlue Airways has penned an insightful article about how to handle “bad hires”. Top 10 Hiring Mistakes, #10: Letting it Fester explains that it usually only takes about 90 days to discover a new hire is not right for the job but when you figure it out, act swiftly.
Do it fast: It’s no fun realizing you made a hiring error and that it’s up to you to deal with it. But once you know, you have to take action. If you let the error sit untouched long enough, it can grow into a full-blown personnel disaster. Bad mojo from the hire can spread like a disease – if things get bad enough, other team members can threaten to quit or projects can get derailed.
It may turn out that ORCCA’s board of directors have left too many bad hires unresolved for too long, But Alexander has promised to get back to me about the complaints and what the board is doing about it by Wednesday morning.
I believe that Mr. Beattle Juice is wrong – in Oregon. You must disclose that you are recording a third party. You may legally record every conversation with Mr. Lehman. In all likelihood, what MGX prints following her meeting will be different that what her friends remember.
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What good would taking a second person with mgx to meet with Lehman and the ORCCA board as Lehman is not a creditable source as he was caught lying and has manipulated the ORCCA board. Legally you must disclose you are recording someone. Again there is no value in doing so as he has complete control over the ORCCA board. Mgx would be walking into a staged, rehearsed board room whereas they would be repeating was has already been posted by mgx. Again no value to mgx.
Take a second person or a voice activated microcassette recorder with you. These are not your pals.
There is no value in my meeting with Lehman because I would not be able to confirm anything he said.
Based on the information published on MGX, the issue is that the ORCCA Board is not performing their fiduciary duties to the agency. It is their job to provide oversight and they are not doing so. In the previous complaints against the former CEO, manipulation of the Board was an issue. It appears that it is still an issue. And from what I have heard from people who work there, the $172,000 debt is not from the previous management; they had an audit that did not show agency debt. If the agency is being mismanaged by the Board or CEO, it is DOJ’s responsibility to set them straight.
Maybe I need more inside scoop but from what I’m reading here this DOJ complaint will go nowhere. Why not focus the DOJ on decades of fraud committed by the Port? Or the the Coos Bay Urban Renewal District. To hang your hat on 172K from previous management, they went to high school together & he pulled letters from a personnel file are all trivial in nature when it comes to the DOJ investigating this.
First, the ODOJ has a special charities division. Second, I didn’t file the complaint, I am merely reporting on it because ORCCA provides vital services to the area. Third, I have selected just a few items to publish that I feel are demonstrative of problems within the agency… Most donors like to think their contributions are well spent and the charity is honest and delivers on its promises