The first two posts are largely documentation of what occurred. Documenting the process and the first 4 sets of allegations against me. Now, the fifth! And my response, as best I can do without an actual documentation or facts to respond to.
So, remember, the formal, final rejection of my appeal says this – and I believe the first two issues are because they are reading the wrong policies:
November 23, 2018
Ms. Brenda Konkel
30 N Hancock St
Madison, WI 53703-2802Dear Ms. Konkel,
This letter is to notify you that the Board of Directors of the Tenant Resource Center (TRC) has considered your appeal and has affirmed its decision to terminate your employment. As previously shared with you, the Board terminated your employment for the following reasons:
• Violation of TRC Financial Policy for Cash Disbursements
• Violation of TRC Financial Policy for use of the Credit Line
• Inefficiency in operation of the TRC, including in bookkeeping, in the supervision of employees, and in the administration of payroll and insurance policiesThe information you shared in your appeal was not sufficient to outweigh the documented management problems, operational inefficiencies, and outright policy violations we identified.
To the extent applicable, this notice is intended to comply with Article 18.09 of the Tenant Resource Center bylaws.
Sincerely,
Pearl Foster
President, Tenant Resource Center Board of Directors
Now, here’s the spin.
PRESS RELEASE
Here’s the press release: 112318 TRC Concludes Appeal Proceedings
November 23, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jordan Krieger
jordan@tenantresourcecenter.org
Tenant Resource Center concludes appeal proceedings, upholds termination of former executive director
Madison, WI – Today, the Tenant Resource Center Board of Directors announced the rejection of an appeal by former executive director, Brenda Konkel.
The board, in accordance with the organization’s bylaws and in dedication to the long-term interests of the Tenant Resource Center (TRC), terminated Brenda Konkel for cause on October 26, 2018. The board limited its public comments out of respect for the organization’s appeals process.
“The board did not take this decision lightly, as we recognize Brenda Konkel’s significant service to tenants and housing-insecure community members,” said Pearl Foster, president of the board. “However, we could not, in good faith, reinstate Ms. Konkel based on a review of the organization’s financial position. We came to this difficult decision with one thought in mind – our clients.”
Over the past year, TRC has:
- Jeopardized employee wages by bouncing payment to payroll company.
- Approved 25 transactions without sufficient funds at the time of approval.
- Accumulated gratuitous fees due to delayed and unpaid financial obligations.
- Failed to pay staff health insurance for extended periods of time.
The board discovered the financial circumstances after receiving a letter from a TRC staff member. The board then took investigatory actions into TRC policies, procedures, and financial records.
On November 7, the board called for a special meeting of TRC members, known as a membership meeting, to discuss current finances and the path moving forward. The meeting will take place on Monday, November 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Response to Board Press Release
So, this is the first time I’m seeing and hearing some of this – it seems like a 5th set of reasons that I wasn’t given a chance to respond to. (Well, I really couldn’t respond to much, given they refused to give me any documentation or detail.) I have no idea what the details are, and it sounds very different than the information in the first two blog posts. This press release looks like it was designed to make me look bad. I laugh at their continued use of the word “bylaws” to refer to the policies and the fact that they are in fact, not following the bylaws, laws or policies. Nothing about the hiring and firing and process nor the financial policy is in the bylaws. Anyways, here’s my responses.
First, the reasons they said I was fired:
- All payroll was paid at all times and the bounced payroll was a result of the board actions: office being shut down for two days, and the conflicting issues with what I could and could not do in my role once they asked me to resign or be fired. Plus, I don’t think the payroll ACTUALLY bounced. I had a paper check that I waited to deposit – even after I was fired! At all times the staff were paid, and paid on time. I don’t know what payroll they are talking about if it wasn’t the last one, they refused to give me that information.
- The allegations of 25 transactions without sufficient funds at the time of approval was very confusing to me. I don’t recall bouncing any checks in the past 6 months and I certainly didn’t bounce 25 checks? I asked what time period they were talking about, they refused to tell me. I think what they are looking at is the Quickbooks accounting, not the actual money in the bank account. The bookkeeper and I reviewed the Quickbooks balance and the bank account balance each time I was presented with a list of bills and together we made the decisions about what money was available to pay bills. Then I decided what we could pay and what had to wait and if we needed to transfer money in the line of credit. At times, we would write a batch of checks and hold checks and mail them a few days later so all the checks could be printed at that same time, but we waited til the money was there. At times we’d approve payroll knowing that we had EFT statements showing deposits would be made before the payroll withdrawals were made. If you know anything about nonprofits and even for profits – cash flow is tricky. So, for years we juggled things. I don’t know what 25 transactions they are talking about, they refused to give me that information.
- The fees were not addressed with me at any point – not even verbally at the appeal, so I don’t know what they are talking about on that point.
- The TRC has $50-60,000 of expenses each month, we always have unpaid financial obligations. Again, I don’t know what they’re talking about here – it was not addressed with me. They did not give me any documentation on this and at no point was this raised with me as a reason I was fired.
- The health insurance you can see my response in what my attorney wrote below in the defamation section. I’d really love to see the documentation we requested, since the bookkeeper was always adjusting the health insurance bill to reflect what we thought we owed. If the health insurance was not paid for extended periods of time, they would have cut the health insurance benefits and that never happened.
It’s funny they’re no longer alleging that I violated policy in the press release- and it’s not about the personnel issues – now they can’t reinstate me because of the TRC financial position. I’ve said this on facebook and at least one board member was mad that I was talking about confidential TRC documents, so I will say what I think I can say.
- The TRC’s audits the last two years have been the best audits we have gotten. I believe they are a public record in that we give them to our government funders (ex. City of Madison) There was one issue listed in the last audit, and that is not a reason on any of the 5 lists of why I was fired.
- I had been working with the bank for a year to get an increase in the line of credit for the organization. Although they knew we were getting new grants, they wanted to see those grants in action. Based on our financial statements Jan – Aug of 2018, the bank, after a year, increased our line of credit.
- The CPA who sent me our August statements said “2018 projection looks pretty good (i.e., it’s break-even for the year).” That was before he added the $13,000 deposit that wasn’t in Quickbooks, and then we had a $10,396 surplus.
If I had to guess the Board is talking about cash flow? Maybe? And yes, its a nightmare this time of year. We have one grant from the County CDBG office that we can start charging in January, but we don’t get the grant until August – at which point we get reimbursed January – July. We have another, much larger grant (City of Madison EHH Grant that is actually a state grant that comes to the city, then to us – the delay is at the state getting the grant to the city) that starts in July and we don’t get the contract until October, so the first billing is typically 4 months of expenses. We have other grants we can only bill quarterly – again, after we’ve spent the money. Talk to any non-profit, this is hard stuff.
I’m actually concerned that the fall fundraiser was a flop, there is at least one grant (Emerging Opportunities Program) that won’t be fulfilled and the staff don’t have 100% of the expertise to do some of the other things listed in our grant obligations. The first two are about $20,000 in losses to the organization. The third I wouldn’t know how to calculate
And last, curiously, I’ve asked the staff member most likely to have written the letter about our financial situation, and he says he didn’t. I’d love to see it – since this board doesn’t seem real keen on the truth. But then again, some are guessing that this statement “The board discovered the financial circumstances after receiving a letter from a TRC staff member.” actually refers to a letter written about a totally different issue – personnel issues – but that letter specifically asked that I not be terminated and that corrective action be taken.
I’m not sure what else to say. At this point, about the only conversation we can have about this goes like this.
Board: “yes you did”
Me: “no I didn’t”
We can’t discuss details and documentation they won’t give me. And what is so profoundly disturbing about that is not only did they not give me information before they fired me, or do an investigation that involved me or try to take any corrective steps with me, they also didn’t give me the information so I could defend myself in the appeal. In some ways, they gave more information in the press release than I’ve gotten in the past month – and yet, if you had defend yourself based on what they wrote in the press release, where would you begin? What can you say except “No I didn’t”
THREE OTHER OUTSTANDING ISSUES
So, in addition to being treated like garbage after 27 years of being involved with the organization, them not proving “just cause”, not following any type of progressive discipline, and just plain being reckless with the organization I love, there are three more issues – believe it or not.
Paid time off
TRC owes me 44 days of paid time off. The last two years have been slightly hellish at work (getting and starting new grants, moving, new staff, etc. etc. etc.) – but I thought it was all worth it. We finally had more stable funding and I was looking forward to taking some time off to run for mayor. So, I have 44 days of paid time off. The board is fighting me on that – not only did I get no severance, they’re trying to deny my earned time off.
At first, they only agreed to pay me 15 days.
Now they are at 30 days:
Accordingly, the board would agree to resolve the disputes by paying the remaining 30 days of claimed paid time off in three tranches, 10 days each in the first payroll periods of the first three months of 2019 (10 in January, 10 in February and 10 in March).
After 27 years of working for an organization I expected to be treated better – and I certainly didn’t expect them to deny what I have earned.
Defamation
At this point I now know of 3 instances where board members told people details about my employment status. The first one was told directly to my attorney who spoke with the person the board member talked to. The second was in writing and the third on the phone, which I just learned about today.
On Oct 31 my attorney told their attorney
Finally, you need to get your client under control. I have it on good authority that at least one TRC Board member has told at least one member of the public that Brenda was fired for “misappropriation of funds.” Misappropriation of funds is a crime, and the claim is false, which makes the statement defamation per se. I am interested to know how TRC proposes to remedy this.
No response
On November 19th, the day after the appeal, my attorney told their attorney
This morning TRC Board Member Jim White urged a non-member to attend an upcoming membership meeting and told this person that at that meeting the board intends to tell the assembled that “In the past year we’ve bounced payroll, fallen over 70 days behind on paying health insurance, and generally owe over 30 thousand dollars in unpaid bills and have repeatedly approved payments when we were shown to have insufficient funds. All of this information was hidden from the board.” He also told this individual that “TRC very nearly had to shut down without any of us knowing anything about it.”
The only information we have learned from the board about bouncing payroll is that after they fired Brenda, they bounced payroll; Brenda explained last night that this could have been avoided. Brenda was not informed of any allegation that health insurance payments were 70 days behind, and in fact the only allegation was that at some unspecified point it was “late” but never lapsed. Without further details, which were not provided, she could not respond to the “late” allegation other than noting payroll and health insurance were top priority for payment, and that because the insurer’s statements routinely included employees no longer with the organization (despite TRC timely informing them of such departures), the actual amount owed routinely had to be recalculated by TRC staff. She was also not informed of any allegation that TRC has over $30k in unpaid bills, and while last night there was a discussion about timing of payment approvals and receipts, she also informed them that the impression from Quickbooks was not accurate, and should not be relied on.
Mr. White is clearly alleging that not only did Brenda do all of these things, but also that she very nearly caused TRC to shut down, and actively hid this from the board. Neither of these things are true. We demand that Mr. White retract all such statements to everyone he made them to, and apologize to Brenda for making these unfounded and defamatory accusations.
No response.
Also, note: my attorney said Quickbooks “was not accurate” – that was referring to it being kept up to date on a daily basis – sometimes the accounting not 100% current and the adjustments by the accountant were only made quarterly.
Unemployment
My unemployment claim was denied in part because the Tenant Resource Center failed to respond to UC’s inquiries about why I was let go. That’s just a jerky move.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The board has rejected multiple attempts to try to mediate this. Their attorney is non responsive to our requests for information and frequently just doesn’t respond. That only leaves it up to the membership (and the board denied the members request for a meeting so they might have to go to court) or the courts to make me whole (which is expensive and TRC can’t afford it.) Neither seem like a good option. I go back and forth about just walking away and crossing my fingers the TRC will be ok or fighting to get a job back that will be a nightmare until things get straightened out. After talking to some staff today and over the past few weeks, I’m really worried about the organization – especially because there was no transition and people only know pieces of my job. And I’m worried the actions of some of these board members has been so reckless it may be the end of the Tenant Resource Center. And that breaks my heart.
So, there is all is. For all the community members who wanted more information – I’m sorry I didn’t provide it sooner, I was trying not to further make the board mad in hopes that they would be reasonable. That didn’t happen. It’s nearly killed me not being able to respond to questions – it goes against my natural inclination towards transparency. Unfortunately, the only way to protect my self from their whisper campaign and propaganda is to lay out the facts for all to see – which is such a ridiculous position to be in. And I don’t think its doing TRC any favors – but if I don’t speak up, questions remain and that is damaging to me and TRC. Shitty position to be put in.
This is a three part series, here’s the links to the other parts if needed
Part 1 – documentation from when I first was asked to resign up to the point I was fired (8 days)
Part 2 – documentation from when I got fired to the official response denying the appeal (Oct 26 – Nov 23rd)
Part 3 – The press release and more
