A turning point for MYCAP?

A turning point for MYCAP?

After more than a year of inter- nal turmoil and close scrutiny by the state, Mahoning County’s leading community service agency looks as if it may have at last turned a corner toward responsible management and solid stewardship of public funds.

News last week that the Mahoning/Youngs-town Community Action Partnership has hired a permanent director with strong credentials and that it has been removed from the Ohio Department of Development’s designation of “high risk” for fraud, waste and abuse is encouraging.

Let’s hope these developments signal the end of a tumultuous time for the agency so that it can better work to serve the critical needs of its largely poor and disadvantaged clientele.

For too long, MYCAP has been handicapped and tarnished by state investigations that focused on misuse of funds, nepotism, conflict of interest and a number of other issues, including weatherization work done on fired former director Richard Roller’s house.

Internal scrutiny

The hiring of Marilyn McDaniel as CEO bodes wel1 for closer internal scrutiny and stricter adherence to federal and state guidelines. She served as interim chief operating officer in a transition period after the firing of Roller.

The recent firing of a staff member for conflict-of-interest charges involving program benefits also demonstrates a serious commitment to clean up the agency’s act.

But as MYCAP board President Jamael Tito Brown put it, “We are not yet completely out of the woods.” MYCAP must fully cooperate with any remaining investigations and more importantly must work to ensure the agency adopts a new philosophy that weeds out any remnants of the vices that had crippled it in the past. That will require an ongoing commitment to proper procedures, cooperation and monitoring from the top of the organization down.