Homelessness board votes for outside audit; advocate Ken Leslie safe for now

Noted homeless advocate Ken Leslie is safe for now: By an 8-3 vote, the motion to remove him from the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board was tabled.

The board instead decided to seek an external body to audit its general performance.

The motion to do that was offered seconds after the meeting began by Linda Stacy, the board's vice president. She said issues raised by both sides of the controversy need closer examination.

The board has 25 seats by charter, but only 14 of them are currently held by active voters.

An ouster requires support from at least 75 percent of the voting members, meaning 11 of the 14 would have been required to remove Mr. Leslie. He doesn't believe they had the votes, and said he was "furious" the board remained mum on his allegation of inappropriate conduct by Paula Lewis, a fellow board member.

Ms. Lewis was put in charge of a federal stimulus program for the homeless at Family Outreach Community United Services, or FOCUS, in late October, weeks after being part of a steering committee that helped FOCUS get a $54,197 contract.

Mr. Leslie has said he believes it was a conflict of interest for Ms. Lewis to accept the job because of her prior role on the steering committee.

Board President Paul Tecpanecatl took issue with that, calling for Mr. Leslie's ouster. He ended the meeting by telling Mr. Leslie: "You have been an obstructionist ever since I have been a member of this board."

The story as it appeared in earlier editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com:

Lucas County homeless advocate facing vote for ouster

Board's co-founder cites hiring question

By TOM HENRY

BLADE STAFF WRITER

A vote has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today to remove one of the Toledo-area's most recognizable homeless advocates from the 25-member board he helped create.

Ken Leslie said he is fighting for his survival on the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board because he questioned the hiring of fellow board member Paula Lewis by Family Outreach Community United Services. That organization, known as FOCUS, is one of the county's largest service agencies.

Ms. Lewis was part of a seven-member steering committee that recommended in July that FOCUS receive a $54,197 contract to design and supervise administration of a federal stimulus program that provides money to people at risk of becoming homeless.

In late October, Ms. Lewis was hired by FOCUS to administer the grant she recommended that the agency receive.

FOCUS Executive Director Kyle Grefe refused to say how much Ms. Lewis is paid.

Ms. Grefe and other opponents of Mr. Leslie adamantly claim no wrongdoing has occurred. They say their rift with him goes far deeper than his latest attempt to be a whistle-blower.

Homelessness Board President Paul Tecpanecatl called for Mr. Leslie's ouster after Mr. Leslie raised the issue of Ms. Lewis' potential conflict of interest in accepting a job with an agency to which she voted to give federal money.

Mr. Tecpanecatl told board members Mr. Leslie's actions have been detrimental and that they meet the board's removal policy for "cause."

Mr. Tecpanecatl refused to explain to a Blade reporter what that means, calling today's vote a "private board matter.

"We wanted to avoid any media attention," Mr. Tecpanecatl said.

To Mr. Leslie, the questions he raised were appropriate.

"I'm doing a job that a board member should do. These are the kinds of questions we as board members should be asking," he said yesterday.

The board's vice president, Linda Stacy, said she knows nothing beyond the vague wording of the meeting notice.

"I'm waiting to hear, too, and see what's presented," she said.

The board's meeting is scheduled to be held in the United Way building downtown.

Mr. Leslie is the owner of Strategic Search Consultants, an executive search firm for the electronic document industry.

He is perhaps best known throughout the community as the founder of Tent City, a weekend camp-out in the downtown area that has brought together homeless people and service providers on nearly an annual basis since 1990.

Bill Kitson, United Way of Greater Toledo's president and chief executive, described Mr. Leslie in 2007 as "the face of homelessness in our community."

But Mr. Leslie also has garnered a reputation as a no-nonsense, even brash, advocate for the homeless.

One opponent in particular, the Rev. Deb Conklin of Peace Lutheran Church in Bowling Green, said Mr. Leslie's confrontational style with certain board members has been insulting and unfounded.

She said the rift with him "didn't happen overnight."

"It's not about somebody pushing the envelope or somebody asking the hard questions," said Ms. Conklin, the homelessness board's acting director.

She also served as the executive director of FOCUS from 1992 to 1999.

Mr. Leslie admits he has rubbed some local officials, including fellow board members, the wrong way in his quest to get services provided to the homeless in a timely manner and with as little bureaucracy as possible.

That's one of his frustrations about the current state of affairs.

He believes there was too much time wasted in starting a three-year effort to help people at risk of becoming homeless, the local version of the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-housing Program.

He also contends many of those who would benefit most from the grant were never told about it.

Funded by a $4 million federal stimulus grant, the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-housing Program is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development project that helps people in need pay down their back rent, utilities, and other living costs for up to 18 months.

Mr. Leslie questioned the eventual hiring of Ms. Lewis, a last-minute replacement for Mr. Tecpanecatl on the steering committee that negotiated contracts with local service agencies last July.

Ms. Lewis was hired by FOCUS in late October as the agency's paid manager of the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing Program.

The job was advertised on Sept. 13. Ms. Lewis was not among the original applicants, Ms. Grefe said.

A search committee consisting of herself, a representative of Lourdes College, and a United Way representative identified the first two people.

Ms. Lewis was encouraged to apply after both turned down the job, Ms. Grefe said.

The contract that FOCUS received from the steering committee was the second largest of six. The largest, for $56,795, went to the United Way of Greater Toledo for its intake services.

The contracts are awarded based on how agencies score on required criteria. According to Ms. Conklin, FOCUS scored high enough to get the contract whether Ms. Lewis had been on the steering committee or not.

Ms. Lewis, former director of the Beach House Family Shelter on North Erie Street, was unemployed when she was on the steering committee. She had resigned from Beach House in July for unspecified reasons.

Her successor at Beach House, Tammy Holder, referred The Blade to Katrina Iott, Beach House board chairman. Ms. Iott said she had no comment about the resignation.

Mr. Leslie said the timing of Ms. Lewis' hiring at FOCUS was far too coincidental.

Ms. Lewis declined comment, referring the newspaper to Ms. Grefe.

"There is a long history of Mr. Leslie's behavior on the board that Paul [Mr. Tecpanecatl] is now calling into question," Ms. Grefe said. "To confuse the issue with Paula Lewis is kind of a sidebar. I think Paula is extraneous to the issue."

Mr. Leslie said he has done nothing to deserve being removed from the homelessness board he helped to create and help to fund.

He said he is being persecuted for asking hard questions and trying to hold people accountable.

"These are good people with good skills, but I don't think what they are doing is in the best interests of the unhoused and the community," he said.

Contact Tom Henry at:

thenry@theblade.com

or 419-724-6079.