As one of five employees who filed discrimination lawsuits against the Illinois Department of Natural Resources between 2002 and 2005, Kelvin Coburn once turned to the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government for assistance. But as a result of recent turmoil, including what he calls a media war between former IAMG executive director Roy Williams and members of the association’s board of directors, Coburn says, the group can no longer fulfill its mission to advocate for victims of discrimination.
“It’s hard to say I can trust them again,” he says.
In June, Williams and several members of his staff were locked out of the office. The association’s board of directors later chose not to renew Williams’ contract with the organization he had headed since 2005 and furloughed three staff members.
“When that happened, it took away all credibility. Why would anybody seek their help if they can turn the key and lock each other out of the office?” Coburn asks.
Jerrie Blakely, the newly elected IAMG board president and interim director, says she realizes that the organization must earn back peoples’ trust.
On Aug. 11, in Normal, the IAMG held a business meeting that was attended by about two dozen of the association’s 1,400 members. Despite poor attendance, Blakely believes that the meeting was productive.
“We were very honest, open, and candid with members about what had happened, but we are coming back. There is some reorganizing of staff, and we’re functioning,” she says.
Most of the questions centered on the IAMG’s finances and an auditor’s report. Copies of an independent auditor’s report, mailed to members in July, were missing a page that detailed revenues and expenditures in 2005 and 2006.
“I’m getting financial reports with pages missing — these are structural issues that need to be addressed,” Coburn says. According to the report — a complete copy of which Illinois Times obtained earlier this summer — the association’s expenses exceeded revenues by $70,012 in 2005 and by $63,954 in 2006. The organization’s net assets had slipped to $238,947 as of Dec. 31, 2006.
Blakely, who says that she was not aware that a page of the auditor’s report was missing from the letter sent to members, says that an interim administrator will be hired to handle daily operations for three months, when the association will advertise for a new executive director sometime in December. Two college-age students are working in the office.
Previously Williams planned to address the board about the treatment of his office staff, but he says that he was barred from attending the meeting because he is no longer a member of the association.
“We’re not going to spend a lot of time on what has happened,” Blakely says. “This is a young, energetic board with a lot of expertise with allegiances to the organization — and not to individuals.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2007.
