KINGSTON >> The president of the Junior League of Kingston says the nonprofit volunteer organization is not taking sides in a local political battle over the handling of a state grant secured for the Kinderland II playground at Forsyth Park.
Beth Hanigan said the League was willing to work with anyone who would help when issues arose with the grant from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Ultimately, she said, officials in the mayor’s office and the Economic Development and Strategic Partnership Office responded.
The grant has become a political issue in the Democratic mayoral primary battle between incumbent Shayne Gallo and challenger Steve Noble, a city environmental educator who helped secure the grant for the playground. Gallo has accused Noble and his boss, city Parks and Recreation Superintendent Kevin Gilfeather, of failing to explain the grant requirements to the Junior League and putting $70,000 of the playground funding in jeopardy.
Noble has repeatedly denied those claims and on Wednesday said again that the Junior League was not supposed to spend the grant money until after a contract with the state was in place. He said he has not been disciplined at work over his handling of the grant and that the funding was never in jeopardy.
Hanigan on Wednesday laid out what she said was the Junior League’s perspective on the grant. She said the grant was announced in December, but League representatives and city officials had only one meeting about the funding, on March 19, which both Noble and Gilfeather attended. Hanigan said the League repeatedly requested information on when the funding would be available and was told only that money spent after the grant announcement was reimbursable by the state. The League was told it simply needed to save its receipts, she said.
When the issue of the undelivered grant money was brought to the mayor’s office, the League discovered there were three problems, Hanigan said. She said the League had not gone through a procurement process required by the state, nor had it met a requirement to use businesses owned by women and minorities. The League also had not tracked the hours worked by volunteers, only the number of people who volunteered for the project this past spring, Hanigan said.
Hanigan said the League never was told about those requirements and later was blamed for not tracking the hours worked by volunteers. That issue since has been resolved as a result of the city asking volunteers to provide information on the hours they worked.
“Had we known, we could have corrected it then,” Hanigan said. She added that Noble volunteered on the playground construction and knew the process the League was using for volunteer tracking, and that Gilfeather also was on site.
Hanigan said the League also was never told not to purchase materials for the construction, but she said the Parks and Recreation Department knew when the construction was underway and that the League was taking delivery of materials. Hanigan, the project chair, also said she had conversations with Gilfeather about the storage of the materials.
Noble said from the Parks and Recreation Department’s point of view, the Junior League was never supposed to spend a dollar of the grant because there was no contract in place. It was not until after the construction that he and Gilfeather learned the League had spent money expecting to be reimbursed, he said. Noble said when the project was discussed at that March meeting, the League was told the receipts from the whole project should be kept because the organization was making a donation to the city. He said the League was supposed to spend only the money it had raised itself for the playground project and then the finished product would be turned over to the city as a match to the grant.
Matches to grants do not have to follow the requirement for using businesses owned by women and minorities, Noble said. He added that the League was told about the volunteer requirements.
“When a volunteer organization builds something and turns it over to the city, they’re turning over a good,” Noble said.
Noble added that there was no good communication right before or during the project, and that following the construction, the Mayor’s Office was uninterested in discussing the situation with him. Since May, Noble said, neither he nor Gilfeather have not been allowed to work on the grant or wrap up the project.
“It was surprising to us,” he said.
Hanigan said there is still work to be done on the playground project, including finishing the entrance.
Amy Ingram, an attorney retained by the League, said Hanigan chose to speak about the grant now because the city’s Common Council had voted this week to provide about $36,600 to pay the organization’s outstanding bill with Herzog’s True Value Home Center for materials used in the project. Prior to the council’s vote, she said, the League had been focusing only on getting its outstanding debt paid.
“We understand this is an issue the community is concerned about and we felt that we could now provide information to complete the picture of events surrounding our small portion of the grant,” Ingram said via email. “In addition, both the city and members of the Parks and Recreation staff have alleged certain facts that, based on our point of view, are inaccurate. Because we are a community organization, we wanted to provide the public with our point of view and to allow them to understand that the Junior League did exactly what we were told to do and that some facts being shared do not fully or accurately represent this.
“The Junior League is not now, has never been and will not in the future engage in political conversations as it is not our mission or focus as an organization,” Ingram said.
Noble, however, said he could think of no other reason than the fact he is running for mayor for the issue of the playground grant to be brought up again. He said Hanigan was playing politics by bringing up the grant a week before the Sept. 10 primary.
“And it’s very disappointing,” Noble said. He said he has been a supporter, donor and volunteer for the Junior League and “for this to be happening is just very disappointing for me personally.”
