[Vendorsmi] Fw: [nfbmi-talk] Fwd: Request for an Ethics Board Advisory Opinion

Wed Feb 1 19:42:26 UTC 2012

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Posont" <president.nfb.mi at gmail.com>
To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2012 12:09 PM
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Fwd: Request for an Ethics Board Advisory Opinion


> Dear Michigan Federationists:
>     Please read this very carefully.
>
>
>
> Subject: Fwd: Request for an Ethics Board Advisory Opinion
> To: president.nfb.mi at gmail.com, jcscot at sbcglobal.net, laschuck at juno.com
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Cannon, Patrick (LARA)" <cannonp at michigan.gov>
> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 11:18:05 -0500
> Subject: Request for an Ethics Board Advisory Opinion
> February 1, 2012
>
> Janet McClelland, Executive Secretary
>
> State Board of Ethics
>
> Michigan Department of Civil Service
>
> P.O. Box 30002
>
> Lansing, MI 48909
>
> Dear Ms. McCIelland:
>
> I am requesting an Advisory Opinion as to whether ethical concerns
> exist because a manager working for the Michigan Commission for the
> Blind (MCB) also serves as a member of the New Horizons board, a
> non-profit service organization.
>
> The Commission is a public rehabilitation agency, located within the
> Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA)
> providing an array of services to individuals who are blind or
> visually impaired, including vocational rehabilitation services,
> independent living services for the older blind, youth low vision
> services for visually impaired students in the K-12 system, as well as
> our Business Enterprise Program (BEP), serving as the State Licensing
> Agency (SLA) for blind entrepreneurs running food service facilities
> on State and Federal properties.  MCB also operates a residential
> Training Center in Kalamazoo, where students learn skills of blindness
> to aid them on their path toward independence.
>
> The Commission was created by Public Act 260 of 1978, and under the
> statute the Commission board is comprised of five members appointed by
> the Governor.  Each Commissioner serves for a 3 year term with at
> least 3 of the 5 appointees being legally blind and each serves as a
> voting member of the Board.
>
> New Horizons is a nationally recognized, private, not-for-profit
> rehabilitation agency providing vocational training and job placement
> in Michigan since 1964 with a primary goal focused on preparing people
> with disabilities for competitive employment and providing the
> necessary skills for consumers to assume responsibility for their own
> long-term success.  New Horizons works with referral and funding
> sources to help make employment services more readily available and
> accessible to persons with disabilities.
>
> The ethics question which has prompted this request for an Advisory
> Opinion centers on Ms. Gwen McNeal, the Manager of the Commission's
> Detroit Office, who also serves as a New Horizons board member.  A
> conflict of interest question has been raised by a commissioner, as
> well as by one of two blind consumer organizations in the state, the
> National Federation of the Blind (NFB) of Michigan in a resolution
> adopted at the organization's state convention last November.  All
> three commissioners are also NFB members, and the Commission's
> vice-chair is also the President of NFB of Michigan.
>
> Ms. McNeal was first appointed to the New Horizons Board in 2010 for a
> one year term and reappointed in 2011 to a two year term, with the
> verbal support and approval of her supervisor, Leamon Jones, MCB's
> Director of Consumer Services.  Ms. McNeal contends that her service
> on the board is not in conflict with her duties as MCB Southeast
> Region Manager, asserting that at no time did she, as a board member,
> vote on anything coming before the board related to financial
> interactions, contractual arrangements or programmatic services with
> the Commission.  She is strictly a volunteer, receiving no
> compensation, meets on her own time and does not directly supervise
> the 2 counselors who may choose with their consumers, to receive
> services from New Horizons.  She also rejects, as false, the
> contentions of the NFB resolution challenging her board service as a
> conflict of interest.
>
> In addition to the points raised in this letter you will also find
> several attachments that may be helpful in formulating an opinion.
> These attachments include the NFB Resolution 2011-08, excerpt from the
> draft minutes of the December 9 MCB Commission meeting where the issue
> was addressed, excerpt from the 2009 RSA Monitoring Report related to
> New Horizons, New Horizons policy on conflict, New Horizons position
> description for board members, several confidential sets of minutes
> from New Horizons board meetings which Ms. McNeal has participated in
> and finally, several threads of email correspondence regarding
> conflict charges raised by Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr., a concerned citizen
> and NFB member.
>
> Is it a conflict of interest under the State Ethics Act, MCL 15.342,
> for Gwen McNeal, a state employee and Manager of MCB's Southeast
> Region, to continue to serve on the Board of New Horizons?  Thank you
> for considering our request for an Advisory Opinion on these issues.
> If you would like any additional information please contact me
> directly at 335-4265.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> [cid:image002.jpg at 01CCE0D3.2ACC38D0]
>
> Patrick D. Cannon
>
> State Director
>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> nfbmi-talk mailing list
> nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbmi-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/joeharcz%40comcast.net
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz FOIA request of 12 29 11 who works for whom here.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment.txt>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Request for advisory opinion Re McNeal  New Horizons 01 12.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 49664 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NFB New Horizon RESOLUTION 2011.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 25600 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0001.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Excerpt December commission meeting minutes.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 22528 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0002.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: RSA Monitoring Report Finding 6 Re New Horizons.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 33280 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0003.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NEW BOT POLICY ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 16642 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NEW BOT Job Dis   Board Resp.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 19680 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0001.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BOT Minutes 7 20 11 through 9 30 10 - Gwen McNeal (Read-Only).docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 101629 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0002.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: BOT Minutes - 9 15 11  11 16 11 - Gwen McNeal (Read-Only).docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 70437 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0003.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz FOIA Response of 11-3-11.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 68608 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0004.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz FOIA request arra information new horizons.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0001.txt>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz FOIA request 1 6 12 new horizons financial data fy 12.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0002.txt>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz request 1 7 12 who autorized mcneal to serve on new horizons.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0003.txt>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Harcz FOIA Response of 1-10-12 10-Day Extension.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 51712 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0005.doc>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: email chain Question of Conflict of Interest.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/vendorsmi_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120201/9c378cea/attachment-0004.txt>