Bradenton pulls funding for Gulfcoast Legal Services for ‘not doing their job’

The agency offers free legal aid to the area’s low-income population, but the question for government officials who fund Gulfcoast Legal Services, located at 1112 Manatee Ave. E. , is: are they?

The city of Bradenton this month pulled Community Development Block Grant funding — dollars granted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — due to operational uncertainty.

Vicki White, the city’s housing and community development manager, said Gulfcoast, “has a problem determining a client’s eligibility.”

White said Manatee County discovered that Gulfcoast has not spent any of the county’s annual funding in the past two years, even though the agency has historically operated with a deficit, and has found similar concerns. White said county staff would not recommend funding the agency this year, but that recommendation won’t go before the county commission until Tuesday.

“My feeling is we do not fund them, either,” White said.

Gulfcoast had asked the city for $36,000 and officials initially recommended $10,000 but will instead increase funding to Turning Points and Meals on Wheels Plus.

White said she made two attempts to provide the Gulfcoast staff — comprised mostly of attorneys and paralegals — technical assistance in how to determine if a potential client is truly eligible under the income requirements. After two visits, “No progress was made on their documentation to determine eligibility. It’s very important to determine if a person is truly a low-income person. Otherwise, it risks the entire HUD program.”

The city receives about $396,000 from HUD to disperse to nonprofits that provide services and benefits to moderate to low-income residents, such as Gulfcoast Legal Services.

White said the city also will ask Gulfcoast to return the balance of last year’s funding because they are not in compliance with HUD regulations.

“Essentially, they are not doing their job,” said Mayor Wayne Poston. “The hypothetical of what they do is great, but there are attorneys suing attorneys over what they are doing, so it’s just not working out.”

This isn’t the first issue that has arisen for Gulfcoast Legal Services.

In late 2013, turmoil erupted when it was discovered that the Florida Bar was investigating former executive director Kathleen Mullin, after reports than Mullin was practicing law without a Florida license.

More internal issues surfaced after Mullin fired the longtime head of the Sarasota office, Elizabeth Boyle.

Boyle said she was terminated for continuing to work on her own time for a 29-year-old quadriplegic after she was ordered by Mullin to close the case.

Mullin left the agency in early 2014, but the agency’s board of directors declined to say whether she left voluntarily or not.

A reviewer on glassdoor.com, described the aftermath of that 2014 event, writing, “Recent change in management resulted in confusion and conflict. In the end, the new manager resigned, but not before the damage was done.”

In 2017, a former staff attorney reviewed the agency on Indeed.com, noting, “Things have changed since I left, but the leadership was pretty terrible here when I was employed by them. Could never get in touch with a direct supervisor and did not have a lot of guidance as to what they needed done.”

That same year, Manatee County officials discussed yet again whether the board would fund Gulfcoast after complaints from an elderly woman who sought help with her housing situation said the agency, “left her out to dry.”

The county ultimately did fund the agency after a plea from Executive Director Tammy Greer, who did not return a call for comment to address the current issues.

The elderly woman who claimed Gulfcoast left her out to dry is not the only one to make that complaint.

Earlier this year, lawyers representing Tropical Palms mobile home court threatened to sue 85-year-old Millie Francis over a painting of the Virgin Mary on her trailer. Francis told the Bradenton Herald at the time she tried to reach out to Gulfcoast Legal Services on the advice of a local retired judge and the agency never returned her calls.

Bradenton Councilman Harold Byrd Jr. said it’s an unfortunate turn of events because it’s a needed agency.

“I have personally referred several people over there,” Byrd said. “I recognize the importance of the program if it works right. I understand that if they aren’t doing their job, maybe they should be put under a microscope. It’s needed, but it needs to be done correctly.”

Transparency is an issue

Gulfcoast Legal Services’ main office is in St. Petersburg and the Bradenton office operates under their umbrella. Overall, the agency receives high marks when it comes to review, but even at the top level, it has some transparency issues.

According to charitynavigator.com, the agency scores a 2 out of a possible 4 stars when it comes to financial transparency. Mostly because Gulfcoast Legal Services doesn’t voluntarily offer to show their tax information to the public on their website, nor do they share their financial audits openly.

According to their 2016 IRS Form 990, the agency had a revenue stream of about $1.9 million, with $1.7 million coming from government grants. There most recent information is not yet available, but in 2016, they ended the year with a $331,000 deficit.

White said Gulfcoast struggled to determine who even lives in the city when determining if the city’s CDGB dollars could be used for those clients. Gulfcoast emailed her asking if the city funding could be put toward a Palmetto resident, something White said they should obviously know can’t be done.

“Obviously the people running it are not in the right position,” said Councilman Gene Brown. “They are spending our money, but not spending it right, so not funding them this year is a message to get your know what together and come back to us next year. They have problems and they need to correct them.”