Bradenton shelter director defends $760,000 salary for domestic violence agency CEO

There were a few legislators shaking their heads with looks of disbelief on their faces as former executive board members of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence testified that a $760,000 salary for Tiffany Carr, FCADV’s CEO until this past November, was “reasonable.”

One member of the legislature’s Public Integrity and Ethics Committee pointed out Carr’s salary was more than what Gov. Ron DeSantis makes while other committee members were stunned to silence, yielding their time to regain their thoughts on their lines of questioning.

Laurel Lynch, executive director of HOPE Family Services in Bradenton, was among 13 current and former FCADV board members and other officials to be subpoenaed by the committee. Lynch was among three who testified on Monday and the committee will resume questioning other board members on Thursday.

During her testimony, Lynch not only said Carr’s salary was reasonable, she said the salary amount was based on research she had done. At the time, Lynch was board chair and one of five members of a compensation committee hand-picked by Carr that made the salary recommendation.

Lynch has declined multiple requests from the Bradenton Herald for comment.

The FCADV is the clearinghouse for all state and federal domestic violence funds in Florida, including money that ends up with HOPE Family Services and other shelters in the state. It has come under fire after it was revealed Carr had been paid more than $7.5 million over three years.

Lynch testified Monday that she has served on the FCADV board for 23 years and served on the compensation committee for 10 years. Legislators grilled Lynch on what kind of financial oversight training she had been provided. Lynch said she had received none, though she also has served as the board’s treasurer.

Rep. Margaret Good, D-Sarasota, is a member of the committee conducting the initial investigation. Good told the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday that the investigation is only just getting started, but she said she found it difficult to adequately express her shock following Monday’s testimony.

“Whatever lack of oversight this is, it’s just unbelievable,” Good said. “I just can’t think of a better word right now. I’m shocked at the lack of oversight and certainly so given these are past and current chairs that we heard from. They run their own organizations and should understand how this works. To not provide accountability when that is their role of chair and executive board members is inexcusable.”

Lynch said she proposed raising Carr’s annual salary by more than $340,000 after reviewing the salaries of Florida nonprofit executives who run organizations with more than $50 million in revenue. Lynch told legislators that she put Carr in the top 90 percent of those executives because she believed Carr was doing a good job.

Lawmakers responded by asking Lynch to provide her research documents to the committee. As of late Tuesday, that had not been done and Good, for one, is skeptical.

“I have not ever seen any documents to justify that kind of salary,” she said. “One of my colleagues noted that’s more than the governor gets paid, but when you are talking about serving victims of domestic violence then we need to put as much money as possible into the services. When you have an executive director of a statewide coalition taking millions out of what could be going to survivor services, it’s inexcusable.”

It’s more than the salary

As much as Carr’s salary is frustrating legislators, the question of Carr taking more than $4 million in a cash payout for paid time off is further frustrating legislators.

Lynch testified that she somehow overlooked the “days” Carr was given and assumed it was “hours.”

“In hindsight, which is not the best way to do it, I thought it was hours, not days,” Lynch said after she admitted she did a more thorough review after she was subpoenaed and Carr’s exorbitant salary and other compensation became public.

Carr’s salary and payout raised eyebrows from legislators and the Department of Children and Family Services, which has attempted to get documents related to Carr’s salary and millions in paid time off for the past 20 months with no success until recently and after Carr’s departure.

“This is certainly just the beginning,” Good said. “I would say testimony has raised more questions than answers. It’s unbelievable to hear from an executive board member who had served as chair say she thought a signed document said hours instead of days. It doesn’t make sense. To hear her say that she did not expect for Carr to cash those days out, when clearly that’s what the document said she could do is unbelievable.”

Lynch said the board approved ongoing paid time off because Carr had told everyone that she had a brain tumor and would require brain surgery at some point. However, the accrued time built up over the course of a few years and Lynch testified that to her knowledge, Carr never had the surgery.

Those days provided to Carr were cashed out when Carr resigned in November, citing health reasons, but by then the pressure was heating up. Carr and Lynch even had a text conversation in February, just prior to the subpoenas during Carr asked Lynch if she was afraid.

“I said, ‘Yeah, some days,’” Lynch told legislators.

Committee members asked if Lynch still had the texts, to which she said she did. She was then told, “Don’t delete them.”

Where does it go from here?

So far, legislators say the investigation is focused on FCADV and its board of directors, made up of the heads of local domestic violence agencies with their own board of directors.

Good said considering they have their own board, they should know how to act as board members for another agency.

HOPE Family Services received mixed reviews after the Bradenton Herald reached out to those who the agency has served. About 20 people responded.

About half of the respondents used words like “amazing,” and “Godsend” in describing their experiences, with an emphasis on praising the agency’s counselors. The other half used words like, “It should be called hopeless,” and “They didn’t do anything for me,” and “I got zero help.”

Good said the investigation could later extend to local agencies like HOPE Family Services.

“For now, the focus remains to make sure the survivors are getting resources they need,” Good said. “That’s the No. 1 priority. But I think we’ve just begun this journey and I feel confident we’ll follow this wherever it leads.”

The HOPE Family Services board of directors continues to express confidence in Lynch’s leadership and pledged cooperation with the state investigation. The board released a statement late last week, prior to Lynch’s testimony, that the investigation into FCADV is not related to HOPE Family Services or Lynch.

This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Bradenton shelter director defends $760,000 salary for domestic violence agency CEO."