New England Public Radio

Heriberto Flores Says He’s Satisfied With Outcome Of State Audit

The head of the New England Farm Workers Council is satisfied with the state’s decision on an audit which had alleged the organization misused $700,000 of state funds.

The Council won’t have to pay back any money to the state, according to CEO, Heriberto Flores. The audit also questioned the make up of the organization’s board of directors. Flores says more people outside the agency have been brought on. The audit also said Flores’ salary, calculated at $900,000 over three years, exceeded state limits. Flores says his salary is actually $290,000 a year, and comes from private funds. He says it’s justified. The council provides job training and other services to low-income residents.

According to the state, the audit was a key reason that a separate company also headed by Flores was denied a license in June for a Holyoke medical marijuana dispensary. Flores says he is “in discussions” with the Department of Public Health about that decision.

“Once mature people sit down and discuss the whole thing, and look at it in a more clear and objective way, everything will be solved,” says Flores.

Flores added his work at the Farm Worker’s Council would have no bearing on his dispensary.

A DPH spokesperson says the June decision was the agency’s final action on the medical marijuana license.

Holyoke Medical Marijuana Facility Denied

Massachusetts health officials Friday announced 11 of 20 proposed medical marijuana dispensaries will advance to the final step before opening. Among those proposals thrown out by regulators is one for a facility in Holyoke.

Former state senator Brian Lees’ bid to run a medical marijuana dispensary was denied by regulators largely because of the involvement of Heriberto Flores, chief of several Springfield-area non-profits. Flores was the target of a state audit earlier this year. He was accused of having a salary of more than $900-thousand which exceeds state limits, not documenting hours he allegedly worked and misusing state funds. In a letter from the state explaining the rejection, Flores is quoted from a previous interview. He called the audit a witch hunt and said quote “I push the envelope.” Flores is listed as the president and only full-time employee of the proposed Holyoke dispensary. Regulators also questioned if it would operate as a non-profit because of the audit’s findings.

In a statement, the attorney for the Holyoke dispensary calls the decision “unfair and improper”, and disputes the audit’s findings. The attorney says legal options are being considered by the dispensary and Flores.

Massachusetts Auditor Criticizes New England Farmworkers Council

The Massachusetts Auditor is criticizing a prominent Springfield-based nonprofit. A new report charges the New England Farmworkers’ Council of improperly using more than $700,000 dollars in state money. 

The nonprofit provides job training, day care and other services to low-income residents using a variety of state programs and contracts. State auditor Suzanne Bump says her office became concerned when it realized the council’s board included people connected with its umbrella organization, Partners for Community.

“There is a tendency for the relationships among these legally related parties to be somewhat incestuous,” Bump says,  “and so the business between them would not be conducted at arms length. in order to ensure that the commonwealth gets its best value.”

The report says that almost half a million dollars in salary payments to CEO Heriberto Flores went over the state’s limits. It also claims that some travel, consulting and other expenses were not properly documented. In a statement, Flores notes the disputed money amounts to less than one percent of the council’s total budget over those three years. And he says the group used non-state funds to pay for what should have been state expenses, so it has nothing to repay. Bump says another state agency will decide that issue.

Downtown Springfield Theater Owner Plans $36 Million Renovation

The owner of an historic theater in downtown Springfield has proposed a $36 million plan to renovate the theater block, which officials say will be a critical part of ongoing redevelopments of the city’s downtown.

The New England Farm Worker’s Council bought the Paramount theater for $1.7 million in March of 2011.  The theater, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, will get updates to its outer facade, and will have 2300 new seats installed as part of the renovations.

Heriberto Flores is executive director of the New England Farm Worker’s Council. He says the project will provide jobs and economic growth to the city.
 
“We’ve got to start doing projects and putting people to work, they’re looking for jobs, they have the skills, and that’s how you start building that middle class again.”
 
Flores says the project’s financing will include state tax credits and private investments. Kevin Kennedy is Springfield’s Chief Development Officer. He says the project will not compete with a potential casino in downtown Springfield. Instead, he says, the state’s casino law includes provisions that could require that a casino book some of its acts at local non-profit venues like the Paramount or CityStage.
 
“To become part of our community, we expect that they use our performing venues that already exist, thereby cutting down on the necessity to build new ones, thereby cutting down some of their construction costs. So it all just makes sense. It also spreads the casino out from behind fortress walls, and becomes part of the community.”
 
The theater was built in 1929, and was most recently used as a nightclub called the Hippodrome. Flores says he hopes that renovations will begin next spring.