With additional time, Viet America Society will be able to show county officials how it spent $4 million of federal pandemic relief money providing meals to seniors, the organization’s recently hired attorney said Wednesday.
But a contract to provide bilingual Vietnamese services for a mental health hotline serving Orange County remains suspended. And, the daughter of Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, who allocated discretionary funds to the organization, is no longer involved with it, the attorney said.
After Viet America Society failed to meet two different deadlines earlier this month for providing adequate documentation for the nutrition program, including a required federal audit, county officials said the organization will be given more time.
Contracts for the hot meals program were directed to Viet America Society by Do from his First District discretionary funds without publicly disclosing that his daughter, Rhiannon Do, was affiliated with the organization. The lack of disclosure is not a violation of state law or county guidelines, but raised questions over the local policy.
Sterling Scott Winchell, who was retained as attorney for Viet America Society in late February, challenged reports that the organization was led by Rhiannon Do.
Do signed two county-funded subcontracts as “president” of Warner Wellness, a DBA of Viet America Society; was listed in an IRS tax filing as vice president of Viet America Society; and was listed in the organization’s board minutes as one of three voting directors.
“Honestly, I can’t explain why that was done, why she signed it. She must not have been looking at it. She never was president. She never was vice president. She never was an officer, director, managing agent,” Winchell said, adding the tax filing has been refiled without her name.
“She was a caseworker for Warner Wellness Center. That’s all she ever did,” he said. “Why she signed those things that were put in front of her and were incorrect, I don’t know, but it was never the case.”
As of February, Do is no longer with the organization, Winchell said. “A young person, 20 years old, she doesn’t need that kind of grief. She has a real life ahead of her. So she just basically left the place.”
Warner Wellness Center is being run by Peter Pham, founder and president of Viet America Society, Winchell said. Pham was not available Wednesday for an interview, Winchell said.
Viet America Society failed to meet a March 14 and a March 18 deadline – there were two contracts in question – to provide county officials with requested documentation showing the use of the more than $4 million in taxpayer funds it was allocated to feed seniors during the pandemic.
In its warning letters to the nonprofit, the county said documents filed by the organization last May did not contain required information, such as the number of meals delivered and number of residents served. One county letter also said the organization was delinquent in providing an audit – called a “single audit” – that is required by the federal government after spending more than $750,000.
After sending a March 14 letter to the county about needing more time to comply, Winchell and Pham met with county officials Tuesday morning to discuss the next steps.
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Although no specific deadline has been set, a county spokesperson said the nonprofit is required to update the county in two weeks on where it stands as far as completing the audit.
The organization is also asking for more direction on how to address other findings identified in the letters, such as the insufficient documentation and proper handling of money. County officials have requested an additional meeting with Viet America to address those questions, said county spokesperson Molly Nichelson.
Viet America is now looking to hire an independent auditor to complete the organization’s single audit.
“It’s one of these things where they are doers. They do the work. They provide the meals, provide the services. Administratively they weren’t quite on the ball as they should have been,” Winchell said. “They hired me to basically supervise their internal accountant and basically just be kind of a coordinator of everything, so they can get the administrative stuff done and they can spend more time worrying about the services that they’re providing.”
The county, Winchell said, is less worried about receiving invoices from Viet America, and more concerned that the nonprofit be in compliance with federal guidelines.
“The federal government has rules and regulations regarding how federal money is handled,” Winchell said. “So they’re going to be getting into compliance with the federal guidelines, which will make everyone happy in the county and VAS and the federal government. It’s just a matter of getting into administrative compliance.”
The organization continues to prepare and distribute free meals for elderly residents in Orange County, Winchell said.
Administration issues have also led to Warner Wellness being suspended by the National Alliance on Mental Illness Orange County since March 6, Amy Durham, NAMI CEO, said in an email Wednesday, adding that Warner Wellness failed to provide several administrative items or set up a meeting to discuss their ability to fulfill their contract.
NAMI operates the mental health WarmLine under a contract with the county and had hired Warner Wellness as a subcontractor last June to serve Vietnamese-speaking callers.
NAMI OC and Viet America Society staff were notified via email from Viet America’s leadership on Feb. 28 that the Warner Wellness Center was closing, according to Durham. Following that correspondence, Durham said several Warner Wellness staff members approached NAMI seeking employment.
“With a few full-time equivalent positions available at NAMI, we were able to accommodate four staff members,” Durham said. “Given the sudden nature of the closure, it was crucial for us to ensure adequate coverage for the Vietnamese community. Fortunately, we already had a few bilingual Vietnamese speakers on our team (six), and now we’ve added the four individuals from their staff as well.”
Durham said Viet America Society was provided a list of required paperwork along with respective deadlines, but NAMI has not received any response. Viet America Society missed the deadlines without any explanation, and has not contacted NAMI about an extension, she said.
Winchell said Warner Wellness is no longer working with NAMI.
“NAMI actually took our people. At the same time, they upped their demand to what should be done, and then they cut us off,” Winchell said. “They gave us a performance improvement plan one day, and then the next day they said, ‘OK, we’re suspending you.’ It was just a situation where, I don’t know what their motivations were, but they really never wanted this to succeed. And now it hasn’t succeeded.”
Durham said NAMI OC continues to serve the region’s Vietnamese-speaking community with a staff of bilingual members.
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