Last month the Eagle-Tribune reported that Philip Laverriere, the well-compensated executive director of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council (GLCAC), was spending most workday afternoons at the local chapter of the Elks Lodge. The report was the result of a monthlong investigation that involved regular surveillance and careful examination of the organization’s financial documents. Of it’s $30 million dollar budget, $29 million comes from federal and state funding.
Laverriere resigned from his position four days after the story ran. At about the same time, also as a result of the story, the Department of Housing and Community Development launched an investigation and is now calling for the resignation of the Council’s board president, Thomas Schiavone, the Eagle-Tribune reports. The state agency has also released a report on the mismanagement of the GLCAC and has proposed a number of changes for how the state will fund the anti-poverty organization.
