Veterans board to discuss director’s job after audit
The Oklahoma Veterans Commission has called a special meeting for Tuesday morning to address fallout from a state audit that found toxic leadership has led to low morale at Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs care centers across the state.
Both critics of the agency and agency leaders had publicly called for commissioners to meet.
Veterans Affairs executive director Doug Elliott considers it an opportunity to address the audit’s findings while critics believe the commission should use their time Tuesday to fire Elliott.
An agenda for the meeting indicates they could consider doing so.
The nine-member Veterans Commission will meet around 10 a.m. in a conference room at 2132 NE 36 St. in Oklahoma City.
The commission, appointed by the governor, has oversight of Veterans Affairs, which operates seven long-term care facilities for veterans across Oklahoma.
Critics of Veterans Affairs leadership will rally outside the same building beginning at 9 a.m.
They are led by a contingent driving from Lawton, where a contractor has replaced a full-time doctor at the city’s veterans center, worrying residents and their families.
Another group is expected to travel several hours from Talihina, where a veterans center is slated for closure over the objections of many in that small southeast town.
“Our veterans gave their best; they deserve the best,” said Madeline Kervin, the rally’s organizer and the daughter of a World War II veteran at the Lawton-Fort Sill Veterans Center in southwest Oklahoma.
“We have talked to senators, we have talked to representatives, we’ve talked to everybody who will listen to us and still seen no real results. So, we’re going to do an awareness rally, to let people know these veterans are important to us. They gave their lives for our freedom.”
Issues at hand
On Aug. 1, the state auditor’s office released a 75-page report after talking with hundreds of past and current Veterans Affairs employees who described “a culture of fear and intimidation,” along with changes in the level of care that employees blamed for the death of multiple residents.
Elliott and Veterans Affairs Secretary Myles Deering have attacked the report, calling it a political document full of hearsay and devoid of objective facts. They’ve criticized auditors as agenda-driven and accused them of speaking only with disgruntled employees, “gripers and complainers” in Deering’s words.
Tuesday’s special meeting is expected to address many facets of the audit, according to the commission’s agenda.
Elliott will speak first, discussing the “perception that services ... are being reduced,” along with the Talihina Veterans Center, the controversial use of contract services and an unspecified meeting he had with the attorney general’s office.
The agency’s construction administrator will discuss canceled upgrades at the centers and a human resources director will talk about accusations of favoritism and bias, among other problems alleged in the audit.
Commissioners will then enter into the first of three executive sessions to discuss employment matters.
After the executive session, the commission is scheduled to hear from Tina Williams, the agency’s compliance officer and a frequent target of Veterans Affairs critics.
She will discuss resident deaths, the outsourcing of medical services and other recent changes.
Two financial officers will testify before the commission adjourns again for an executive session to discuss an “allegation of misappropriation of resident trust funds at Norman Veterans Center.”
That will be followed by a third executive session to discuss a performance review and “employment of executive director” Elliott.
Though executive sessions are closed to the public and press, the commission will announce what, if any, actions it has taken regarding Elliott’s employment after returning from the closed-door meeting.
“Tina Williams and Doug Elliott need to go,” said Kervin, the rally organizer. “They need to go ... our centers were working smoothly until those two got into office.”
Removing a Veterans Affairs executive director is a power only the Veterans Commission has and it last exercised that power in 2015, when it removed John McReynolds.
There is, however, a key difference between then and now.
McReynolds had lost the support of Gov. Mary Fallin but Fallin has not weighed in on Elliott’s employment.