Jenkins OK’d contract for nonprofit where wife serves
The chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators signed off on more than $200,000 in no-bid contracts including $20,000 for a nonprofit group of which his wife is a trustee.
Legislator Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, in December inked an agreement with Youth Theater Interactions, a Yonkers-based charity whose board of directors includes his wife, Deborah Hudson-Jenkins.
Though Jenkins maintains that his wife is a volunteer and rejects that there is any impropriety, the contract raises questions about potential conflicts and the need for more transparency in how some groups get taxpayer dollars.
Its not new money, Jenkins said. Weve been giving those folks money long before I was on the Board of Legislators and well before my wife was on the board of directors.
Hudson-Jenkins has been on the groups board since 2006 and does not receive any pay for her time, he said.
The contract is among 19 awarded by the chairman in 2010 his first year leading the board and among hundreds of so-called short-forms totaling about $7 million that department heads throughout county government approved that year.
Other monies the board allocated included funds for The Junior League of Central Westchester ($6,000), Westchester Hispanic Coalition ($12,500), New Rochelle YMCA ($5,000) and others, including local eateries.
The boards total under Jenkins leadership marked a fourfold increase from the year prior and is the highest amount spent by the legislature since 2007, when it doled out nearly $270,000.
The service agreement for the youth group, a well-regarded nonprofit that has been providing performing arts programs for thousands of children at no cost for nearly 40 years, was the maximum amount allowed under county rules. Its to help pay for a program that teaches children the business side of the performing arts.
Though the board had not partnered with the group in recent years, the Youth Bureau and county executives office did as far back as 2001, six years before Jenkins joined the board.