Ex-Miller Aide Resigns from Nonprofit Post

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Amid rumors that the Commerce Department planned to withhold city funding from the Central Germantown Council, Steven Vaughn resigned last Friday as president of the community development corporation.

The announcement came two weeks after Vaughn, a former City Council aide who pleaded guilty to federal charges in April, said he would not seek reelection to the group, which he has headed since 1997.

His presidency has been embattled in recent months, the subject of protest by a group of community activists that first called for his ouster nearly five weeks ago. At issue was Vaughn’s admitted involvement in a racketeering enterprise that defrauded the city out of more than $60,000.

In late April, the activist group, comprised of local business owners and area residents, delivered a 325-signature petition to the council, asking its board to vote on Vaughn’s immediate removal. The group, along with two board members, said Vaughn’s guilty plea had placed him in violation of a provision in the council’s bylaws that requires members to be in good standing in their communities.

The Central Germantown Council has received more than $1 million in federal community development block grant money since 2000, and is set to receive $186,000 in city monies this year for “targeted neighborhood support services.”

With his term set to expire this month, Vaughn exited the board last week. Though he said was unable to confirm the rumors about Commerce Department intervention before the group’s meeting, he considered them serious enough to tender his resignation.

“The future of the Central Germantown Council is more important for the overall Central Germantown area than me being president, which I wasn’t going to be after this term anyway,” Vaughn said in a telephone interview last Friday.

Vaughn, the former chief of staff to Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller, was suspicious of the criticism surrounding his presidency from the outset, contending that some of the activists were politically and racially motivated.

According to Vaughn, the board of directors gave him a unanimous vote of confidence at a closed meeting last month where members discussed the petition requesting his ouster.

“This is to keep [the Commerce Department] happy, to keep the board intact and to shut up our so-called critics,” Vaughn said of his resignation last week. “My interest is to stabilize the future of the Central Germantown Council.”

Told of Vaughn’s resignation, Tom McNally, a Commerce Department spokesman, said, “We were looking towards the board to solve their leadership issues as expeditiously as possible. In the meantime, our analysis of the Central Germantown Council is that they are in compliance with all contractual obligations with the city.”

Asked if Vaughn’s role as president had placed the Central Germantown Council’s city contract in jeopardy, McNally said, “The organization, as far as we are concerned, continues to provide effective services to businesses in the Central Germantown area. Our ongoing review of the contractual obligations indicated that they have been performing well.”

Last week, the board appointed Betty Turner, the group’s treasurer, to be acting president of the Central Germantown Council until new officers are elected in mid-September.

“We all [the board] stated he was a good man,” Turner said on Monday, recounting the events after Vaughn’s announcement. “Circumstances do not always define the person. People applauded Steven.”

While Turner said Vaughn had told the board his resignation was “for the good of the Central Germantown Council,” she said she was unaware of the rumored Commerce Department involvement. “I’ve known Steve Vaughn for 30 years. He was trying to get an education while doing community work with kids.”

Vaughn sought to clear the record in an interview with the Local last Friday. “Not only are we in compliance, but we have always been in compliance,” Vaughn said of the council. “We will continue to stay in compliance. Under my leadership, they have always been in compliance. We have always done the right thing.”

Asked if he would remain on the board, Vaughn said, “At this point, I’ll act as a volunteer to assist the board with whatever they want me to do. The issue for me, and the issue for everybody else, is me being the president. But I’ll do whatever it’s going to take for me to sustain the [Central Germantown Council].”

The group has launched a membership drive and will accept applications for new directors until Aug. 5, Turner said. An election is set for Sept. 16, the date of the group’s annual board of directors meeting.

“I would like the Central Germantown Council to move forward and to have it be inclusive,” Turner said. “I want to bring the community together to advance the group’s mission to preserve and improve the social, economic and physical well-being of Central Germantown through means of educational programs, charitable activities, business revitalization and community development.”

In stark contrast to the contentious atmosphere at the group’s past two meetings, last week’s gathering was “a model of decorum,” said Jim Foster, one of the leading petitioners. For a group of local activists who have felt spurned by the Central Germantown Council, the session clarified an election process that had long been a subject of debate, said Foster, who submitted six membership requests, including his own.