COVINGTON — Two board members have resigned from the Northern Kentucky Community Center as it struggles to meet a key funding deadline this week.

        Julie Hackworth, an attorney with Ashland Inc., announced her resignation last week. She did not return a phone call seeking comment.

        Darin Schmidt, an accountant at Deloitte & Touche in Cincinnati, had been the board's treasurer until he quit Saturday. In an interview, he said he was frustrated by limited access to the center's financial records and by clashes with the executive director and board chairman. The community center is in the old Lincoln-Grant School in the heart of Covington's African-American community. It provides day care, youth mentoring, after-school recreation, food and housing assistance. About 67 percent of its budget comes from the United Way.

        Ms. Hackworth and Mr. Schmidt had served on the board's finance committee, which recently took over the center's day-to-day financial operations. Mr. Schmidt had been given sole authority to sign checks, and the committee was to immediately set priorities for bills and trim fat from the budget.

        The board made this arrangement in part to satisfy the Greater Cincinnati United Way, which had threatened to slash the center's funding if its record-keeping did not improve. The United Way gives $171,000 a year to the center.

        Told Mr. Schmidt's resignation Monday, United Way spokeswoman Carol Aquino said she couldn't yet say how the agency would react.

        The United Way has set a deadline of Thursday to receive the center's routine fi nancial audits for 1998 and 1999. The United Way uses such audits to verify agencies' financial health and make decisions for funding.

        For several years, neither the center's board nor Executive Director Rollins Davis made sure the audits got done. Because of lack of funding, the center has no employees to compile such records, Mr. Davis said.

        The United Way is now threatening to halt the center's funding if the documentation is not forthcoming. That might force the center to close, board members said.

        The board will meet at 6 p.m. today at the center, 824 Greenup St. The 1998 audit has been completed, Vice Chairman Roy Bohannon said. The 1999 audit is not finished, but a summary has been prepared for the United Way.

        Under Mr. Davis, the community center has been operating at a deficit for several years. On March 27, the board voted to take out a second mortgage of $75,000 to meet its payroll.

        In an interview Monday evening, Mr. Davis said the center had been severely underfinanced for years and previous boards had shown little interest in the problem. He said that he regreted the resignations but that Mr. Schmidt, who joined the board last fall, made too many demands.

        One of their disagreements: Because he works during the day and is a volunteer board member, Mr. Schmidt wanted after-hours access to financial records in Mr. Davis' office to carry out his new duties. Mr. Davis wanted to keep his office private and provide the records in response to advance requests.

        It's not clear whether today's board meeting will be open to the public. The center is a private agency, but community members can be granted speaking time by Chairman Cliff Cooper, a retired railroad employee from Cincinnati.

        One who intends to be present is the Rev. Charles Gaines, pastor of United Community Christian Church in Covington. He wants to know the extent of the financial crisis and what the community can do to help, he said.

        “They're going to have that building taken away,” the Rev. Mr. Gaines said. “If they're borrowing money on the building to meet payroll, and that money runs out, what are they going to do?”

        Lincoln-Grant School educated the area's African-American children before integration. Many residents have fond memories of that time and a sentimental attachment to the building.

        But they don't necessarily agree on the center's future.

        Some say Mr. Davis doesn't have the right personality or skills to run it and must be replaced before change can occur. Others warn against making him a scapegoat for money problems and the inaction of previous boards.

        The new board should re-evaluate the center's mission and form a plan for carrying it out, perhaps by hiring someone skilled in obtaining grants, said Pam Mullins, a community member and former city commissioner.

        “I believe there is a role for Rollins Davis,” she said. “He should know something about the operation of the community center, but that doesn't mean he knows how to do everything.”

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