By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - Supporters of the troubled Northern Kentucky Community Center took the first step Tuesday to reopen the closed landmark that once served as the focal point for Northern Kentucky's African-American community.

CENTER TROUBLES

July 2001: The Northern Kentucky Community Center loses $171,167 in United Way funding, or half the center's annual budget, because of management concerns and inability to show what it had accomplished with United Way-funded programs. Feb. 27, 2002: Center management files a formal complaint against Union, Light, Heat & Power Co., alleging the utility acted unreasonably in attempts to collect past-due bills once totaling $80,433. The Public Service Commission dismisses the complaint four months later. May 20, 2003: The center's board fires Executive Director Rollins Davis and dismisses board President Cliff Cooper. Three days later, the center is locked and utilities are shut off for nonpayment of bills. July 2003: The state Department of Charitable Gaming suspends the Northern Kentucky Community Center's bingo license, citing alleged gaming problems and mismanagement confusion over which of two boards is actually running the center's bingo. March 2003: Kentucky State Police confirm the center is being investigated for possible misappropriation of funds. Tuesday: Lawyers file suit seeking a court-appointed receiver to untangle the agency's confusing finances and save the center from foreclosure.

A lawsuit filed in Kenton Circuit Court asks a judge to appoint State Rep. Arnold Simpson as receiver to protect the center's assets, secure the historic building at 824 Greenup St. and save the debt-ridden agency from foreclosure.

The lawsuit, filed by the center's reorganized board of directors, also asks the court to order former Executive Director Rollins Davis and former board President Clifford Cooper to turn over all center financial records and reimburse any missing funds.

Since February, a Kentucky State Police unit specializing in white-collar crime has been examining the agency's financial records.

"We're hoping the court will give the receiver the authority to hire a new executive director, appoint a new board of directors and completely restore the center to its glory days, the way it was when (the late Executive Director William) Martin operated it,'' said lawyer Rob Sanders.

He and his father, Bob Sanders, sought the receivership on behalf of Bennie Doggett, Charles Fann, Robert Whaley, Patricia Williams, Elizabeth Martin and Clinton Jackson. Defendants include Davis and Cooper, eight of the original board members and the two banks that hold mortgages on the center.

Fann is the treasurer of the original board and of the reorganized board that is filing the lawsuit.

"The people filing suit just want this resolved,'' Rob Sanders said. "Ultimately, the receiver could end up appointing all new people to a board of directors.''

Once the receiver appoints an executive director and "a new and respectable board of directors'' to run the center, Rob Sanders said he is confident that funding will be restored and the center reopened.

The lawsuit alleges Davis and Cooper "have wrongfully taken, destroyed, or hidden the financial books and records of the NKCC, making it impossible to determine what they did with the money the corporation received from the United Way, the city of Covington, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the charitable bingo operations and other funding sources.''

Because of missing records, Rob Sanders said there's no way to document exactly how much money is unaccounted for, but he estimated "hundreds of thousands of dollars'' are missing or misappropriated.

Closed since May 23, 2003, the center was in the former home of Lincoln Grant School serving Northern Kentucky's African-American population in the day of segregation. In September 1973, the landmark became a social service agency for Covington's Eastside, providing anything from day care for preschoolers, tutoring for teens, food programs to activities for senior citizens.

"If we can get the community center going again, we can get our youth off the streets,'' said neighborhood leader Bennie Doggett. "They'll have a place to play midnight basketball and shoot pool. We can make the center the heart of our community, as it was for so many years.''

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com