If there's one lesson Alice Britt says she learned during her short tenure as the head of the city's oldest job training and placement agency, it's that doing a good job doesn't pay.
On March 16, Britt was stunned to learn that she was fired from her position as executive director of Dallas SER Jobs for Progress Inc., a nonprofit agency that provides job training and placement for the poor, particularly Hispanics.
Britt, who was named executive director in February, wasn't the only one surprised by the news.
Although the decision was made during a regularly scheduled meeting of SER's 16-member board of directors, nearly half of the board was absent at the time of the surprise vote. Several board members who were not at the meeting say they were unaware of their colleagues' intentions to remove Britt until after the vote was taken.
"Did they make a decision to terminate her?" asks board member Dean Reynolds, who didn't know that Britt was fired until he was contacted by the Dallas Observer this week. "That concerns me, it really does. If SER is going to survive, we've got to work together. We can't do it by midnight assassinations."
Britt's ouster follows reports of financial mismanagement that earlier this year prompted the Dallas County Local Workforce Development Board to suspend the agency's funding and hire two private accountants to examine its books.
The workforce board, which administers state and federal grants to SER, is responsible for ensuring that the grant money is properly spent. Last month, the board stopped issuing checks to SER after agency officials were unable to account for how they spent between $60,000 and $120,000 in public funds, says Laurie Larrea, president of the workforce board.
"There is no suggestion at this point of wrongdoing, other than there is money we advanced them that they can't account for," Larrea says. "They [SER officials] presented an issue that they didn't think they had the money we said they had."
Although SER's financial troubles have now come to a head, they have been brewing for several months and appear to predate Britt's arrival to the agency in February, says Larrea, who adds that she was stunned by the board's decision to fire Britt.
"Alice's termination is a mystery to me. We did not expect that to be an issue," Larrea says. "Alice was very fine to work with. She appeared to be accountable."
When reached at home last week, Britt said she believes she was fired because she began to uncover a pattern of financial problems that some SER board members did not want to come to light.
"I was turning over too many financial rocks," says Britt, who formerly worked as a fund-raiser in SER's national office. "They didn't want me to keep asking questions. It's like they knew what the end result would be, but I didn't."
Britt, who says she cannot discuss the specific financial problems she uncovered, says five SER officials escorted her out of her office last Wednesday; one of them stood directly over her as she packed her belongings.
Gilbert Cerda, the chairman of SER's board and the person who reportedly pushed for last week's vote, refused to provide any explanation as to why Britt was fired or discuss the agency's financial troubles.
"I can't comment on all of this," says Cerda, who is also a Dallas police detective.
Leo Landin Jr., who is one of two board members who voted against the decision to fire Britt, said the board was concerned that Britt was not "meeting the criteria of her contract," but he declined to discuss those criteria in any detail.
"I can't speak legally about the meeting," says Landin, who would only add, "I did not vote for her termination."
Similarly, board member Maricela Vargas, who was not present during last Monday's meeting, says she was surprised by her colleagues' decision. While Vargas was aware the board had some questions about Britt's performance, she says her understanding of the situation was that the board and Britt were going to sit down and discuss those issues in an attempt to resolve them.
"I was not aware that that decision was going to be made on Monday," says Vargas, who declined to comment on the matter any further.
Other board members did not return the Observer's calls or could not be reached for comment.
Dallas SER is one of more than 40 SER chapters located across the United States under the umbrella of SER-Jobs for Progress National Inc., which is located in Irving.
In a March 12 letter to workforce board president Larrea, National SER President Hugo Cardona stated that the national office will provide money to the Dallas office to erase its debt to the workforce board. In addition, Cardona stated that he had dispatched an accountant to examine the agency's finances.
"It is now apparent to me that SER National must invest substantial resources in Dallas SER in order to return that organization to financial stability within the necessary time constraints," Cardona wrote.
When reached by telephone in Puerto Rico last Sunday, Cardona described the financial situation as "exceptional" and added that he expects the agency's finances to be in order by the end of April. In days, Cardona says the national office will approve a $1,000 credit line to assist the Dallas office.
