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Delegates: AVCP Admits Financial Crisis

Dean Swope

The Association of Village Council Presidents has confirmed near bankruptcy, author-less financial investments, and three pending audits to its board of directors. 

Wednesday, June 8 Tribal leaders from across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta came together for what many thought was a long overdue discussion on the state of AVCP’s finances. 

Credit Dean Swope
AVCP Convention, September 2015

Herald Napoleon, tribal delegate and former AVCP president, says the organization is like a sinking ship without a captain.

“It should be of a very great concern to the Yupik people the condition and the shape that AVCP is in," Napoleon said.

Napoleon says the board chairman told delegates that AVCP came close to bankruptcy in November 2015 but neglected to inform their board of directors until last week.

During December 2015, a month later, the organization laid off 30 employees. They cited current economic trends as their reason in a press release.

Those layoffs happened just months after the organization was awarded more than $9 million in a settlement in a class action suit. 

Last week's meeting is the first time the full board has met since the administration canceled February’s meeting, which Napoleon says the boards chairman admitted was intentional.

Credit Dean Swope
Henry Hunter. AVCP Board Chairman

“He admitted that they were withholding information," said Napoleon said. 

During that time, Napoleon says other groups have taken interest in the matter.

“They told their board members that they’re undergoing audits. They admitted that," Napoleon said. 

Napoleon says AVCP is being investigated by at least three different auditors, but he says the executive board did not tell delegates which companies were doing those audits. 

These audits come after a series of leaked emails in January 2016 which revealed AVCP mishandled federal grants to fund administrative salaries, and at least one million dollars went from the AVCP TANF account to fund the company's flight school. TANF is a federal program to help families in need and it has strict spending regulations. A flight school would be outside those guidelines, and AVCP had been warned it was against the rules.

AVCP email obtained by KYUK, guidelines on TANF grant to AVCP.

“Yes they did. They agreed they did take TANF funds and used them for the flight school," Napoleon said.

Despite months of waiting, Napoleon says delegates still do not have the whole picture.

“They were not able to provide numbers because their chief financial officer was not there," Napoleon said. 

Credit Dean Swope

The biggest unknown, Napoleon says was who authorized the reallocation of the TANF funds as well as investments in real estate like the now closed Allanivik Hotel. Napoleon says the administration told delegates they didn’t know who signed off on those deals.

These admissions come a month after former AVCP president Myron Naneng resigned. Naneng made no indication of AVCP’s financial trouble in an interview discussing his retirement with Alaska Dispatch News, but Napoleon says he must have known.

“He’s been president for 24 years. As president he knew,or should have known all this information in those 24 years. I can’t say that he knew specifically where every penny was, but he was the president," Napoleon said.

These announcements are deeply troubling for the future of the organization says Napoleon.

“I think, as someone who’s been around AVCP since its inception, that I believe that the organization is lost. The 56 villages need to determine where it’s going. It just cannot continue on this way. And it affects the health and well being of all our people because it is the instrument that we created to advance our causes and our concerns. If it’s lost, then in a sense, we are lost," Napoleon said.

KYUK spoke with two other delegates who confirmed the accuracy of Napoleon’s statements but did not want to go on record. 

Myron Naneng did not respond to phone calls for comment.

AVCP Acting President Mike Hoffman declined to comment and AVCP Board Chairman Henry Hunter declined to comment as well.

AVCP told the press they were not allowed to attend the convention.

Correction: The word received has been changed to awarded in reference to a class action suit.