BJCTA's New Finance Director Has A Sordid Financial Past

BIRMINGHAM, AL - In a year that has seen a bevy of issues surrounding the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, information has surfaced regarding a sordid financial and criminal past for the newly-hired finance director of the BJCTA. Reports have surfaced revealing that Gary Gene Collins, who was hired on September 4 of this year, was sentenced to nine months home detention and three years of probation when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false tax returns and wire fraud with an IRS agent in November 2015.

A report by Alabama Media Group said Collins was also ordered to pay $12,908 jointly with his co-defendant, ex-IRS agent Donald Centreal Smith, who was also a fraternity brother, according to the sentencing memorandum.

According to the Alabama Media Group report, board members became aware of Collins’ plea agreement this week and brought it to Executive Director Christopher Ruffin’s attention on Wednesday. The BJCTA has not confirmed whether a background check had been conducted on Collins during the hiring process and, if so, whether it revealed the agreement.

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This information comes during a year in which the BJCTA suspended its executive director Barbara Murdock in April over suspicion that she misused a BJCTA credit card, when Murdock allegedly paid her personal power bill with BJCTA funds. The BJCTA terminated Murdock's contract in May.

As well, last month, it was revealed that the BJCTA had invoiced Hoover and Vestavia Hills for amounts higher than what they had previously been told would be required to service their cities—amounts they had locked into their approved budgets. Hoover was billed for $89,000 rather than $81,000; Vestavia Hills was billed $92,000 when the city had only allocated $69,000 in its FY19 budget.

Also, this week medical benefits to more than 300 Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority employees were restored on Tuesday after workers had been left without coverage, including prescription coverage, for more than a month due to a lapse in premium payments, interim executive director Christopher Ruffin confirmed. The employees were not receiving benefits even though the BJCTA was taking premiums from employee paychecks.

All of this could have serious consequences from City Hall, as Mayor Randall Woodfin issued a warning in May that the city would withhold funding from the BJCTA unless it could show that the organization had righted the ship.

"Recent changes and actions surrounding the BJCTA leadership and its board have raised serious concerns," Woodfin said in a statement. "There have been four board chairs in the last five months. There have been five executive directors in the last eight years. This has created an instability in leadership."

Woodfin said several actions must be taken before his administration will continue funding the BJCTA:

• Show the administration, the public and BJCTA employees a leadership stability plan that is attached to a timeline.
• Mandate a minimum of 12 hours of board training.
• Establish rules and procedures for the length of board officers' terms.

"I am not trying to run this board and have no appointing power to the BJCTA board, but with the city providing more than $10 million annually to the BJCTA, I must protect the city's interest," Woodfin said.

Photo by Andre Natta/BhamTerminal