For the past five months, Deerfield Beach has been trying to find out what happened to the $30,000 it gave to a charity, Arlington Park Family, which promised to provide senior services. A series of letters to the charity's president, Mae Frances Feagin, went unanswered, and on April 15, City Attorney Andy Maurodis sued Arlington Park for access to what he claimed were public records.
More than two weeks have passed with no response from Arlington Park Family. On Monday, I reached the charity's attorney, Matthew Sauerwald.
I asked whether his client would provide records to the city. "No
comment," he said. He gave the same answer to my other question.
That's
a familiar refrain for Arlington Park Family. Feagin refused to offer
comment on how her organization spent the city's money when I reached her in February.
The
only person who has talked so far is the former treasurer, who said that
he left the organization after feeling... well... that "somethin' ain't right."
Arlington Park has 20 days to respond to the suit by the city, which by my reckoning means it has till May 12 -- one week.