In Whistleblower Complaint, Michigan AG Asked to Investigate SafeHouse Board, Executive Director and Staff

by P.D. Lesko

A whistleblower’s complaint against SafeHouse Center, the non-profit’s Board members, Executive Director and staff, dated October 31, 2021, has been filed with Michigan’s Attorney General. The complaint asks AG Dana Nessel to investigate “discrimination in hiring practices, treatment of staff and shelter residents and services offered and provided based on race and culture by administration.” The whistleblowers also state that they fear, “retaliation by SafeHouse Administration and SafeHouse Board members.” The Ann Arbor Independent obtained the complaint by filing a Freedom of Information Act request. The fourteen individuals who signed the complaint include SafeHouse staff members, interns, a former Director of Development, shelter residents, as well as victims of domestic and sexual violence whom SafeHouse staff turned away from the shelter.

Among SafeHouse Center’s 20 Board members are Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton, Washtenaw County Administrator Greg Dill and Barbara McQuade a University of Michigan law professor from practice and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District.

According to the non-profit’s 2020 990, the shelter’s Executive Director spent $2.28 million on salaries, up from $1.9 million the previous year. Total revenue, according to SafeHouse Center’s 2020 IRS return was $3.19 million, up from $2.74 million the year before.

The Michigan Attorney General’s office investigates allegations of fraud made against charitable organizations in Michigan. The Domestic Violence Project (DBA SafeHouse Center) is a registered 501(c)3. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service also investigates complaints of tax fraud made against non-profit entities, as well as abuse of non-profit status.

While receiving public money, and soliciting public donations, since August of 2021 SafeHouse staff members have turned away an unknown number of victims and their children from the shelter with the claim that the 50-bed shelter was “full.” In an August 24, 2021 email obtained by The Ann Arbor Independent using a Freedom of Information Act request, from SafeHouse Center Executive Director Barbara Niess-May to two MDHHS officials, Niess-May tells the MDHHS officials that due to the loss of the majority of the shelter’s client-facing staff, the shelter would only be able to serve a limited number of victims and children. In an August 30, 2021 email to the same MDHHS officials, Niess-May claims SafeHouse was, at that time, housing “30 victims and children.” This assertion is contradicted by an August 24, 2021 SafeHouse Chore Chart prepared by staff that shows eight women assigned jobs around the shelter. Survivors housed in the shelter at the beginning of September 2021 say there were only six women and children in the shelter at that time.

The fact that the County’s domestic violence shelter is refusing shelter and services to victims and their children was withheld from the public, volunteers and donors. It’s unclear whether the SafeHouse Center Board members were made aware in August 2021 that SafeHouse staff were refusing shelter and help to victims of domestic and sexual violence and their children.

The complainants reached out the Nessel’s office, the complaint says, because, “[a]lthough we understand that after intense public scrutiny the Board of Directors initiated first a local attorney, then an out of state attorney to investigate the concerns brought forward by residents and employees, and after several months of SafeHouse turning victims away from shelter finally placed Executive Director, Barbara Niess-May on paid administrative leave, we do not feel confident that any entity chosen by the SafeHouse administrators or board members will result in a fair and unbiased investigation.”

Those familiar with the investigation allege that Kathryn Hartrick, the independent investigator hired, was given a list of hand-picked SafeHouse Center staff to interview. Two victims who were “exited” out of the shelter in August and September, and made homeless, have said they were interviewed by Hartrick. The Ann Arbor Independent offered Hartrick dozens of MDHHS emails which show Niess-May lied to state officials about the mismanagement of SafeHouse Center, as well as the number of victims housed. Those public records include Niess-May’s August 2, 2021 email to MDHHS officials in which she assures them that all of the allegations about unsafe, unsanitary conditions within the shelter reported in The A2Indy’s July 31, 2021 article, are “false.”

Hartrick responded to The A2Indy via email to say that, “This confirms receipt of your email from November 10, 2021….Please forward the emails from Barbara Niess-May to MDHHS officials that you reference in your email below.” The newspaper forwarded the MDHHS emails to Hartrick on Dec. 6. Hartrick responded on Dec. 6: “This confirms receipt of your two emails…. If I have further questions, I will let you know.”

A June 2021 investigatory report by Kathryn Hartick released by Cicerone Certification Program provides a window into her thoroughness. Hartrick was hired to investigate whether a male employee’s posts to social media represented a pattern of sexually harassing behavior. In her report Hartrick writes, “A total of 21 people were interviewed during the three-week period….” She also writes, “Every witness who reached out to the interviewer was contacted. The interviewer also initiated contact with seven witnesses who were believed to have pertinent information for the investigation….The interviews lasted anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours.” The Cicerone Certification Program report states that in order to draw her conclusions, Hartrick used the “applicable standard of a preponderance of the evidence.”

Whether or not Hartrick applies the same methods to her SafeHouse Center investigation, the whistleblowers in the signed complaint told Michigan’s AG that they hesitated to file the complaint because, “after working in a toxic work environment that creates a culture of fear, many of us have concerns that there will be retaliation by those in power who could potentially affect our current or future employment, college applications or current enrollment and/or other community issues….”

The complainants go on to write, “It is only because of our grave concerns about the treatment of current and future shelter residents and employees that we feel compelled to take [a] risk and submit this request for a full investigations by your office.”

On November 18, 2021 at a meeting of the County’s Board of Commissioners, Chair of the Board Susan E. Shink said that she has fielded threats to her political career related to her involvement in the investigation of the allegations against Niess-May, SafeHouse Center and the non-profit’s Board of Directors.

The Ann Arbor Independent contacted the Michigan AG’s office for a comment about the whistleblowers’ complaint, and is awaiting a response.

On November 17, 2021, The Ann Arbor Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act with officials at SafeHouse Center to obtain public records related the whistleblowers’ allegations. Under Michigan law, and specific case law, the shelter’s sources of revenue and County service contracts make the private non-profit a public entity that is subject to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.