Treasurer, Ex-Head Of DC 37 Local 1505 Accused in $15G Loss

DILCY BENN: Hood, Murrell culpable. DC 37 Local 1505’s executive board has barred its former president and treasurer, Michael Hood and Nancy Murrell, from membership for four years and ordered them to pay back almost $15,000 in pilfered union funds after a trial over charges brought by the local’s new president, Dilcy Benn.

The Sept. 16 ruling strips Ms. Murrell, a loyalist of Mr. Hood who was the only incumbent to retain her seat in the local’s April elections, of her position as Local 1505 treasurer. In that election, Ms. Benn defeated Mr. Hood by seven votes and her slate captured the other seats by similarly small margins, four of them prevailing in runoff elections. The local represents Attendants, Park Workers and Debris Removers.

Questionable Payments

After her election, Ms. Benn began investigating the union’s finances, finding that thousands of dollars in stipend money and travel expenses had been paid to Mr. Hood and Ms. Murrell under dubious circumstances.

MICHAEL HOOD: Way over budget, short on receipts. An American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Judicial Panel case found Mr. Hood and Ms. Murrell guilty of minor financial violations, issuing only a reprimand to both, so Ms. Benn continued pressing the charges internally.

The hearing was held Aug. 26, with Ms. Murrell contesting the charges and Ms. Benn testifying in support of them. Mr. Hood “invoked his ‘right’ not to cross-examine Ms. Benn or to testify,” the executive board, which served as trial board, noted.

Ms. Benn and Ms. Murrell did not serve as part of the trial board because of their involvement in the charges. Neither Mr. Hood nor Ms. Murrell could be reached for comment.

The trial board’s findings were that Mr. Hood and Mr. Murrell had taken $12,070 and $9,370 in 2007 and 2008 respectively from the local, under the auspices of “conventions and conferences.” The budget for conventions in 2007 and 2008 were $5,000 and $1,500 respectively.

Computer, Cell-Phone Mysteries

Among the larger charges made were $2,400 for “Amtrak tickets to Washington,” $3,000 for “computers for office,” despite Local 1505’s office not having a working computer, and $1,392 for “local cell phones,” despite a lack of any bill.

Many of the checks were signed by Ms. Murrell despite a lack of documentation, and none were shown to the executive board for authorization, the trial board found. The two also “frequently. . . engaged in the practice of having Ms. Murrell sign blank checks which Mr. Hood would fill in,” the panel stated.

Mr. Hood also collected 14 monthly stipend checks at $800 apiece in both 2007 and 2008, by occasionally receiving checks in advance, then receiving the payments again.

Along with removing Ms. Murrell from office and banning both from union membership for four years, the two charged parties were also ordered to pay the sum of the expenses they incurred, with the money set aside in the budget subtracted from the total fine, leaving the penalty at $14,490.

Ms. Benn had in the past argued that Mr. Hood stole $6,000 worth of turkey vouchers from members on Thanksgiving 2007. She did not pursue those charges, which Mr. Seferian found him innocent of while criticizing his loss of the vouchers, before the trial board.