Ms. Cynthia Finch

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jul/22/knox-county-audit-chr - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/22/2009    Last Visited: 7/22/2009  

  Ragsdale's community services director, Cynthia Finch, founded Tenn-Corp and her sister runs it.
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  The mayor's office says it plans to close out a grant fund controlled by Finch called the "Matching Mentors Consortium. Finch had distributed roughly $10,000 a year from the fund to groups including Tenn-Corp.
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  Finch leaves her post under disputed circumstances after auditors allege she fabricated receipts submitted for the purchasing-card audit.

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/25/smith-finch-should-re - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/25/2007    Last Visited: 12/25/2007  

  Cynthia Finch
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  Cynthia Finch
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  One Knox County commissioner said Monday embattled Community Services Senior Director Cynthia Finch should resign after federal regulators identified nearly $34,000 in improperly awarded grant money, while others say they've lost confidence in her.
  
  The spokesman for Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, however, said Finch isn't going anywhere.
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  "Based on everything we are aware of, there is nothing to suggest Cynthia has ever done anything for her personal gain," Dwight Van de Vate said.
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  Support for Finch among commissioners is eroding.
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  "It is very, very difficult to have confidence in Ms. Finch, knowing the rules and regulations haven't been followed," Commissioner Mike Hammond said.
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  "I don't want to condemn Ms. Finch until I get more information."
  
  Finch couldn't be reached Monday for comment.
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  Van de Vate said commissioners should reserve judgment on Finch until HUD delivers its final report and Walls finishes his review.
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  We tried to do something about it because we knew TennCorp and Family-Security Inc. is basically Cynthia Finch's family.When you're talking about this kind of money, it's serious."
  
  Moore didn't call for Finch to resign.
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  Commissioner Greg "Lumpy" Lambert, who also has butted heads with the administration, said Finch should be reassigned.Lambert said it would be "difficult" for Finch to stay on in her current position.
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  Though the county said Finch "received no advantage, financial or in-kind" from the grant, officials acknowledged to HUD that Finch has a "direct conflict of interest" because Family-Security Inc. passed the money to TennCorp.
  
  The county has asked that HUD exempt several grant recipients from conflict-of-interest regulations, including the Tennessee Conference Community Development Corp., Parkridge Harbor, Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, Senior Citizens Housing Assistance Services and the YMCA.Finch is a member of the AME Zion Church, which operates the Tennessee Conference Community Development Corp., and has served on the board of Parkridge Harbor.Other county officials serve on the boards of the other organizations.
  
  In addition to the federal money that went to TennCorp, the county has awarded $54,000 of its own local grant money to the organization since Finch went to work for Ragsdale, starting with $10,000 in fiscal year 2004.
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  The county also directly awarded TennCorp $20,000 this fiscal year for a youth program, plus a $75,000 state grant to fund a program for pregnant women, with its performance to be evaluated by Finch's office.
  
  Van de Vate has said Finch fully disclosed her role in founding TennCorp and running it at the time Ragsdale hired her in 2002.Finch resigned as executive director then, and she is not listed in tax documents as an officer in the nonprofit or a member of its board of directors.However, the mayor's office has said Finch did not disclose her landlord-tenant relationship with TennCorp until the News Sentinel began reporting on it.
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  Two other employees also resigned because of their purchasing-card use, and Finch was reprimanded.
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  The simplest ethical course of action would've been for Ms Finch to publicly disclose her relationships with the receiving organizations when the grants were made.Stewards of the taxpayers' money must conduct themselves in a manner above reproach.She conspired to defraud us and hide her "family-serving largesse".
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  Cynthia, be a big girl and resign.
  
  Posted by tardisrider on December 25, 2007 at 12:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
  
  She shouldn't resign.She should be fired and sued.
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  "Based on everything we are aware of, there is nothing to suggest Cynthia has ever done anything for her personal gain," Dwight Van de Vate said.
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  Mr. Van the Evader, Ms. Finch charged her Club LeConte membership to her county charge card.

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/27/moore-asks-ragsdale-d - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/27/2007    Last Visited: 12/27/2007  

  Community Services Senior Director Cynthia Finch, however, had already delivered the mayor's office's initial response to HUD.That response included a proposed swap of a federal grant disallowed by HUD because of connections with Finch for a community grant given to the Knoxville Academy of Medicine.
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  According to the HUD report, the county didn't comply with regulations on five grants worth $840,000 to four organizations, including three with connections to Finch, the county's top grants official.
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  Erik Hoglund, director of Community Development, a department that Finch oversees, said his office selected the Knoxville Academy of Medicine's local grant to swap.
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  Three of the organizations - Family-Security Inc., Parkridge Harbor and the Tennessee Conference of the AME Zion Church Community Development Corp. - have links to Finch.In addition to her connection with TennCorp, Finch has served as a board member for Parkridge Harbor and is active in the AME Zion Church.
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  A letter sent from HUD to Ragsdale on Friday prompted one Knox County commissioner, R. Larry Smith, to call on Finch to resign.
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  Others said they've lost confidence in Finch, but Ragsdale spokesman Dwight Van de Vate said on Monday that her job is secure for now.
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  Finch shrugged off Smith's suggestion that she resign.
  
  "They've been saying it," she said Wednesday.
  
  Smith isn't the only commissioner raising concerns about Finch.
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  Commissioner Mike Hammond said Monday that it's "difficult to have confidence" in Finch, while Commissioner Greg "Lumpy" Lambert said Finch should be transferred to another post because of potential conflicts of interest.
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  In addition to the federal money that went to TennCorp, the county has awarded $54,000 of its own local grant money to the organization since Finch went to work for Ragsdale, starting with $10,000 in fiscal year 2004.
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  The county also directly awarded TennCorp $20,000 this fiscal year for a youth program, plus a $75,000 state grant to fund a program for pregnant women, with its performance to be evaluated by Finch's office.
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  But not Cynthia Finch.
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  Finch will lose at some point and Larry and Ragsdale know it.

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/feb/14/cynthia-finch-resigns - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 2/14/2008  

  Breaking news: Cynthia Finch resigns »Finch resigns Knox County post, ending months of turmoil : Cynthia Finch : Knoxville News Sentinel
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  Breaking news: Cynthia Finch resigns »
  
  Home > News > Local News
  
  Finch resigns Knox County post, ending months of turmoil
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  Cynthia Finch
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  Cynthia Finch
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  Cynthia Finch, the embattled senior director of community services for Knox County, has resigned.
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  Finch has been embroiled in controversies surrounding her office's handling of federal and local grant funding.
  
  Most recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a report outlining $840,000 in "questionable" federal grants issued through Finch's office to organizations with ties to Finch and other Community Development staff members.
  
  The report outlined Finch 's possible conflicts of interest with two federal grant recipients: Parkridge Harbor, where she served as chairwoman of the board in 2005 and 2006, when the nonprofit received $50,000 in federal funds; and the Tennessee Conference Community Development Corporation, a development entity formed by the A.M.E. Zion Church, awarded at least $350,000.Finch is a member of Greater Warner Tabernacle A.M.E. Zion Church, one of 39 churches in the conference.
  
  HUD also disallowed a $40,000 grant to one organization that later subcontracted with a nonprofit run by Finch's sister.
  
  Initially, Knox County proposed a bookkeeping solution that would assign the federal grant to the Knoxville Academy of Medicine.
  
  After the News Sentinel reported that Finch was a nonvoting member of the Knoxville Academy of Medicine's fundraising board, the county found another agency for the switch, which must be approved by HUD.
  
  A HUD review of the "questionable" grants is pending.
  
  After Ragsdale gave her a choice between overseeing grants and serving on the boards of recipient organizations, Finch relinquished her oversight of the grants program.

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  www.maysville-online.com/articles/2009/02/20/opinion/ed - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/1/2009    Last Visited: 2/20/2009  

  Just goggle Knoxville mayor Ragsdale, Cynthia Finch and associates.

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  wate.podbean.com/category/community-issues/ - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 11/9/2008  

  The attorney for Cynthia Finch says that she will not pay and that all of her purchases were for county business.
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  Former Community Services Director Cynthia Finch has also responded to the audit and says that if the mayor's charges are cleared, then hers should be too.

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/jul/30/finch-faces-charges/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/30/2009    Last Visited: 7/30/2009  

  Former Knox County Senior Community Services Director Cynthia Finch, followed by her lawyer Bob Jolley, leaves the Knox County Detention Facility Wednesday afternoon after being booked on charges of forgery and fabricating evidence.
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  Former Knox County Senior Community Services Director Cynthia Finch, followed by her lawyer Bob Jolley, leaves the Knox County Detention Facility Wednesday afternoon after being booked on charges of forgery and fabricating evidence.
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  July 26, 2007: The News Sentinel reports that Knox County is giving at least $20,000 in grant funding to Tenn-Corp Community Services Volunteers Inc., an organization founded by Ragsdale's community services director, Cynthia Finch, and run by her sister. Dec. 24, 2007: HUD notifies the county it must repay $33,454.04 in grant funding because a portion of the money went to a nonprofit run by Finch's sister. Feb. 14, 2008: Finch leaves her post under disputed circumstances after auditors allege she fabricated receipts from Fed Ex/Kinko's submitted for a purchasing-card audit. Finch later says she had no prior knowledge that a UPS employee had fabricated the approximately $2,200 in FedEx/Kinko's receipts submitted on her behalf.
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  July 29, 2009: Finch is charged by a Knox County grand jury with fabricating evidence and forgery connected to the Fed Ex/Kinko's receipts. Finch turns herself in and is later freed after posting $10,000 bond.
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  Grand jury 17-page presentment against Cynthia Finch
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  Cynthia Finch
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  Cynthia Finch
  
  Seventeen months after she left Knox County government's administration, former Senior Community Services Director Cynthia Finch walked up the jail steps Wednesday to turn herself in on charges of forgery and faking evidence.
  
  Her lawyer says she cooperated with investigators every step of the way and will fight all charges.
  
  "Cynthia Finch is innocent of these allegations, and we're looking forward to her opportunity in court to tell her side of the story," defense lawyer Bob Jolley said.
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  More than $2,000 in questionable receipts led to the criminal charges against Finch, 51, who left her county post under a cloud last year. She turned herself in Wednesday to face three charges of forgery and fabricating evidence after a yearlong investigation. The charges could carry jail time of up to 15 years if convicted.
  
  A grand jury charged Finch on Tuesday in a 17-page sealed presentment with fabricating receipts for about $2,200 in FedEx/Kinko's charges. She surrendered just before 2 p.m. at the Knox County Detention Facility on Maloneyville Road and was released after booking on $10,000 bond.
  
  The list of witnesses against Finch includes Nathan Mishu, the copy store clerk who created the receipts.
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  "The allegations contained in this presentment substantiate what we said on Day One - that Nathan Mishu did not do anything improper, illegal or inappropriate as relates to Ms. Finch.
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  Attorney General Robert E. Cooper Jr. said his conclusions didn't encompass possible wrongdoing by Finch.
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  An audit by Walls concluded Finch faked receipts for 12 FedEx/Kinko's charges - a total of $2,218.17 - and reported Mishu's account of creating the receipts for Finch at her request.
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  Finch has denied that.
  
  Finch, former Finance Director John Werner and two other aides lost their jobs as spending issues - including a cruise charged to a county purchasing card and a lavish lobster lunch for a county commissioner - came to light.
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  One audit found tens of thousands of dollars in questionable purchasing-card expenditures, including employees who used their cards for personal use and the accusation that Finch fabricated the receipts.
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  Yet another audit had found numerous conflicts of interest in the mayor's community grants program, run at the time by Finch.
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  Lawyer: 'Cynthia Finch is innocent' Updated 7/29/2009 at 3:51 p.m.79 comments
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  Lawyer: 'Cynthia Finch is innocent' Published 7/29/2009 at 2:28 p.m.79 comments

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  www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/aug/16/dissolved-nonprofit-s - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 8/16/2007  

  Finch was treasurer of group that got grant money from her office
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  Knox County Community Services Director Cynthia Finch was treasurer of a nonprofit when it applied for and received community grant funding from her office in 2006 and 2007.
  
  The funding â€" $7,000 per year â€" was awarded to Knoxville Neighborhood Housing and Commercial Services Inc. even though the state had administratively dissolved the group on Feb. 6, 2006, for failure to file annual reports.
  
  The state also has no record that the group ever registered to solicit grant funding, and at the time Knox County awarded the grants, the group was behind on its Knoxville and Knox County property taxes on five properties.
  
  Finch, Mayor Mike Ragsdale, the county finance director, and the mayor's chief of staff, Mike Arms, deliberate over which grants to recommend, county spokesman Dwight Van de Vate has said.
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  Finch signed the 2004 and 2005 federal tax filings for Knoxville Neighborhood Housing and Commercial Services Inc. as treasurer of the board.
  
  Finch signed the 2004 filing in March 2006 and the 2005 filing in September 2006, both after the group's state corporate status became inactive.
  
  "Cynthia is one of 21 board members, and her status as treasurer was disclosed in the (grant) file," said Lorna Norwood, county spokeswoman.
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  On Aug. 8, the city received two checks from the group co-signed by Finch, one for $2,210.76 and another for $2,365.50 for back taxes on 2309 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. and 300 Ben Hur Avenue.
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  Finch referred questions to Shanklin, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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  When are we going to start calling for the head of Finch.I would like to see KNS try to figure out how much money the commission has given her access and control over.Why don't we hear the commission or ethics committee calling for an investigation of her thievery?Answer, They all have solicited her influence over the black community.They all have for years been very aware that she has been getting rich off of the county.Whats more they all know she knows just as much about their shady deals ... Its time all of these matters were taken out of county government's hands.
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  "Finch, Mayor Mike Ragsdale, the county finance director, and the mayor's chief of staff, Mike Arms, deliberate over which grants to recommend, county spokesman Dwight Van de Vate has said."

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  www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/25/2007    Last Visited: 5/25/2007  

  Cynthia Finch, senior director of community services: salary: $120,393, travel pay, $12,000.
  
  Arms, Finch, Van de Vate, Werner, library Director Larry Frank, health department Director Mark Jones and probation official Todd Cook will have their salaries adjusted under Ragsdale's new policy.

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  www.knoxdocs.org/kam-foundation-board.php - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/11/2007    Last Visited: 12/11/2007  

  Cynthia FinchSenior Director Community Services

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