AIDS Help director returns to previous position

Florida Keys News

Thursday, October 11, 2012

AIDS Help director returns to previous position

BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff
gfilosa@keysnews.com

Three months after he was unanimously chosen as executive director of AIDS Help, Joe Pais on Wednesday returned to his former job at the nonprofit, which focuses on grant writing.

Pais met with the board of directors to finalize the job change that he wanted and announced it at a staff meeting, said board member Marcus Varner.

Assistant Director Scott Pridgen will serve as acting director. But the agency is not planning a new search for the top position.

AIDS Help, which earlier this year launched a national search for a new leader in light of Robert Walker's retirement, has no plans to hire anyone else at this time, said Varner.

The board of directors has its hands full, having met over the past several weeks reviewing audits and the budget.

AIDS Help ended the 2012 fiscal year with $5.9 million in net assets, having spent $4 million for the year, according to its financial statements.

Pais, a former Key West city commissioner and cable company manager in the Keys, began volunteering with the agency two years before it was incorporated in 1986.

"I know every single department; I've written grants for them," Pais told a search committee in June at a public interview.

The executive director's job pays $131,955 in total compensation for fiscal year 2013, according to documents filed with the county.

The board's priority now is to determine the nonprofit's needs, said Varner.

The board plans to meet with a consultant who will size up those needs and make recommendations on how to meet them and stay within the annual budget.

Another change

Also Wednesday, AIDS Help lost an eight-year veteran of the agency.

The board and Director of Client Services Patrice Sanders "agreed to part ways," said Varner.

Sanders had made the short list for the executive director job, along with Pais and Guardian Ad Litem Director Alexsandra Leto.

The particulars were confidential, as they related to a personnel matter, Varner said. Sanders couldn't be immediately reached Monday night.

Walker led the nonprofit for 12 years before stepping down as he is battling cancer.

When Walker was first hired in 2001 to run AIDS Help, he tapped Pais as his deputy, which was Pais' title before the board gave him the top job in June.

gfilosa@keysnews.com

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This is a chronic disease

Submitted on Sun, 10/14/2012 - 10:13pm by 666

This is a controllable disease with the right care. How many people are sucking up this charity and government aid because they are too lazy to get a job! AIDS help should be dissolved. I know many people down here who take this help, get subsidized housing, and are drunk in the bars every night. Time to move on and focus on other diseases. AIDS is largely preventable ( keep it in your pants or use a condom) and not the plague in the USA it once was.

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132K COUNT ME OUT NEXT TIME YOU COME-A-BEGGING

Submitted on Fri, 10/12/2012 - 9:43pm by Bonefish

132 IS WAY TOO MUCH FOR A NON-PROFIT, GET REAL AND SORT YOUR SELF OUT.

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Read Before Commenting

Submitted on Sat, 10/13/2012 - 4:54pm by AIDS Help Volunteer

FIRST - According to the current audit, AIDS Help spent 10.3% of their total monies on overhead. That's considered excellent for ANY charity. I know because I requested a copy of the financials (which they gladly provided) and it was absolutely correct. SECOND - You keep throwing the $130K number around. That is NOT what the director makes. When AIDS Help hired a new Executive Director to replace Robert Walker, the salary was $30K LESS. That's an example of the agency cutting back for the same job. THIRD - There are problems with all nonprofits. AIDS Help is and always will be an open book, whenever people ask. They provide full financials and make it very clear what they're doing and how they're doing things. They provide services to hundreds of locals with AIDS by providing medical care, lifesaving medications and housing for people who would otherwise be homeless. FOURTH - If you think you can do better, approach the board and ask to join. You can become a member of the Associate board to give advice, or a member of the full board to have a vote. But remember this: All board members serve as VOLUNTEERS. They are expected to donate throughout the year to the agency in time or money, give up hours every month going over reports and dealing with managerial issues, they even pay for their own lunch during monthly board meetings. They act in what they feel are the best interests of the clients. If you think you can do a better job, quit making false or misleading comments on an anonymous web page and step up as a volunteer.

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10% on overhead???

Submitted on Fri, 10/12/2012 - 6:55pm by andthen

Now that is bull. Having sat on numerous committees for that agency over the years including the planning partnership that discusses funding and expenditures, I can assure you that AIDS Help spends considerably more than 10% on overhead. And $131k on an ED is obscene no matter how you cut it. They have been called to carpet for years on too many case managers for the number of clients they have, case managers sleeping in their offices while on the clock, and the complete ineptness of their so-called Education Dept where "educators" use the online education tool as a way to make "dates" in the community or falsify reports so that they make grant requirements, to say nothing of employing completely unqualified people in positions they have business holding but do based on pure nepotism. The clients are far better off with Sanders gone, something that should have happened years ago when clients were found to have been living in mold infested apartments with gaping holes in the floors, clients were found dead in their apartments days after they died - clients who were supposed to be getting checked on daily or have nurses going in, and the extreme level of favoritism she displayed, even holding services hostage from clients who tried to hold her accountable for her abusive and negligent actions. Sanders is only the beginning of what should be a major house cleaning at that place. There is so much going on that if the community knew about it, AIDS Help would have worse things to worry about than whether or not to search for a new Executive Director.

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Just A Misunderstanding I'm Thinking

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 11:55pm by miaosha756

I was invited to interview for this position with the Aids Help Board and met briefly with their selection committee comprised of several Board Members, however we did not go through with a full interview. I found the Board to be sharp, thorough and dedicated, and can't imagine just one person conducting a telephone interview. I think what may have happened was that, if there was a phone conversation, Mr. Pais was being polite, and the candidate wrote back a "Thank You For The Interview" note, which Mr. Pais did not respond to with a correction. Sometimes four people can be in a room looking at one event, and each sees something different, from the color of his or her own perception. Mary Casanova

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UN----BELIEVABLE

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 10:56pm by RANGOON

Are you kidding me???

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132k per year for a non

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 3:23pm by 666

132k per year for a non profit! Wow, that would have been a lot of "aids help".

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132K Per Year for running a Multi-Million Dollar Charity...

Submitted on Fri, 10/12/2012 - 12:46am by AIDS Help Volunteer

And 30 employees. That was the salary for the OLD executive director. What the article didn't say, is that the replacement director was hired at over 30k LESS. AIDS Help spends right around 10% of total income on overhead (salaries, etc.)

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No Wonder

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 6:57am by NativeConch67

I applied for this position and now I know why I didn't get it. Mr. Pais was the one who did the phone interview and I had no idea he was also a candidate. Talk about the bubba system.

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Joe Pais did NO phone Interviews - "No Wonder" posted a lie.

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 2:09pm by AIDS Help Volunteer

There were no phone interviews. All candidates had to submit a resume (as described in all the ads and articles during the job search.) Then a committee made up of board members and outside personnel did a blind evaluation of every application. That was followed up with interviews and finally a full presentation in front of the public. Joe Pais was not involved in the interview process at ANY stage except as a candidate. Saying that Joe Pais interviewed you is simply a lie. If you didn't get an interview, that means your resume didn't meet the minimum qualifications. Rather than post nonsense or spread rumors, you should work at upgrading your resume.

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Text of Actual Email

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 5:30pm by NativeConch67

"Aug 21 Hello: I enjoyed speaking to Mr. Pais regarding this position and would like to thank you for the opportunity to discuss my qualifications. Has the position been filled? If so, good luck and thank you for your time. Sincerely"

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A Lie?

Submitted on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 5:27pm by NativeConch67

I spoke with Pais on the phone about the position. He asked me about my qualifications and why I wanted the position. He never indicated he was a candidate. I have an email that I sent thanking him for his phone call.

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Yes, a lie.

Submitted on Fri, 10/12/2012 - 12:30am by AIDS Help Volunteer

If you called Joe Pais you failed to follow the instructions clearly posted during the job search. Every ad and article stated clearly, "SUBMIT RESUME" with the qualifications and requirements. NOWHERE did it say to call anyone. If you called Joe Pais you did that on your own accord and CONTRARY to the very explicit instructions. Quit blaming your failure to follow directions on why you weren't hired!

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Can You Not Read?

Submitted on Sat, 10/13/2012 - 7:07am by NativeConch67

HE CALLED ME FIRST. Learn how to read.

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Mr. Pais had been the deputy

Submitted on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 11:49am by Just Curious

Mr. Pais had been the deputy director for 11 years. After he was promoted to executive director, Mr. Pais was responsible for hiring a deputy director to take the position he left vacant. Mr. Pais did post an ad for that opening and conducted short phone interviews with all candidates. You must have applied for the deputy director opening, not the executive director opening.