It was a year ago, September of 2024, when the community first got wind that things may not be going great at the White County Senior Citizens Center. Vicki Harrelson, the center’s Executive Director made a plea on September 5th for donations. At that time, she blamed increased costs for food, gas and supplies along with an increase in minimum wage and decrease in donations for the appeal.
Read more at White County Senior Citizens Center Makes Plea for Community Assistance – WRUL-FM
Then in May of this year at a City Council meeting, Chula Fleming spoke out on behalf of the WCSC saying the center was struggling financially, nervous about DOGE adjustments and it came out that a potential lawsuit was pending.
That lawsuit is now a reality. Earlier this month, Lucinda (Cindy) Conley was served with a formal complaint which says for about two decades, she was in charge of finances and taxes for the center. The complaint alleges Conley failed to file payroll form 941 and the payroll taxes associated, to the IRS for both September 30, 2020 and also December 31, 2023. Because the lawsuit states Conley breached her duty of care, the Senior Center has been forced into a payment arrangement with the IRS to pay more than $62,000 over 3 ½ years equaling monthly payments of $1,500 for 43 months.
The lawsuit is asking for damages in the amount of $43,736.76 and additional interest, penalties, and costs including attorneys’ fees.
Conley was served on September 12th and has 30 days to respond.