Feb 25, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

Gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large) said he is asking officials at the city’s HIV/AIDS Administration to explain why they arranged for the expenditure of more than $438,000 to produce a HAA-sponsored town hall meeting and reception on Dec. 1 to commemorate World AIDS Day.

Catania, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Health, said he and other members of the committee plan to question officials at HAA and the D.C. Department of Health about the World AIDS Day events at separate oversight hearings on March 3 and March 17. HAA is an arm of the DOH.

According to information that DOH has already turned over to the committee, the expenses included an $8,000 fee to Channel 7 anchorwoman Maureen Bunyan for her duties as host of the town hall meeting, which lasted three hours.

Other expenses included $17,300 in fees for use of the City Museum for the town hall event and $4,250 in fees for use of the National Museum for Women in the Arts for the reception.

“There is a process in place, and this committee will give them every opportunity to explain why they decided to spend that money,” Catania said. But he added, “This is clearly a mistake. And we’re going to put them on the record that this is not to be repeated.”

Leila Abrar, a spokesperson for the DOH, said she was making inquiries to obtain information about the World AIDS Day events and the department’s reasons for holding them but did not provide such information by press time.

Sharon Gang, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams’ deputy press secretary, said she, too, would attempt to obtain information about the events from the mayor’s office but did not provide the information by press time.

In an announcement seeking a vendor to produce the World AIDS Day events, HAA stated its intent was to use the events to “increase awareness of this global pandemic” through “a comprehensive marketing and awareness campaign.”

“HAA’s goals with this project include decreasing the rate of new HIV infections, promoting and expanding access to treatment for women, and engaging new and current stakeholders in a meaningful way to help fight the rise in infection rates among women and girls,” the announcement said.

Two sources familiar with HAA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the World AIDS Day events were the idea of Lydia Watts, a senior deputy director of the DOH who oversees HAA.

Watts, who started in her post at DOH last September, raised concerns among some HAA staffers, who considered the World AIDS Day events to be too expensive, the sources said.

Catania said he has yet to find out where DOH obtained the more than $400,000 in funds for the World AIDS Day events. He said he would insist upon a full disclosure of the origin of the funds at his upcoming hearings.

Catania noted that the decision by DOH and HAA to spend nearly a half million dollars on World AIDS Day events came shortly before HAA disclosed that it was reducing funds for two local AIDS prevention programs that target gay men. HAA informed the Whitman-Walker Clinic last month that it was cutting the budget for its “G-Net” HIV prevention program from $200,000 in 2004 to $75,000 in 2005.

HAA also informed the AIDS group Us Helping Us, which provides services to black gay men, that it was cutting its HIV prevention grant — from $200,000 last year to $75,000 in 2005.

Both Whitman-Walker and Us Helping Us said the cuts forced them to lay off employees who specialized in HIV prevention outreach work.

The World AIDS Day expenditures also came shortly before HAA eliminated a $100,000 grant that enabled Us Helping Us to provide AIDS prevention services to transgendered people.

A document posted on the Web site of the D.C. Office of Contracting & Procurement shows that DOH issued a $409,200 contract to SRB Productions, Inc., a local events and video production company to produce and promote the World AIDS Day events on behalf of the city. The contract accounts for most of the DOH funds used for the World AIDS Day events.

The costs associated with Bunyan’s fee for moderating the town hall meeting and the rental of space at the City Museum and the National Museum for Women in the Arts — which came to $29,550 — were in addition to the $409,200 contract with SRB Productions.

According to documents released by the contracting and procurement office, the SRB contract called for the firm to produce, videotape and photograph the town hall meeting and reception and to organize ...