Consultant for Lumbee Tribe was paid $30K for handbook

Friday, May 13, 2011  

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina paid a consultant more than $30,000 to write a Boys and Girls Club handbook that's riddled with grammatical errors, typos and omitted words, The Fayetteville Observer reports.

The tribe used a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to pay Rose Marie Lowry-Townsend to write the 10-page booklet. She billed more than 275 hours, at a rate of $110 per hour.

"I've never heard of anyone paying $30,000 for a handbook," Steve Morris, the regional service director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, told the paper.

HUD said the rate Lowry-Townsend was paid exceeded government limits. The tribe has been ordered to repay $115,000 to the government.

Get the Story:
Lumbee handbook contract raises questions in HUD review (The Fayetteville Observer 5/13)

Related Stories:
Lumbee Tribe ordered to pay $115K for misusing HUD funds (5/10)
Chairman of Lumbee Tribe wants HUD to audit housing funds (3/29)
Council at Lumbee Tribe fires administrator hired by chairman (3/25)
Lumbee Tribe moving toward shutdown in dispute with chairman (3/10)