Western-Star.com

COLUMBUS — The Governor's Office on Faith-based and Community Initiatives approved $125,115 in invoices to a company called Cowles Consulting without any documentation showing what services were performed or what days Kelly Cowles worked, an audit released Wednesday said.

Cowles, a former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services employee, was a sub-contractor to We Care America, a nonprofit hired by the faith-based office.

The Cowles invoices are among $485,095 in questioned costs uncovered by auditors looking into the faith-based office. Auditors and Inspector General Tom Charles identified another $125,622 in money that could be recovered from We Care America.

It's questionable whether any money will be recovered since We Care America closed its Virginia and Columbus offices and then filed for bankruptcy in June.

The inspector general did not find fault with how We Care America won the 20-month, $2.1 million contract, but it said the faith-based office and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services failed to follow internal contract management policies.

The inspector general and audit found that We Care America:

• Paid $6,250 for a study passed off as an academic report but was more akin to an "infomercial" for We Care America and the faith-based office.

• Misspent $111,970 on a video conferencing system and remote training, and kept one of the two 50-inch TVs that came with the system.

• Double-billed the state for rent reimbursements for two months last year.

In addition, the audit found missing or inadequate documentation for $236,202 in payments to We Care America, and said the state contract was unclear about how much could be charged for overhead expenses, resulting in $123,478 in questioned costs.

"This is very unfortunate that this has happened," said state Rep. John White, R-Kettering, who was instrumental in establishing the faith-based iniatives office. "I'm hoping the office will continue because it has done some obvious good work."