While the King Center feverishly prepares for this month’s 50th anniversary observance of the March on Washington, a Nevada-based consulting firm has given officials there something else to deal with.
In a complaint filed this week in federal court, Strategic Decisions LLC is suing the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change for as much as $216,000. That amount is to cover services that, the suit asserts, the King Center never paid for.
In 2010, Strategic Decisions signed a consulting agreement with the King Center for $15,000 a month, plus $3,000 in expenses. The agreement was to run from Dec. 6, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2011.
“Strategic Decisions provided services to The Center that exceeded the scope of the agreement,” the lawsuit states. “The Center has not made a single payment.”
Martin Luther King III, who was president of the organization at the time the contract was signed, said last week that, although he has heard rumblings about a conflict surrounding the deal, he is not privy to the current status of it.
King III was replaced as the organization’s president in January, 2012, by his sister, Bernice King.
“I was very pleased with the work they did for us,” said King III, who remains on the board. “I think it is safe to say that this would not have happened had I still been in place (as president).”
According to the lawsuit, in the fall of 2010, shortly after King III was named president and CEO of the King Center, he approached Strategic Decisions for help in saving the operation.
He had inherited an organization that was $2 million in debt, with an annual cash flow deficit of between $500,000 and $600,000 over the previous two years, a low credit rating and crumbling infrastructure.
“King III was set about solving the problems facing The Center and intended to launch a plan that would preserve the legacy of The Center for years to come,” reads the complaint. “King aimed to restructure corporate governance, improve fiscal management, resolve outstanding debts, secure new funding to maintain on-going operations, rebuild relationships with strategic allies and repair the physical structure of The Center.”
Representatives from the King Center would not comment Friday.
The center is playing a major role in the upcoming March on Washington anniversary, hosting events both in Atlanta and in Washington.
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