Nonprofit board questions travel costs by New North Citizens’ Council leaders
The interim board president of the New North Citizens' Council says she wants a forensic audit of the Springfield nonprofit's operations, after failing to get answers from its executive director.
Questions about the council's finances arise as the board continues an internal investigation into the circumstances of the firings of two employees in July – and as new information comes to light about travel expenses incurred by its two top executives.
"I am very concerned about the agency's travel. This is taxpayer money and it's meant to service the community of the North End," said Carmen Santana, treasurer of the board of directors.
This year, travel destinations have included Bogota, Colombia; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Delaware; New Jersey and a casino in Maine, bank records suggest. From January to August, a review of the agency's debit card reflects travel expenses totaling nearly $20,000 for airfare, Uber rides, rental cars, hotel stays and more.
In 2024, debit withdrawals show $26,709 in airfare, conference and membership fees, car rentals and lodging alone. There are additional charges for ground transport, parking fees and incidentals.
The travel expenses and other costs charged to the taxpayer-funded agency have prompted calls for a forensic audit by three board members. Board members concerned about how Executive Director Maria Ligus is handling travel expenses are limited by the absence of clear rules contained in her contract.
Maria Ligus, executive director of New North Citizens' Council, speaks at the press conference in 2023. (The Republican / file photo)Leon Nguyen
While Ligus' five-year contract allows for travel reimbursement, there are no clear parameters beyond that. Some travel is reasonable, the board's new president said many professionals engage in workplace training online.
"I participate in trainings and workshops frequently for my roles in city government. But with the advent of Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings I rarely have to leave my office," said interim board President Gladys Oyola.
The board plans an emergency meeting Tuesday. While it will take place in executive session, Oyola is expected to make a formal request to the board for an audit.
Ligus has been slow to turn over many records board members have asked for, multiple board members said. She did volunteer a copy of a memorandum of understanding authorizing former deputy director Haner Hernandez to tap a $42,570 annual travel budget, according to a document obtained by The Republican.
This was capped at 6.6% of the IDEA program's budget, which stands for Increasing Diversity and Equity in the Addiction Workforce. The memo also authorized Hernandez's use of a company debit card with a limit of $10,000 for administrative costs and program expenses.
Neither Ligus nor Hernandez responded to repeated email requests for comment for this story. The Republican provided Ligus with a summary of the travel described in this story and asked her to point to any inaccuracies. She did not reply.
In her September monthly report to staff, Ligus said that the nonprofit's deputy director, Hernandez, had resigned Sept. 26. It did not mention him by name.
In 2023, Haner Hernandez, the New North Citizens' Council deputy director, spoke at the kickoff of a program, Increasing Diversity and Equity in the Addiction Workforce (IDEA Workforce Initiative) funded by Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Bureau of Substance Addiction Services. (The Republican / file photo)Leon Nguyen
No explanation was provided for his resignation. Neither Ligus nor Hernandez responded to requests for comment this week about that development.
Agency's background
The nonprofit, located at 2455 Main St., was founded by a group of mothers, many of them heads of households, who aimed to help residents of one of the state's poorest neighborhoods. The council has grown from operating in a small mobile home on a dirt lot in the 1970s to an agency that employs over 130 and has a yearly budget of roughly $14 million.
Oyola said she has been frustrated by what she described as Ligus' refusal to turn over financial records to her and other members.
"A lot of it has been silence, which I consider a refusal," said Oyola, who serves as Springfield's Elections Commissioner and City Clerk. "Other board members have told me they have pushed Maria for financial records before, and she has either said 'No," or something like, 'You're on a need to know basis.'"
Gladys Oyola-LopezSebastian Restrepo
According to emails obtained by The Republican, another board member, Sheyla Acosta, on April 26 asked Chief Operating Officer Jose Claudio for a forensic audit of the agency's financial records and did not receive a response from Claudio or any other administrator.
After taking over as board president, Oyola said she hopes to pursue an audit with the help of an attorney. She said any executive director of a nonprofit should provide requested records to its board.
Oyola said her mother, Carmen Oyola, was among the agency's first caseworkers who worked alongside its founder, the late Barbara Rivera.
"I was about 10 when my mother started working there and was part of a group of 'New North' kids who grew up there," she said.
Ligus received an annual salary of $165,547, according to the nonprofit's 2023 tax filing with the IRS. It was the most recent tax filing available. Hernandez had been earning a $155,000 annual salary.
Agency's purpose
In the same filing, the council says its mission is "to provide advocacy, public and human services to Hampden County residents with an emphasis on multi-cultural community for the purpose of enhancing the preservation and support of the family resulting in the improvement of quality-of-life issues."
The building on the right is a New North Citizens' Council property on Main Street in the North End of Springfield. Oct. 15, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Hernandez, who flew to harm reduction and addiction conferences as a featured speaker, appears in many of the posts New North Citizens' Council employees feature on social media, reflecting their trips.
Between January and August of this year, debit withdrawals show $6,272 in airfare costs, $3,412 in hotel stays, $4,494 in conference and membership fees, $2,883 in car rental costs and additional costs for meals and Uber rides.
In August of 2025 alone, there were nearly $2,000 in debit withdrawals related to trips to New Mexico, Delaware and New Jersey. The debit card account with Westfield Bank is regularly replenished from the agency's operational bank account, according to officials with knowledge of the funding channels and a review by The Republican of bank statements.
In July, there were two charges at Cal's Wood Fired Bar and Grill in West Springfield totaling more than $1,000, records show. The same month, there were additional charges for airfare and hotel stays for nearly $900.
June statements show travel expenses for trips to Maine, Connecticut, and the Washington, D.C., area with a stay at a five-star hotel in Virginia. For that month, expenses totaled roughly $6,300.
In May, there was approximately $4,300 in expenses that appear to be connected to the Bogota trip, a trip to Denver, Colorado, and one in Eastern Massachusetts.
In April, there were more than $1,100 charges that appear on the debit statements related to the South American trip, according to the bank records, including rental car expenses.
The previous month, there were more than $4,500 charges related to air travel, transportation, lodging, plus a $400 charge to Don Rafa Car rental in Puerto Rico.
The board of the New North Citizens' Council is holding an emergency meeting Tuesday as it looks into the nonprofit's finances and leadership, including questions about travel expenses by two top employees. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
February's bank statement for the debit card account shows more than $3,700 in travel-related expenses. January showed a $10,000 deposit from the council's operational bank account and about $300 in travel expenses. There were three other instances in 2025 when $10,000 deposits were made to the debit account from the operational account.
For the year 2024, the debit card account reflects nearly $8,000 in airfare costs, $1,709 in Travelocity charges and more than $17,000 in payments for lodging. Based on a review of transactions last year by the newspaper, travel destinations included as Vegas, New Orleans, Denver, Maine, Florida, Puerto Rico and Portugal.
The decades-old nonprofit is funded almost exclusively with public dollars from state and federal sources, IRS records show. Some of that is funneled through the city. Primary funding sources are the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and state funding for housing and public health initiatives.
Turmoil in staff, board
The council has recently been mired in controversy after a high-profile firing of former housing director and Springfield City Councilor Maria Perez. The incident exposed a scheme by her political opponent, Joesiah Gonzalez, to smear her reputation. The revelation prompted a turnover in the board of directors' leadership, leaving Oyola at the helm.
Gonzalez also was a New North board member until stepping down after the firings of Perez and her onetime assistant Ivelisse Gonzalez, who was also ousted on July 21 for alleged use of company resources for political purposes.
Joesiah Gonzalez wrote an inflammatory press release days after Perez's firing, suggesting she had embezzled federal funds, but sent it from a fellow board member's computer and put Ligus' name to it.
Ligus later retracted that accusation in a "correction" press release, but Perez remains jobless and has filed a lawsuit.
Pending an internal investigation in the matter, the board's former president, Juana Girona, and clerk, Efrain "Jesse" Vazquez, were forced to step down from leadership roles.
"I see my role as interim president as righting the ship. New North has grown and I'm not sure the board has grown with it, through no fault of their own," Oyola said.
2024-2025 destinations
The following is a list of travel destinations involving leaders of the New North Citizens' Council, according to a review by The Republican of debit card records and social media posts.
The approximate dates of travel are based on expenses that can only be incurred by people in a particular location, such as food and parking payments.
It is unclear whether Hernandez collected fees for his speaking engagements. He did not respond to questions about the travel.
Atlanta,Jan. 10-14, 2024
Purpose: Unclear, based on the fact that the National Harm Reduction Conference was canceled that year, according to published reports.
Kansas City, Missouri,Jan. 17 to Jan. 21, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Rhode Island,March 23, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Las Vegas,March 23 to March 26, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
New Orleans,April 11 to April 14, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Chicago,May 8 to May 10, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Maine,May 15 to May 16, 2024
Purpose: Maine HOPE Conference
Denver,June 6 to June 10, 2024
Purpose: Recovery Leadership Summit where Hernandez was the keynote speaker. At that time, he held the role of chief of public health for New North Citizens' Council.
New Hampshire, June 18, 2024
Purpose: National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Offices summit.
Washington, D.C.,Aug. 4 to Aug. 7, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
San Antonio, Texas,Aug. 23 to unknown end date, 2024
Purpose: Social media posts show Hernandez was a featured speaker at the National Latino Behavioral Health Conference. Other photos featured Ligus and others but no debit card withdrawals were reflected in that time period.
Puerto Rico, Aug. 29 to Sept. 3
Purpose: Harm reduction conference
New Orleans,Sept. 13 to Sept. 18, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
New York,Sept. 21, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Florida,Sept. 27 to Sept. 30, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Portugal,Oct. 22 to Oct. 30, 2024
Purpose: Lisbon Addiction conference that took place Oct 24 to Oct. 25.
Chicago,Nov. 14 to Nov. 17, 2024
Purpose: Update in Addiction Medicine conference
Washington, D.C.,Dec. 12 to Dec. 13, 2024
Purpose: Unknown
Rockville, Maryland (Greater D.C. area),Jan. 16 to Jan. 21, 2025
Purpose: Unknown
Bogota, Colombia,April 26 to May 3, 2025
Purpose: Harm Reduction International Conference
Denver, Colorado,May 7 to May 15, 2025
Purpose: Unknown
Marlboro, Massachusetts,May 15 to May 16, 2025
Purpose: Public health conference
Arlington, Virginia, June 9 to June 13, 2025
Purpose: Unknown
Albuquerque, New Mexico,Aug. 4 to Aug. 14, 2025
Purpose: Behavioral Health Providers Association conference
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