By Samuel Mattison
Alabama Political Reporter
Governor Kay Ivey signed an Executive Order that would replace the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service on Thursday.
Ivey’s new Executive Order establishes the Office of Volunteer Services within the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. The new office will replace the Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service. This former office was also known as Serve Alabama.
Serve Alabama was notably run by Jon Mason whose wife, Rebekah, was accused of being former Governor Robert Bentley’s mistress. Ivey asked for Mason’s resignation on her first full day in office in April.
Ivey said the decision is to improve the image of Alabama and “ending unnecessary duplication of services within State agencies.”
“I know that the Governor’s Office of Volunteer Services will work well in its new home at ADECA,” Ivey said. “I appreciate Coordinator Castaldo and all of the staff for the incredible work they are doing and look forward to them being just as successful in the future.”
In a statement on Thursday, Ivey announced she would put Lisa Cataldo as the coordinator of the new office. Cataldo served as the deputy director to the Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service since 2014.
The new Executive Order transfers all the resources and powers from the former office to the new one created by Ivey’s Executive Order.
The order changed the structure of the organization. Before this order, the director of the Office would report to the Governor directly. The new order would require Cataldo, the coordinator, to report to the Director of The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Kenneth Boswell.
