The Southern Tier Independence Center in Binghamton New York is in line to get the contract for the Neurobehavioral Project for the state’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver. If history has it’s way, they will give the work to Timothy J. Feeney and his staff. That would be a terrible mistake.

However, it is important that fairness is given to STIC and, by all accounts, its remarkable leader, Maria Dibble. One cannot assume (remember the Odd Couple joke) that Ms. Dibble and STIC have been made fully aware of all the untenable realities linked to Feeney.

But now STIC knows. This writer and others have provided Ms. Dibble and STIC with a plethora of documentation that reveals, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Mr. Feeney’s claims to have a PhD and a Masters degree are bogus. Both degrees, as the several thousand readers of this blog already know, were issued by Greenwich University, a now defunct diploma mill off the coast of Australia. In fact, one of the bogus degrees issued Mr. Feeney by Greenwich was issued before the diploma  mill before it moved from the American west coast to Norfolk Island off of Australia.

Now, STIC is aware.

STIC has also been made aware that Mr. Feeney has contracted with at least one public school district, the Fort Ann School District in Washington County, and is again presenting himself as Dr. Feeney or Timothy Feeney PhD. STIC has also been made aware that Feeney’s company’s voicemail already says they (not STIC) are under contract with the DOH as the Neurobehavioral Project when two things are true, the contract is not signed and were it signed, it would be with STIC, not Feeney’s company.

There’s more, and there’s more because all I hear of Maria Dibble and STIC is positive and she and they deserve all the facts. Some have already reached out to STIC about their concerns and STIC has been informed that some providers of services under the waiver will drop out if Feeney and his company are in any way involved.

For STIC, or anyone for that matter, to give the work to Feeney and his people now would be to somehow approve of the fact he misrepresents his credentials to families, consumers, providers and, in the case of the schools he is involved with, children. There have been complaints filed against him as a result of his actions at Fort Ann already.

Now STIC and Maria Dibble are aware of the facts, and they are honorable folks and I would like to think will do the honorable thing.

To give the work to Feeney, who is already misrepresenting himself even more on his new resume where claims, for example, that he is a “Registered psychologist (temporary)” in Victoria, Australia, resulted in this response from Linda Jen, the Senior Registration Officer for the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria:  “Our records indicate that Timothy Feeney is not registered with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria. However, I am unsure what you mean by “temporary” registration?”

So again, it is another misrepresentation by Feeney. Now STIC and Maria Dibble do know the facts.  For them to work with Feeney now would mean that in some way STIC and Maria Dibble are comfortable working with someone who continues to misrepresent himself to consumers, children, professionals, and, perhaps in this case, the very agency that was going to give him work.

Were Feeney and his company given the work, then it would certainly appear to be a tail wagging the dog scenario, meaning Feeney, not STIC and Ms. Dibble, is calling the shots.

_____________________________