A former executive director of a city agency that oversees spending for workforce development has filed suit, alleging she was fired for raising concerns about the organization's operations and the use of federal money to pay for a business trip taken by her supervisor.

Nancy Olipares' annual contract as executive director of the O'ahu Workforce Investment Board was not renewed in April 2003. The position paid about $60,000 a year, said her lawyer David Simons.

In her suit against the city and county of Honolulu, Olipares claims the city improperly interfered with the investment board's decisions and that it retaliated against her when she complained.

"We have not been served with the complaint and therefore cannot comment at this time," said city spokesman Bill Brennan.

The investment board is attached to the city's Department of Community Services.

The suit also claims that Olipares voiced concerns about the use of federal money for a trip taken by Mike Amii, director of the Department of Community Services. Amii and Councilman Gary Okino traveled to Washington, D.C., in 2002 for a legislative conference and a meeting of the National Association of Workforce Boards, a trip that constituted city business that should not have been paid for with federal money, the suit claims.

Several phone calls to Amii were not immediately returned yesterday. Okino declined to comment yesterday.

"The city government, and specifically Mike Amii, tried to take operational control of the O'ahu Workforce Investment Board even though the program was set up so that the board would have independence. In practice, that meant that instead of the city having to compete for education contracts, Mr. Amii tried to use his power within the city to make all of the board's educational programs be administered by the city," Simons said. "When Ms. Olipares continued to remind the board that it needed to be independent and went so far as to look into improper spending by Mr. Amii — one of his trips to Washington, D.C. — he fired her and installed a new executive director at much higher pay who would go along with him."

Christine McColgan replaced Olipares as executive director and was paid more than $80,000 a year before she was put on paid leave and then terminated after a police raid of the board's offices in December.

McColgan yesterday declined comment.

The O'ahu Workforce Investment Board, a city agency that contracts for job training and employment services using federal grant money, is the subject of an ongoing police investigation looking into overtime costs and the legitimacy of certain travel spending, police said. Police seized at least two computers and several boxes of files in a December 2004 raid of the board's office at 711 Kapi'olani Blvd.

The suit seeks an undisclosed amount of damages.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.