Glass City Jungle

So, the media started focusing on the Connecting Point, as those of you who watched Fox Toledo yesterday saw covered just prior to my first Rant & Rave and as you’ll notice if you read today’s Blade. I’d laugh if it were not such a sad situation and if there was not so much misinformation out there as well as no investigation, journalistic or otherwise taking place with the exception of here. When I read, Attack on closed agency is ‘personal,’ Konop says, ALL three of the Commissioners are missing the point.

Clients are not being transitioned, anyone who asks simple basic questions like “how many case files were actually transferred to other agencies?” would see that the Mental Health Recovery Services Board did a horrible job in overseeing the transition process. The continued pretense by some of the board members, including Diana Chatman, president of the board of Connecting Point, borders on the ridiculous:

“When we identified areas of concern we made the appropriate cuts,” said Ms. Chatman, who became a board member in 2004 and became president in 2007. She said Mr. Konop left the board in 2008, as did Anita Lopez, the Lucas County auditor.

No…they didn’t…Not only did they not do anything for quite some time when it was clear there were financial concerns, but when they finally did? They didn’t do it fast enough or in a manner that transitioned the clients or employees in an organized manner. It was well known in what documentation I have so far, that problems with the Connecting Point were known for over two years. It can’t even be honestly said the financial issues stemmed from billing issues, a good portion of the problems with Connecting Point stemmed from them receiving grants for a program that ended up not being done and then having to re-pay the grant monies that they used that they were not supposed to for other things. One example would be the $120,000 Connecting Point had to pay back to the Stranahan Foundation…

In addition to annual reports, the Mental Health Recovery Services Board was supposed to receive monthly reports from Connecting Point, it’s impossible for Jackie Martin or anyone there to say with a straight face that they had no responsibility in this or did not know this was coming. They were the primary funding source, they got the same copy of the Financial Statement done by Gilmore, Jaison & Mahler, which from what I understand the Blade has as well, let me quote just one paragraph from that lengthy and thorough report that covers 2008 and re-addresses what Gilmore, Jaison & Mahler pointed out in 2007:

A significant portion of support is provided by federal, state and local funds passed through the Mental Health and Recovery Service Board of Lucas County (the Board). The amount receivable from the Board was 84% and 85% of total public support and progress service fee receivable as of June 30, 2008 and 2007 respectively. Approximately 81% and 75% of total public support and program services fees was from the Board for the year ending June 30, 2008 and 2007, respectively. Future funding for revenue received under contracts with governmental agencies is dependent upon the federal, state or local funder obtaining the funds to pass through the Organization.

The report also stated as of June of 2008 it was known Connecting Point’s liabilities exceeded it’s assets by $636,353. It describes a contingency plan that would include closing the Assistance Center, moving the Substance Abuse/Chemical Dependency Residential treatment program to the former location of the Assistance Center and to consolidate/eliminate several staff positions. It was predicted that if this was done Connecting Point could finish the fiscal year ending June 30,2009 with a positive net asset balance of $25,000.

There needs to be a full investigation, not a game of political finger pointing into how the Mental Health Recovery Services Board could ignore the financial issues related to Connecting Point, how much responsibility the Connecting Point Board and administration of Connecting Point share in this, as well as a full audit into where did some of the funding for Connecting Point actually go before monies paid to Connecting Point are shifted to other organizations. What was not done to create the outcome where it was predicted Connecting Point could survive. There are also other concerns that need to be addressed, you can’t refer clients to programs that don’t offer hours convenient to a teenage population. That’s part of the bottleneck of services, for the number that are trying to receive assistance, which was mismanaged given the huge amount of warning others had in this community that they ignored.

Jackie Martin and others should face questions, hard questions…but it shouldn’t be based on the never ending drama between Gerken and Konop, it should be based on a real concern for our community, the clients and the former employees, who as an aside, did not get their vacation pay and it appears there are other financial responsibilities that Connecting Point was required to do that lapsed. If Connecting Point needed to close, given the huge warning signs that where there, there is no excuse for the way this transition process was handled for both the clients and the employees. If this process is not looked at immediately, tax payers of Lucas County should have no faith in how their money is being used by the Mental Health Recovery Services Board, with the lack of oversight, procedures and the ability to take action, another Connecting Point scenario is just as possible and predictable.

If our community continues to bury it’s head in the sand on this issue? It will happen, the only question is when.