A regional agency that handles federal funding for aging and independent living services is appealing the state’s recent decision to not renew its contract.
In a hand-delivered letter to officials at Bluegrass Area Development District, the state pulled the agency’s designation as the overseer of $6.4 million in federal funding for aging services, effective July 1, in Fayette and 16 other counties in the area.
Bluegrass ADD is appealing the decision to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Department of Aging and Independent Services. An administrative law judge and federal agencies may also hear appeals, according to Bluegrass ADD Executive Director David Duttlinger.
“It’s time for due process to be followed,” he said.
For the past three years, Bluegrass ADD has undergone intensive state scrutiny, including an examination by the State Auditor’s office, which found numerous examples of mismanagement and questionable spending practices. In May, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin sent Duttlinger a letter saying the agency would no longer handle federal workforce development funding after June 30. That action is also being appealed by Bluegrass ADD.
During a recent news conference, Duttlinger released a three-page statement that criticized “people with political agendas” and said his agency’s troubles were due to “personal agendas that have nothing to do with serving the people of the Bluegrass Region.”
“Today’s new BGADD is now in its third year and should not be punished for mistakes of past leadership or days gone by,” Duttlinger’s statement says. “Today’s new BGADD does not have a financial problem or a management problem or a performance problem.”
In an interview, Duttlinger elaborated about his views.
“The Educational Workforce Cabinet on its own accord said in January that we were done with their 91-point action plan,” said Duttlinger. “Two different agencies that monitor us said we have had clean audits for the past three years. The FBI has come in and spoken to members of the board and walked away saying there is nothing [wrong] there.”
Bluegrass ADD officials believe the state acted abruptly in removing it as the area agency for aging services. Deborah Anderson is commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Aging and Independent Living (DAIL), which oversees administration of statewide programs and services for Kentucky’s elderly and individuals with disabilities. In a letter to the editor designed to answer critics, Anderson wrote that her department’s “plan is so strong, not a single client has lost aging or disability services in the 17-county Bluegrass Region during the transition.”
Anderson accused Bluegrass ADD of “poor management” and said it “self-destructed.” The state seeks partnerships “to promote transparency, accountability and the efficient delivery of service,” Anderson wrote. “This simply was not possible under the previous arrangement.”
Anderson said her state agency already is making better use of the federal funds than Bluegrass ADD did.
“The change has drastically reduced overhead costs,” she wrote.
Anderson claimed that 42 cents of every dollar Bluegrass ADD received from the federal government was used for operating expenses.
“Those funds can now be spent on direct services to our clients,” she said.
The state also accused Bluegrass ADD’s leaders of questionable behavior since the state pulled its designation, including “messaging and scare tactics … which are really unfortunate,” said Doug Hogan, spokesman for the Public Protection Cabinet. “We’re dealing with vulnerable citizens who need those services, and they don’t need that extra stress and hassle.”
Hogan said the “transition is to assure that accountability and integrity are back in the system.”
Hogan added that Bluegrass ADD is merely a “pass through” agency, meaning it only manages the federal funding that is used to hire professional agencies to distribute the necessary services. Hogan said of Bluegrass ADD: “All they are trying to do is keep their cash fl ow alive and are trying to do it on the backs of vulnerable citizens.”
Meanwhile, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray has resigned from the executive committee of Bluegrass ADD where he often found himself casting the lone dissenting votes on issues. The committee is made up of local mayors, county judge-executives and other officials from the 17-county Bluegrass Region. Gray, who also is the Democratic nominee seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in November, did not explain why he resigned. Gray’s mayoral spokeswoman, Susan Straub, shed some light.
“Mayor Gray voted to keep conflict of interest, poor financial management, inappropriate spending and substandard purchasing practices out of Bluegrass ADD,” said Straub. “Two governors — one Democrat, one Republican — the federal government and three state agencies share his concerns about the agency. It’s time to move on and to focus on helping people find jobs and on caring for the elderly.”