Health department, Genesis both reject mental health board funding

SANDUSKY — The Erie County Health Department and Genesis by the Lake Sober Living facility both rejected funding from the local mental health board.Both organizations claim the board isn't behaving like a good-faith partner in the addiction recovery movement. Pete Schade, Erie County's health commissioner, said the $34,000 the mental health board offered to pay for indigent local patients at the detox center is far less than the board previously promised, and said the board tried to make him sign a contract dozens of pages long. Schade said it was an "unfair contract" and an "exclusionary contract."Rob Quinn, president of the Genesis by the Lake Board, said the board previously paid $10,000 a month to help keep the facility's doors open but now only offered a per diem fee of $11 per person a day. "They are driven by a group of people who don't want to see us succeed," Quinn said. The dispute appears to be related to the board's ongoing shift to using per diem payments for providers, payments provided for every day a resident of Erie or Ottawa counties occupies a bed. It's a change the board's executive director, Brenda Cronin, said prevents the board from paying for empty beds or services that aren't being provided.When the board attempted to impose a new per diem contract on Light House Sober Living, a recovery home for men in Port Clinton, the home's director, Kenn Bower Jr., went before the board in June and said the new contract could put him out of business.Cronin had proposed about $16 a day for residents but wanted to cut off funding after 90 days. After hearing from Bower, the board agreed to end the 90-day limit and pay for funding for as long as residents stay at Light House.Schade said the proposed contract had language demanding that he follow state law, which of course he's required to follow, anyway, and gave the mental health board the right to review all of his grants and examine his budget."There's no one on their staff who's qualified to come in and nose through that kind of paperwork," said Schade, who contends that the board's finance committee promised $80,000 a year during a May 2017 meeting. Schade said he wound up asking for $100,000.Minutes for the meeting released by the board reflect that Schade and Trey Hardy, chief behavioral health officer, made a presentation asking for funding but don't mention a figure or any promises.Quinn said the $11 a day offered by the mental health board essentially punished Genesis for relying on volunteer administrators and not charging for administrative costs, as other treatment facilities do. The mental health board was demanding an audit that would cost up to $5,000 but only offered $2,000 to help pay for it, Quinn said."It's pretty clear to me they were just telling us to shove it," Quinn said.Susan Prentice, who found Genesis in partnership with Quinn, said Genesis has appreciated the mental health board's support in the past and knows the board has very good people.But Prentice said the board never asked Genesis for a budget so that Genesis could explain what it needed. It only asked about expenses. Expenses and a budget are two different things, Prentice said.Cronin said the board's previous practice of awarding money to service providers meant the board would pay whether two beds were filled or 10 were filled."There was no incentive to market the program, to make sure people were aware of the services," she said.The potential was that the board would pay for empty beds and underutilized services, Cronin said.Asked if Schade or Quinn could appeal to the mental health board as Bower did, Cronin said, "What I would suggest they do is start with me."Genesis by the Lake recently announced it was ending its contract with Primary Purpose to run Genesis, in Vermilion, and instead was bringing in A Way Out, an organization in Akron. The health department also plans to use A Way Out to run its new 48-bed recovery housing unit for women, expected to open in a few weeks.Genesis felt that Primary Purpose "was not doing a stellar job managing the intake process" and not responsive enough to people seeking help, Quinn said.A Way Out is run by Nick Bianco of Akron, who said he hopes to take Genesis to new heights by helping local women gain total independence."This has long been the missing link," Bianco said. "That uncertain period right after completing a residential treatment program can be deadly for some. A strong sober living environment provides a solution to that problem."The Erie County Health Department opened its detox center to patients at the beginning of 2018. Genesis by the Lake is a nonprofit created to ensure women in long-term recovery can maintain a healthy lifestyle in a safe environment.Erie County Health Department health commissioner Pete Schade kicks off the groundbreaking ceremony for the detox center in late 2017. Susan Prentice, whose son died from drug abuse in 2013, speaks on behalf of the late local philanthropist Ruth Frost Parker, pictured far right. Both supported creation of Genesis by the Lake.Brenda Cronin