Miami Herald (MH) - FRI September 27, 1991
Anne Bartlett and Charles E. Hecker; Herald Staff Writers

The Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, which pays the center to provide services to AIDS patients, questions the whereabouts of roughly $146,000 that was supposed to pay for housing.

An HRS financial review could not determine where the money went. Dr. Van Stitt, HRS deputy district administrator for health in Broward, said Thursday he will give Center One time to gather its records and come up with an explanation.

"We're giving them the benefit of the doubt until Oct. 4," Stitt said. After that, Stitt said, he would take the results of the financial review to the Broward state attorney's office.

Stitt met with other HRS executives Thursday to plot strategy in the event Center One closes. He said he had heard the agency was contemplating closing and wanted to ensure that people infected with HIV would not suffer the consequences.

"We will accept the responsibility, if we can't find anyone else to do it," Stitt said. The services the county pays Center One to provide are still in place, he added.

Matthew Klir, a spokesman for the Center One board of directors, said the agency has no plans to close or disperse its services.

"Right now, programs and services are continuing to be delivered in a smooth and efficient manner," he said. "Outside of very general discussion of different scenarios, there's no plan for us to change our scope of operations."

Klir said progress was being made toward a resolution of the HRS review. "We are as anxious as they are to determine exactly what happened, and seek a resolution."

On Wednesday, Center One Executive Director Bill Gasparovic said the agency had hidden its financial problems from the Broward County Commission, which helps finance the agency, and said that if the HRS allegations proved true, the center should close.

The board suspended him Wednesday. Gasparovic said the suspension was for his candor about the center's problems. He stood by his allegations that the center hid financial problems from the County Commission.

"I think my management style might have been a little bit different. It's not casual, it's goal-oriented," he said. "And I do not tolerate repeated errors because we're dealing with people's lives."

Klir countered, saying Gasparovic was neglecting his responsibility and denied the center withheld information about its finances from the County Commission.

"In general, it was communicated to the County Commission that we were working to correct funding problems," he said.

The center board will meet today to discuss Gasparovic's claims.

"Mr. Gasparovic was suspended as a result of his management approach," Klir said. "It is no coincidence he was going to be up for a review on Friday. He knew that review was probably not going to be favorable."

He said Center One probably would appoint either an interim executive director or consultant to replace Gasparovic.

Cecil Beach, director of the county's public services department, which oversees the sources of some of Center One's funding, said he was unaware of the agency's financial problems.

"No, we didn't know anything about their problem with HRS," Beach said. "All that we discussed with them was the money that the social services division was channeling them."

This is not the first time Center One has been beset by management problems. Last year, executive director Juliette Love and several members of the center's board resigned in a shake-up.

The people who rely on Center One to help them cope with a deadly disease hope the turmoil at the center won't cut them off from support.

"The PWA (People With AIDS) coalition is disturbed that Center One is again having internal management problems," coalition president Richard Greenberg said. "We hope that these problems will not result in a disruption of services to the HIV-positive community."
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