Miami Herald - Sunday, August 1, 2004
Andrea Robinson, arobinson@herald.com

A county-ordered management oversight team is trying to overhaul the agency's operations so it can continue to provide housing, medical care, food, transportation and other services to some of the county's poorest people with AIDS.

Currently, MOVERS struggles to pay its expenses. It has racked up as much as $700,000 in unpaid bills for electricity, telephone, payroll taxes, lab expenses and other costs. The agency also owes another $1.3 million in loans and mortgages.

Audits by the state Department of Health in 2002 and Miami-Dade County this year indicate the debts are due partly to questionable spending by the former management team but mostly because program and operating expenses ballooned far faster than revenue.

The inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also begun examining agency records, and a report is expected to be released later this year.

"It's on life support. . . . We're trying to keep it in existence," said Bill Perry III, local businessman and chairman of the oversight team.

Over the last decade, MOVERS -- Minorities Overcoming the Virus through Education, Responsibility and Spirituality -- mushroomed from the basement of Mount Tabor Baptist Church in Liberty City into a full-service organization that has about 2,000 clients. The agency operates a medical clinic, three rental properties that house AIDS patients and administrative offices for their counseling and outreach programs.

ISSUES TO ADDRESS

Problems came to light this spring after County Manager George Burgess asked the county's Audit and Management Services Department to assess MOVERS' financial condition and to investigate the status of corrective actions recommended in the earlier state Health Department audit. The county review found "organizational, financial and mismanagement" issues.

In a May 25 memo to commissioners, Burgess wrote: "If it does not appear that the restructure will result in an organization that can be properly managed, we will work to relocate clients."

He added that it would be in the clients' best interest to stay with MOVERS because of the location of its offices and the trust that clients have developed in the employees.

The county review found:

MOVERS has "significant" financial hardship because program and operating expenses exceeded revenue in three of the last four years.

They have struggled to meet payroll and loan obligations and racked up $20,000 in bank overdrafts.

Loans from employees and the church were used to cover operating deficits and meet payroll. The loans totaled $1.5 million between 1999 and 2003.

The agency was run by both a chief executive officer and an executive director. County auditors questioned whether two positions were needed. CEO and founder the Rev. George McRae and executive director Patricia Kelly later resigned.

Nepotism was a concern: Two relatives of Kelly were employed at the agency. Both resigned their positions after the county's report.

Auditors reiterated concerns noted in the 2002 state audit about employee travel expense reimbursements, including personal and entertainment charges of about $2,300. The expenses, which were later disallowed, included dental fees, alcohol, swimsuits and souvenirs.

Neither Kelly nor McRae could be reached for comment.

Perry and others defend them, saying the two should be applauded for their efforts to bring attention to AIDS and HIV. MOVERS now has an interim executive director who reports to the oversight committee.

BRIDGING THE GAP

The oversight team, Perry said, would seek private donations to end the group's dependency on public funds, which generally are doled out by reimbursement.

To bridge the immediate financial gap, the agency has obtained a loan of $300,000 from the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, a public-private agency promoting economic development in blighted neighborhoods. Another $500,000 to $700,000 will be needed to put MOVERS on firm footing, according to Burgess in the May 25 County Commission memo.

For now, employees are being paid and the agency is working with vendors to pay its debts, Perry said. Five people in "nonessential positions" also were laid off.

All of the financial decisions of the oversight team must be approved by a three-person county financial panel.

The flow of money from the city of Miami hasn't dried up: On July 8, the city gave MOVERS $143,500 to house AIDS patients and another $100,000 for renovations.

MOVERS receives an average of $1.5 million per year in federal money passed through the county for the most destitute of AIDS patients.

Another approximately $1.5 million comes from other state and federal sources.

Tom Liberti, chief administrator for the state Health Department's Bureau of HIV/AIDS, said he was "relatively satisfied" with the restructuring. According to Perry, MOVERS is slated to receive $400,000 this year from the state.

Liberti said that funding will continue.

"We're fairly confident right now," he said. "Our goal is to work with agencies, make them successful -- not close their doors. If some have to close their doors, that's part of doing business. But that's not where we are at with MOVERS at this point."

Over the years, MOVERS staffers have walked the streets day and night, urging people in inner-city neighborhoods to get tested. Outreach teams also went into places many traditional AIDS agencies shunned, including crack dens and street corners.

Tyrone Washington, 46, of Miami credits MOVERS with saving his life.

He was first diagnosed in 1991 but refused help for 11 years, until he ran into a MOVERS worker who was also an old classmate.

"It took me getting sick several times to realize what I needed to do in order to live," Washington said. "I call MOVERS one of God's angels."

040801
MH040801

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .