Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - February 22, 2006
Erika Bolstad, ebolstad@MiamiHerald.com
The county's Human Services director recommended ending any payments to Community Healthcare CenterOne, which has been receiving federal money through the county since 1991. The agency has had questionable fiscal management during the past year as well as an upheaval in its board of directors, said Human Services Director Marlene Wilson.
"We're concerned that just from talking to the new interim director . . . that they still have some administrative problems," Wilson told county commissioners.
Before voting Tuesday, county commissioners sought and received assurance from Wilson that the estimated 1,700 clients served by CenterOne would have access to AIDS-related care and services through other agencies.
"I looked at your client list and people who are serviced by your agency, and the sad thing is, a lot of those people I know," said Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion. "I'm concerned what happens to the clients. I'd just like to know, if we shut this agency down, do you now have available, ready to go, a plan to take care of all these individuals that are there?"
No one from CenterOne spoke at the meeting, although the organization's interim director, Michael Mulheron, had signed up early in the day.
Patients and former employees with close ties to CenterOne said Tuesday they admired what the agency had done over the years but had concerns about its current management. CenterOne had no "annual budget, no strategic plan, no fundraising or development" plans, said Marcel Martin, who served briefly as the agency's interim director.
"I speak with a very heavy heart," Martin said. "I feel like everybody here did everything they possibly could. The continued lack of board structure has become detrimental to the continued survival of this agency."
The agency, which used to be known as AIDS Project Florida, began running into problems last year after allegations surfaced that a former chief financial officer stole $59,000.
Several board members also were connected last year to fraud allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC filed and eventually settled a civil suit against an insurance company with ties to people on the agency's board of directors.
The suit charged that the company was defrauding the holders of viatical insurance policies -- which allow people to purchase life insurance policies of the sick and elderly and then sell them to investors who collect the death benefits when the insured person dies.
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