Lorain County Commissioners revoke $4.6 million in grants made by former board

ELYRIA — A split board of Lorain County commissioners on Wednesday revoked more than $4.6 million in grants made by the former board last year, saying former commissioners improperly spent money from the county's general fund on the projects. Members of the former board said that wasn't the case, accusing the two new Republican commissioners of victimizing Lorain County residents who, already dealing with a pandemic, are now at risk of homelessness, starvation and continuing to battle drug addiction without resources. There was disagreement between the parties Wednesday on whether the money was federal CARES Act funds dedicated to assist in pandemic relief or general fund money meant for other uses. The former commissioners contend it was CARES Act funds filtered through the general fund; the two new Republican commissioners contend that is not the case. Lorain County Auditor Craig Snodgrass referred questions on the matter to county budget director KC Saunders, who referred all questions about the matter to County Administrator Tom Williams. Snodgrass said the federal CARES Act funding had its own specialized account, which had slightly less than $400,000 left unspent in it as of Jan. 1, according to a financial document he provided at The Chronicle-Telegram's request. The grants in question were earmarked by the board made up of Democrats Matt Lundy, Lori Kokoski and Sharon Sweda, who had until Dec. 31 to spend the county's $16 million share of CARES Act funding. They made grants of between $2,000 and $500,000 to more than 20 agencies in Lorain County for the purpose of rent and utility assistance, food assistance, senior citizen meal programs, children's and senior programming and animal charities, among other uses. Commissioners David Moore and Michelle Hung voted Wednesday to rescind those grants made by their predecessors, overruling Lundy's lone "no" vote. Moore said it was "misinformation" that the money he and Hung voted to take back Wednesday was CARES Act dollars. He said it was money in the county's general fund that was slated for the operation of county services that his predecessors improperly spent on the grants. "The public and these agencies have been used as political pawns to embarrass this board," he said during Wednesday's meeting. Hung said it was her belief the CARES Act funds should have gone to local governments to help them weather the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission is the budgeting authority for the county, and "this general fund money is for the county to operate," Moore said. "We are not the Community Foundation of Lorain County." Lundy said significant research was done and other county and state officials consulted before he, Kokoski and Sweda acted last year. He said the board did its due diligence, spending CARES Act money on items normally purchased with general fund money and then using matching general fund dollars for the grants in some instances. Lundy and his former colleagues also said they had legal and outside advisers who told them their actions were proper, and also absolved those getting the grants from having to be audited or abide by certain CARES Act funding requirements. It was all above board, they said. Snodgrass also said he saw nothing inappropriate with how the money was disbursed. "People called me yesterday in tears. They are very upset," Lundy said, asking that if his colleagues had a difference of opinion with what the former board did, to take it out on him. "Don't punish these families, children, seniors, veterans," Lundy said. "Take it out on me. Don't harm these folks. Don't punish these folks. It's important that these dollars get to these organizations so we can get through this pandemic." Hung said the agencies on the list "are some absolutely wonderful charitable organizations that do wonderful work," but said it was not correct to portray the money as coming from CARES Act funds. Kokoski and Sweda "lacked a grasp on how CARES Act funding was permitted to be distributed," Hung said, and that she and Moore had spoken with the Prosecutor's Office and "would not be motioning to rescind (the grants) if we did not." Kokoski and Sweda "chose to hand out $4 million" and "writing checks they knew they would not be able to sign." "That's why this is a very, very sad day for all of us up here," Hung said. Lundy repeated his statement that he and his former colleagues did their due diligence before awarding the money. "I understand you want to bring about change and pave a new course and direction, but what's important is a commitment was made by this board and to honor that commitment, I think is the honorable thing to do," he told Moore and Hung. Moore said while the former board might have had a deadline of Dec. 31 to use the funds, he believes it was "inappropriate" to turn the county general fund into a foundation supporting nonprofits. He also criticized the former board's decision to repeal an unpopular sales tax in December, and denied that he ever promised to repeal it during his campaign for commissioner. Despite the county general fund having a more than $21 million carryover from 2020, "we're looking at cuts because of the hand that was dealt," Moore said. "This is after five days (with Moore and Hung in office). We have four more years here, I hope. I'm going to keep digging, working for the taxpayer." Hung agreed. "We cannot provide local agencies with $4 million out of the general fund while reducing budgets for county agencies that provide services," she said. Sweda and Kokoski "knew what they were doing when they chose to exercise their political power" over the funds and are now forcing their former colleagues "to have to find a way to cut their budgets," Hung said. "There is nobody up here who wants to cut their budgets. Nobody." "There's no need at this point for any kind of budget cuts," Lundy replied, saying he was confused by the two Republicans and their message "that the sales tax was going to be repealed by the incoming members, and now you're saying you don't want it to be repealed?" Moore replied that he never campaigned on repealing the sales tax. "My position was extremely clear" during his campaign, he said: "I said once we get in there we were going to look at the budget and see what we needed to do. In fact we could repeal another quarter percent based on what I'm seeing here. I never said 'Day one, we're going to repeal.' I said we're going to go in and find what's being wasted, at least that's what I was going for. I never said that. There's a lot of implications being said that's not true, but that's the art of the deal when you're running for public office." "We don't know how the economy is going to grow, what's going to happen after" Inauguration Day, Moore added. "We're going to have to manage the people's money with what's been dealt us." Williams said the former board spent about $6 million from the general fund on items the commissioners said were being paid out of CARES Act funds. He said approximately $2 million of that has already been allocated to its recipients, so the county can't get it back. "It would be difficult to get it back," Williams said. "We don't believe we'll be able to get it back." The other $4.6 million had yet to be disbursed so commissioners were able to act on it, he said. Sweda and Kokoski respond The current commissioners weren't the only ones blaming politics for Wednesday's vote. Former Commissioners Kokoski and Sweda said they were angry that Moore and Hung, who defeated them in the November election, seemed to be "sore winners" acting solely for political reasons. Moore and Hung are "hurting whole communities. They're taking food out of kids' mouths," Kokoski said Wednesday. Moore and Hung are "hurting the people. They need to do the right thing," she added. Kokoski said the money she, Lundy and Sweda approved in 2020 was spent "to help people who were struggling during a pandemic." She also expressed shock that the checks for the grants that were rescinded Wednesday had not been sent out by Dec. 31 and said she planned to find out why they were delayed. "Somebody dropped the ball," Kokoski said Wednesday. Sweda said she and her fellow commissioners handled the CARES Act money appropriately after seeking advice from Snodgrass, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio, the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and State Auditor Keith Faber's office. Sweda said she fears the reduction in funding may doom some of the organizations she voted to give grants to. "This is crossing a line of being vengeful and it's almost immoral," she said. "Who withholds relief from families struggling to keep food on the table? This is disturbing and unconscionable." "Combined with last week's disbanding of the Racial Equity Alliance," Wednesday's actions by Moore and Hung provide a glimpse into their "obsession for political revenge," Sweda said. "It's like (outgoing President Donald) Trump trying to tear down everything (former President Barack) Obama did, just because, to the detriment of our community," Kokoski said. "It's making me angry … they're tearing things down just to tear things down." Reaction from agencies Leaders of the affected agencies were shocked and in disbelief that two of the commissioners would vote to claw back the money promised them from CARES Act dollars. Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio lost $235,839 the Democratic commissioners promised in pandemic assistance at the end of last year, money that was to support food distribution to thousands of Lorain County residents. Julie Chase-Morefield, president and CEO of Second Harvest, said Wednesday the organization was "disappointed in the decision to rescind the grants." "Second Harvest and our network of 56 food pantries and 29 hot meal programs in the county have served 116,000 unduplicated people seeking emergency food assistance in Lorain County in 2020, nearly 38 percent of the entire population of the county. The need for food assistance will remain high throughout 2021 as families work to regain stability," she said. More than 40 percent of clients the food bank saw in 2020 had never reached out for food assistance before, and did so as a result of the pandemic, food bank and county officials said. Blessing House in Lorain lost $150,000 on Wednesday. "The funds rescinded today were not just for the nonprofits," Executive Director Sister Mary Berigan said Wednesday. "No one was padding their bank account or redecorating their offices. Those funds were intended to meet the needs of the people of Lorain County. Each of these nonprofits is a piece of the puzzle to serve local families." Berigan said the funds commissioners took back "are the means to provide food for families, to keep children and families from living in their car. It was meant to feed seniors and provide safety to victims of abuse. Our veterans will lack support." "Sometimes these agencies are the last piece of the puzzle to help move a family forward. When you remove the last piece of the puzzle, it can never be made whole. Families that are struggling are now losing the support they so desperately need. The people of the county lost out today," she said. Road to Hope House Executive Director Jeff Kamms, whose agency will lose $500,000 for recovery and housing services, said the news was "pretty sad." "I don't exactly understand the thought process" behind Wednesday's vote, he said. For the past 14 years, the organization has operated a drug- and alcohol-free residential facility to help people struggling with addiction. Prior to Wednesday, it had been slated to receive $500,000 in funds to support construction of a $1.8 million housing facility in Vermilion for women with addiction who also have children. Kamms said Road to Hope House signed contracts in the past two months to move ahead with the project, with the understanding the county's funding would materialize by Dec. 31. It never did. The commissioners' about-face will at best slow the housing project, and at worst could spell its demise, he said. "I know a lot of things are political, but to impact agencies that are serving our county and the community in the way they just impacted them is a little baffling," Kamms said. He said the decision had nothing to do with the merits of the project or the work Road to Hope has done in Lorain County. "This is a strictly political move," he said. "This is the world we're living in, where so many different things are happening that should not be happening over political agendas." Kamms said he plans to reach out to commissioners and make a plea to reverse the decision — again — but said he is afraid it will fall on deaf ears. El Centro in Lorain lost $500,000 it had been set to receive to help people across the county with rent, mortgage and utilities costs. Executive Director Victor Leandry said he felt sorry for the hundreds of people who have been calling and asking for help to stay in their homes as they struggle with the burdens of the pandemic. "When they heard about this money that the commissioners were going to allocate, there was some hope," he said. "People were calling asking for applications. … People were in line, waiting for the money to arrive." El Centro was not relying on the money to get by, but the Latino community was, he said. Many have been coping with layoffs or reduced income, and are on the verge of homelessness, he said. And Lorain County is in the midst of a homelessness crisis, said Neighborhood Alliance President and CEO Alicia Foss. Her agency, which had $250,000 revoked by the commissioners, runs a homeless shelter. Its normal capacity is 65 to 68 beds, but it can't be used because of the coronavirus — and for the same reason, churches that would normally run temporary warming shelters can't provide relief either. At the same time, more families have been displaced from homes, so this week Neighborhood Alliance is paying to place 82 people in hotel rooms. Foss said the county funding would have help defray those costs, and also pay for a spike in home-delivered meals for senior citizens. Neighborhood Alliance has more than doubled the number of meals it delivers during the pandemic. The money would have paid for 30,000 more, she said. "We've kind of taken it on faith that this money was coming, and that we'd be able to deliver those meals," she said. "Now that money isn't coming."Foss said the reversal by commissioners will plunge Lorain County families into deeper need, which means agencies are all going to see a spike in demand. "It's about more than what was promised to us. It's about the agencies who were promised money, and their services impact us," she said. Paul Baumgartner, executive director of the Lorain County Free Clinic, said in a statement Wednesday that his organization was "disappointed" in the decision made by commissioners. "In 2020, the Lorain County Free Clinic provided 4,480 patient medical encounters, all with the help of professional medical volunteer providers from four hospital systems," he said. "In 2020, the Free Clinic lost $65,000 in revenues, just from canceled fundraising opportunities. The Free Clinic provides quality, compassionate care from its exceptional medical team to many of the most vulnerable," including primary care, women's health, dermatology, pulmonology, orthopedics, immunizations, podiatry, vision care, nutrition, medication access and labs and imaging." "Providing access to medical care will remain steady, and a priority in 2021 as the uninsured/underserved work to maintain wellness, stability, and manage many conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma in such an extraordinary time," Baumgartner said. Virginia Beckman, executive director of Lorain County Safe Harbor/Genesis House, which provides services to victims of domestic violence, said the commissioners' decision to rescind the grants was "shocking and destructive" and that her agency was "devastated" by Wednesday's actions. Genesis House entered 2021 with the $150,000 awarded by commissioners in its budget, she said. "The commissioners in 2020 purposely and carefully awarded those grants to nonprofits who carry out essential services to our communities," she said. "They awarded the grants to ensure these important agencies remain operational during these particularly difficult times. "Everyone knows how financially difficult this year has been for everyone. Many businesses have closed forever, and as devastating as this has been, we cannot allow critical service entities to face the same fate," Beckman said. "Agencies like Genesis House provide services to people who have absolutely no other option for their survival. We literally provide life-saving services to the Lorain County community." "To take that money away at this time is damaging beyond repair," she said. "We at Genesis House have implored the county commissioners to do right by their community and honor the promises made to award those grants to Genesis House and the other nonprofits who need them most." The prior commissioners board also had earmarked $75,000 for Friendship APL in Elyria to assist with the needs of domestic animals. "It's certainly disappointing," to have the $75,000 in funding pulled back, Friendship APL Director Greg Willey said Wednesday. The money was not worked into the APL's 2021 operating budget, but had been tabbed for "new and exciting opportunities" such as making low-cost spaying and neutering available for pets, and increasing access to veterinarians and hiring more workers, he said. "When you look at such a substantial amount of money, it had presented us with the possibility of taking us in a new direction for services and resources," Willey said. "We were still in the dreaming phase. … This won't stop us, but it will slow us down." Jeff Baxter with Good Knights of Lorain County said he was thrilled to get a $30,000 grant, but when the check didn't come in the mail, he took a "wait-and-see" approach. The first priority is making sure what's done is best for Lorain County citizens, he said. "We've got to make sure that all the citizens are accounted for first," Baxter said. "We're fortunate. We continue to work for funding, for grants, for private donations. We're going to be fine." Baxter said he understood why Moore and Hung made their decision. Although Good Knights may not like it, Baxter said the agency will be OK without the extra funds. Fido's Companion Rescue Inc. CEO Michelle Reichlin said her heart bleeds for the other nonprofits on the list that lost funds Wednesday. As for her organization, which was set to receive $75,000 from the county, she said the loss will impact her nonprofit's roughly $400,000 annual budget. Relying solely on volunteers and donations, Fido's Companion Rescue saves dogs from euthanasia lists in Lorain, Cuyahoga, Huron, Wayne and Logan counties as well as providing spay/neuter services and support for pet owners in need. "The unfortunate thing is it's taking from the community that really does need it," she said. "And people really do love their pets and by us being able to work with them and help them it allows them to keep them — and that's a part of mental well-being, too. It's pretty devastating." Reichlin said her agency had yet to receive the funds from the county but did include them in its budget. She said she has been director since the inception and was recently diagnosed with cancer and was hoping the bolster of funds from the county would give the nonprofit a reprieve while she was going through treatments. LCADA CEO Dan Haight shared Reichlin's concern for the other nonprofits on the list. As one of the larger agencies, LCADA lost $200,000 in pandemic assistance that would have covered expanded services and outreach to rural areas and prevention classes in schools. "We're fortunate to get a little bit of CARES Act money from the state just to sustain our services during this time," he said. "But we're down 13 percent in revenue compared to last year.'' Lauren Ksiazek, executive director of The Lorain County Office on Aging, declined to comment Wednesday on the $75,000 her agency lost when commissioners voted to rescind the grants. In December, when her agency was awarded the grant, Ksiazek told commissioners the same number of food pantry and meal delivery clients were coming to the agency for food assistance in Sheffield and Sheffield Lake, but more frequently than they had before. At the time, she said some of the money was going to be used to replace a broken freezer for storing perishable food items. Lorain County Community College's Small Business Development Center lost $250,000, while an additional $125,000 destined for scholarships for nursing and EMT students also was rescinded by commissioners. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for college officials. Other agencies that lost out on promised funding include: Road to Hope Inc. of Lorain and Erie counties, Alpha House in Oberlin and Let's Get Real Inc. of Lorain. The addiction recovery and counseling services were stripped of a total of $800,000 in grants. Lorain County Health & Dentistry, which lost the $150,000 grant it had planned to use for community medical, dental, COVID-19 testing and other health care needs. Firelands Counseling and Recovery Services, which lost $100,000 promised by the county. Avon Lake Community Resource Services and North Ridgeville Community Care each lost $75,000 grants. The Elyria YWCA and Pathways Enrichment Center in Lorain, both of which lost $2,000 grants. Various veterans service organizations and posts, which saw a total of $125,000 in lost funding. Chronicle-Telegram reporters Carissa Woytach and Laina Yost contributed to this story. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.