County officials moved forward Tuesday with plans to create a county-operated Community Developmental Disability Organization ? or CDDO ? to replace Ark City-based Cowley County Developmental Services.
The county and CCDS have been working to reach an agreement that would let CCDS remain as funding gatekeeper for services provided to the developmentally disabled but talks have stalled. Both sides said the impasse mostly had to do with how much representation the county would have on CCDS’s board of directors.
Both county manager Leroy Alsup and CCDS interim director Penny Parker said lines of communication are open and that it remained possible CCDS could continue as CDDO if some changes were made.
"We’re hopeful," Alsup said.
But, he said, the county also must be prepared to go ahead if a final deal can’t be agreed upon. So county commissioners have approved creating a new county department to serve as CDDO. The new department would be overseen by an advisory board and would operate with earmarked funds kept separate from other county funds.
The county plans to advertise soon for an executive director for the department.
This move by the county is mostly about taking more control over how the CDDO operates. Currently the county mostly passes money on to CCDS, who in turn passes it on to the various care providers in Cowley County.
State law requires that each area of the state designate a CDDO to coordinate and disperse funds to providers of care for the developmentally disabled. CCDS has served that function in Cowley County for over 10 years.
But problems came to a head last year when the county expressed frustration with the lack of response it got when it asked for changes or improvements from CCDS. County officials also got complaints from some care providers about how the gatekeeper organization operated.
Alsup said county officials often felt like CCDS officials ignored, or took lightly, requests made by the commission. Late last year, the county renewed CCDS’s contract but have been looking at alternatives to retaining that organization long term.
Last month, the county checked with the state about whether the county could operate it’s own CDDO and received favorable replies, according to Alsup.
Parker said CCDS is saddened by the county’s decision to create a new CDDO but hopeful the two sides can come together to reach an agreement. CCDS has two full-time employees.
Two issues have led to the impasse, according to Parker: the county’s desire to have a controlling majority of representation on the CCDS board and the county’s desire to hold title to CCDS’s building just off N. Summit in Ark City.
"We’ve been in negotiations and hope those discussions can continue," Parker said. "We’ve been talking."
Parker dismissed the notion that CCDS ignored the county or performed its role as gatekeeper insufficiently.
"We’ve had a financial audit, there’s been a performance audit," she said. "There were not (improper) findings."
With or without its CDDO status, CCDS plans to continue operating and using the various funding mechanisms it has that are separate of the money passed to it by the county. CCDS might become a service provider or fill some other role, Parker said.
"We do have enough other options that we’re not just going to fold up," she said. "We’ll go on."
But where the organization sets up, might be a question if CCDS loses its CDDO status.
Alsup said the funds to build the office in Ark City were money meant to be spent by a CDDO and thus the county’s stance is the building should continue to house the CDDO, regardless of whether its CCDS.
Parker said she’s just hoping all the details can be worked out, so the hubbub can fade.
"There’s been some drama," she said.
