Friday, January 08, 1999
County seeks way to recover money from PRO Seniors
BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A day after prosecutors concluded that PRO Seniors misspent public money, Hamilton County officials were trying to figure out how to get the money back.
County Administrator David Krings said he began work on the problem Thursday after receiving a letter about PRO Seniors from Prosecutor Joseph Deters.
In the letter, Mr. Deters said an 18-month grand jury investigation had determined that improper conduct by PRO Seniors officials did not rise to the level of criminal activity.
Although no charges will be filed, Mr. Deters offered to help Mr. Krings recover the more than $70,000 he thinks was misspent by the agency.
Mr. Krings said he hoped it would not be necessary to sue to recover the money.
“Before I start threatening lawsuits, I'd like to do things on a less contentious basis,” Mr. Krings said. “I anticipate we will be able to recover the funds.”
The grand jury investigation began in 1997 when Auditor Dusty Rhodes released an audit that was highly critical of PRO Seniors' spending practices.
The agency's director, Gregory French, resigned after the allegations surfaced in Mr. Rhodes' report.
The audit found that attorneys were billing for time spent researching so-called systemic issues, or problems the elderly run into time after time.
The report charged that such research — one lawyer billed 1.5 hours for watching a Phil Donahue show on managed health care — was outside PRO Seniors' scope. Its contract with the county is for direct legal assistance to residents 60 and over.
PRO Seniors estimated about 700 hours, or $70,512, was billed for systemic-issue work.
Mr. Krings said he would meet with other officials to discuss a plan to recover the funds.
He said the county would pursue the possibility of being repaid with interest.
“We'll have to see what a reasonable settlement would be for all concerned,” Mr. Krings said.
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