Friday, May 05, 2000
MRDD member could be ousted
By David Eck
Enquirer Contributor
LEBANON — After waiting weeks for the last member of the beleaguered Warren County Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) board to resign on her own, county commissioners are taking steps to force her out.
Commissioners on Thursday charged MRDD board member Kathy Morin with misconduct, malfeasance and neglect of duty.
The commissioners will hold a preremoval conference on May 11 to consider the charges.
Specifically, commissioners allege Mrs. Morin:
• Failed to properly monitor and review pay and benefits of former MRDD Superintendent Charlotte Marinacci.
• Failed to provide oversight and obey state law regarding the MRDD purchase of two single-family houses.
• Failed to properly oversee Mrs. Marinacci.
• Failed to monitor and maintain fiscal control of MRDD expenses.
• Failed to perform in a
proper manner as a board member.
• Failed to ensure MRDD received all available funding and reimbursement in 1999.
• Failed to ensure correct certification of staff.
• Failed to ensure that MRDD abided by appropriate regulations.
After the conference — which will be much like a hearing — commissioners will determine within five days if the charges are proved.
If they are, the commissioners will order Mrs. Morin be removed from the board.
Mrs. Morin could not be reached late Thursday.
“I think we did what we had to do,” said Commissioner Michael Kilburn.
In recent weeks the other six board members have quit. Mrs. Morin remains the lone holdout, despite commissioners' public call for her resignation.
The board has been under fire from commissioners and the public in recent months. Critics say it didn't adequately monitor Mrs. Marinacci, who bought the houses for the agency last year at tens of thousands of dollars over market value.
Commissioner Larry Crisenbery has said board members were perceived as part of the problem and he's against reappointing any of them. But Com missioner Pat South has said she would consider some reappointments, particularly those on the board only a short time.
Commissioners have said they hope to have a new board in place this month.
“You never like to get into this kind of thing,” Mr. Kilburn said. “Hopefully, this is the last chapter in an ugly book we have been reading.”
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