Fresno County supervisors Tuesday rejected a contract proposal by Genesis Family Center and told the troubled social-service agency to clean up its act.
Supervisors voted 4-0 to reject the agency's $160,000 proposal to provide drug and alcohol treatment to Spanish-speaking people. County officials said they can switch the service to another contractor.
The decision had little to do with the merits of the Genesis proposal and reflected a growing frustration with the legal troubles of the agency's founders. Those troubles could prevent Genesis from receiving future contracts from the county.
The county's contracts with Genesis came under scrutiny following the probation violation of Elaine Bernard, the former chief executive of Genesis.
Bernard was convicted last year of embezzlement along with her sister, Carol Dela Torre, another executive at the agency. Bernard was sentenced to probation, but she violated the terms of probation by attending social events and was later sentenced to at least three months in jail.
Board Chairwoman Susan Anderson abstained from the vote Tuesday. She said the decision was premature because the county needs to review all of its contracts with Genesis and decide whether to continue contracting with the agency.
Supervisors decided against forming a review committee. Instead, some supervisors made it clear that the burden was on the agency to prove that it has changed since Bernard and Dela Torre embezzled funds.
"That reflects on the whole organization because it didn't ferret out or correct the problem," Supervisor Judy Case said.
Anna Maria Remedios, chairwoman of the Genesis board, said the nonprofit agency has adopted internal controls to prevent theft by its employees.
Bernard recently resigned as chief executive of the agency, and the board has begun a national search for a replacement, Remedios said.
Supervisor Phil Larson wasn't satisfied. He said Dela Torre also needs to leave the agency, and so do board members.
"We need a complete revision of Genesis," Larson said.
Since Bernard and Dela Torre were indicted in July 2005, the county has awarded more than $19 million in contracts to Genesis to provide mental-health counseling, drug and alcohol treatment and other services.
Some of the contracts are multiyear agreements, and county officials say they haven't found violations that would allow the county to end them.
With 98% of Genesis funding coming from government sources, agency leaders will have to convince elected officials they've improved their oversight.
Supervisor Debbie Poochigian said she wants greater assurance that Genesis will guard against fraud.
"These are tax dollars," she said. "We need to make sure they're not wasted."
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