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Bluegrass ADD Director Predicts Administrative Chaos As State Distances Itself

The Bluegrass Area Development District headquarters located off Alumni Drive in Lexington, KY.
Josh James
/
WUKY
The Bluegrass Area Development District headquarters located off Alumni Drive in Lexington, KY.

The head of the Bluegrass Area Development District says the agency has addressed every financial issue raised by state officials – and it’s personal and political agendas that are now driving the push to farm out its services to outside organizations.

The Bluegrass Area Development District headquarters located off Alumni Drive in Lexington, KY.
Credit Josh James / WUKY
/
WUKY
The Bluegrass Area Development District headquarters located off Alumni Drive in Lexington, KY.

Bluegrass executive director David Duttlinger told reporters Tuesday he’s out to correct the record and quash rumors that have dogged the agency in recent years. He said critics ignore the course correction that’s taken place since a troubling 2014 audit spotlighted controversial spending, mismanagement, and conflicts of interest.

"We've had clean audits. We've had great performance marks. We've had independent investigators that have come in. And there's been no evidence that there's been any wrongdoing or any mismanagement of programs, funds, or any of the operations that we're involved with," he told WUKY.

Citing lingering questions regarding the agency’s finances and records, state officials have signaled their intent to revoke the ADD’s designation as the aging services provider for a 17-county region and cut off a workforce contract. Monday, the United Way of the Bluegrass revealed that, starting this Friday, the state has asked them to serve as the official Aging and Disability Resource Center for the area. Yet it's  a designation the ADD maintains they still hold.

Furthermore, Duttlinger argued the state has violated the 1965 Older Americans Act, which he said mandates that the duties of the Aging and Disability Resource Center be performed by the area agency on aging. By handing the designation over to the United Way, he contends the state jumped the gun.

"The de-designation hasn't taken place. There's been no transfer. There's been no relinquish [sic] of responsibility, but yet they've gone out and named another organization to do it," Duttlinger said. "That sounds like duplication of services to me. And so hopefully we can resolve that in very short order so the state is not paying two places at one time to do the same thing."

Residents who rely on the agency, like Jerry Ulmer, worried aloud that the relocation of various services – possibly to for-profit entities – could spell havoc and create interruptions. Ulmer said his mother-in-law has been able to avoid living in a long-term care facility thanks to her ADD case worker. Without that help, he fears  she will "die a very lonely person in a nursing home as opposed to being able to stay home and die with dignity."

In sometimes emotional testimony several other ADD clients related their success stories, lamenting a lack of communication from state officials on the ultimate fate of programs.

Bluegrass says it’s keeping all its aging services workers on the payroll at least through July to smooth any transition that might take place.

Copyright 2016 WUKY

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now known as Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and Program Director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.