Board Votes to Let Firm Run Mental Health Unit

Los Angeles County supervisors voted for the first time Tuesday to turn over the operation of a county-run mental health clinic to a private firm, but not before weathering some controversy over the contract award.

Employees and union representatives at the La Puente Community Mental Health Center challenged the $2.1-million agreement after complaining that the pact would cost the county money and disrupt care for mental health patients in the San Gabriel Valley.

The critics also contended that a former high-level official with the county Department of Mental Health, who left his job in June and joined the winning firm shortly afterward, had helped engineer the selection and has violated the county’s conflict-of-interest law.

Charges Denied

But the board voted 3 to 1 to go ahead with the contract after the head of the mental health department and the president of the company--ENKI Health & Research Systems Inc.--vehemently denied the accusations.

“To my knowledge there was no bending of the rules in this selection,” said Roberto Quiroz, the county’s mental health director, who added that the contract would give the county “the best bang for the buck.”

Quiroz also disputed a claim that Allan Rawland, a former assistant director for the mental health department, had influenced the awarding of the contract while with the county.

Rawland, who could not be reached for comment, joined ENKI as a private consultant June 1 after leaving the department. Under county law, any contract submitted by persons who were employed by the county must be rejected if the individual had left the county work force less than 12 months earlier and if the contract involved areas in which that person had “substantial responsibility” or if he had participated in developing the contract.

But after county lawyers had assured the supervisors that there was no evidence of a conflict of interest, the board waived the provision, concluding that special circumstances warranted the approval of the contract.

Unionist’s Fears

Protesting the move was Abby Haight, a research associate for Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, who argued that the decision would open the board “to accusations of conflict of interest, insider information and favoritism.” A representative of the county’s association of psychiatric social workers also objected.

However, Albert K. Urmer, president of the nonprofit corporation, insisted that ENKI had already won the mental health contract last January, months before Rawland joined the firm.

“The whole thing got blown out of proportion,” said Urmer, who added that Rawland had been hired to work with the community during the transition period.

Some community groups had opposed the contracting out of the La Puente services to a private firm, warning that it could lead to lessened services and that the county could end up paying more. And several clinic workers warned that patients could be affected by the change.

“I already see a deterioration of my patients because of the upheaval,” said Rosalinda Del Castillo, a social worker and psychotherapist at the clinic, who along with most of the 25 county workers will not join the new firm.

In approving the contract, the board concluded that the services at La Puente can be more economically performed by a private firm.