Board to Evict Community Center Management : County supervisors: Area residents complained about services at the El Modena facility and demanded the ouster of the operators.

Bothered by reports of fiscal problems and mismanagement at a social service program for the poor, the Orange County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to evict the nonprofit group that runs the El Modena Community Center.

The move elated more than two dozen clients and neighbors of the facility, who jammed the board meeting room to demand the ouster of the management group charged with providing food, clothing and other services at the center.

“These people (running the center) are very ruthless,” area resident Lupe Huertado, 54, told the supervisors. “These people are thieves, ladrones . They are Robin Hoods that steal from the poor.”

County officials, now probing the management of the county-built center, say the operators have failed to account for thousands of dollars in funds, and have refused to allow auditors to inspect the books. Some clients say the center operators have also failed to provide services as promised.

James L. Markman, a Brea attorney representing the El Modena Service Committee Inc., acknowledged in an interview that the center’s budget is short $30,000. “But that is not to say anybody took money and put it in their pocket. They just overspent,” he added. “My understanding is the basic services are still being provided.”

Officials with the nonprofit group did not attend the meeting and declined comment afterward. In a letter dated Monday, their lawyers told county officials that while the group had some financial problems, the county should not rush to sever 15-year ties to the organization.

But after listening to five speakers lambaste the center’s operations, Supervisor Don R. Roth-who represents the El Modena area--quickly moved to end that relationship. He said the speakers’ appraisals were “very harsh, but I guess it’s true.”

The board then unanimously agreed to evict the service committee from the center within 60 days--unless a settlement is reached first--and to bring in county employees to run the facility until new management is found.

Since 1977, the service committee has contracted with the county to provide food, shelter, clothing, job counseling, English classes, aid to senior citizens and other services for the poor at three sites in the unincorporated part of Orange known as El Modena.

Most of the work is done at the El Modena Community Center at 18672 E. Center St., built by the county on land owned by the Diocese of Orange. Service committee officials say about half a dozen paid staff and volunteers have served about 300 clients a year at their facilities, using an annual operating budget of $62,500 in public and United Way funds.

“For years, they were quite successful,” said Rick Efker, manager of housing and community development for the county.

But in the past year, he said, “things have just deteriorated significantly.” Complaints began coming in from area residents, “and there’s obviously been an increasing degree of friction with groups in the community,” Efker said.

Efker said county officials are concerned that the center operators have been turning away young people at the door and have been failing to provide other promised services. He said that the operators have also been “stonewalling” the county by refusing to allow auditors to track down thousands of dollars in missing funds from their operating budget.

Efker said he is not aware of any criminal probe into the matter. He promised that his office would turn the matter over to authorities if it finds evidence of wrongdoing.

Tuesday’s order to evict the center operators in 60 days marks the final severance of the county’s relationship with the service committee, county officials said.

In August, the county ended its contract with the committee to provide senior assistance at one auxiliary site and housing for the homeless at another shelter named for Roth.

That followed a complaint from Brenda Molina, a mother of six who had been living at the Pearl Street shelter, who said center officials refused to return money she deposited in a center safekeeping fund. County officials now believe that center operators “commingled” up to $6,500 in clients’ money with center funds, spending some of it on operations.

The service committee later fired its executive director, John C. Braithwaite of La Habra, and several members of the board of directors resigned, officials said. Braithwaite could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Addressing the board Tuesday, Molina said officials at the temporary shelter served “rotten food,” gave her no clothing and offered little help in finding a job. “It was a letdown, very discouraging,” she said.

Other area residents said they considered the center a blight on the neighborhood and that it turned away people in need.

Resident John Delgado, 43, who gave supervisors a petition signed by 300 people opposed to the center’s operations, urged the board to evict the group “so that we can take our community back.”