Robert Ficano is on a newspaper front page again, and not in a good way.The Detroit News' lead article Saturday reports on a $13-million deal the Wayne County executive arranged to keep 21 employees on the public payroll if state lawmakers remove mental health services from Ficano's control, a move that's pending. Joel Kurth, investigative team bureau chief, reports:
In a complex deal prompting outrage, 21 workers at the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency have a new boss: A nonprofit the county is paying to issue their paychecks. Critics say the $13-million deal provides job security to officials including Medical Director Michele Harris, who makes $214,000 a year atop an annual pension of $159,000.
Matrix Human Services will make $1 million in fees over five years in the deal state Rep. Phil Cavanagh called a shell game. "It's audacious," said Cavanagh, D-Redford Township, a former county commissioner pushing legislation to make the agency an authority.
In response, a Ficano spokeswoman told The News: "There is nothing illegal about this. This is a significant savings to taxpayers."
But a mental health agency board member doesn't see it that way. Mohamed Okdie tells Kurth the Matrix contract would let Ficano to keep some oversight if the state intervenes. The board approved the deal in late September when he and two other critics were absent.
"They're trying to figure out every way possible to control the agency after it becomes an authority," said Okdie, one of six board members appointed by the city of Detroit to the 12-member board. Ficano appoints the other six.
Federal investigators are looking into whether Ficano aides misspent Medicaid money for the mentally ill on salaries for his appointees, Kurth notes. FBI agents are asking questions about the Matrix deal, two sources with knowledge of the inquiries told the reporter.
