MAHONING COUNTY Board for the mentally retarded will get $667,000 in settlement

Mahoning County MRDD is still owed about $1 million.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities is in line to receive $667,000 over the next few months.
The money is the county MRDD's portion of the partial settlement of a class action lawsuit against the Ohio Department of MRDD.
Larry Duck, county MRDD superintendent, reported to the board that the agency would receive the money for 1997 and 1999, when Ohio MRDD failed to fully reimburse county MRDDs for Medicaid-funded programs.
Duck said 84 of Ohio's 88 counties were parties to the lawsuit. He said that the board signed off only on the two years addressed and that the suit remains in effect for other years in contention, back to 1990. The superintendent estimated that the Mahoning County MRDD is still owed about $1 million.
Duck said the $667,000 would not be used for employee salaries and benefits but would go for long-term improvements and equipment.
Annual plan
The board approved a 2003-2004 annual plan, the top three goals of which are accreditation; labor negotiations, which get under way in May; and renovation of a building at 153 Javit Court, which will house programs for older and medically fragile mentally retarded clients, Duck said.
At its reorganization meeting before the regular meeting, the board elected Carole Weimer as president. Other officers are Sandee Timmerman, vice president, and Joseph Ignazio, recording secretary. The board set its meeting for the second Monday of each month at 6 p.m.
alcorn@vindy.com