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MYCAP holds out hope for decision to eliminate $877K reimbursement
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership has again been stymied in its effort to have waived $877,547 in reimbursements demanded by the Ohio Department of Education.
And if it can’t get relief, the agency likely will close.
The 10th District Court of Appeals, located in Franklin County, affirmed Tuesday an earlier decision by the Franklin County Common Pleas Court that the matter was not within the court’s jurisdiction.
That ruling did leave MYCAP some hope.
That hope is of extreme importance to the organization, which faces extinction if it cannot resolve the claim by the state education board, said Jamael Tito Brown, chairman of the MYCAP board of directors.
The agency, which admin- isters 11 programs in Mahoning County to help poor and disadvantaged people, was cleared of wrongdoing by the Ohio Department of Development after a yearlong investigation.
The $877,547 refund request, part of the federal flow-through money that the Ohio Department of Education granted MYCAP’s Summer Feeding and Child and Child and Adult Feeding Programs over three years, was not the result of inappropriate spending.
Rather it was the result of insufficient record-keeping by previous MYCAP management. Those managers failed to file an amended budget in a timely manner, Brown said.
The major problem with reimbursing the money is that MYCAP has no ability to raise funds, and it cannot use grant money for that purpose, he said.
After learning of the appellate court ruling, MYCAP’s directors and officials met with the partnership’s attorney Friday via a conference call to discuss what steps it can take next to eliminate the reimbursement.
Appealing to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education is one option, Brown said. He would not speculate on others until hearing back from the legal counselor, which he hopes will be Monday.
In its ruling, the appellate court said federal regulations specify that ultimate authority over claims in these food programs rests with the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
“The secretary has the authority to determine the amount of, to settle, and to adjust any claim arising under the program, and to compromise or deny such claim or any part thereof,” according to the court ruling. “The secretary shall also have the authority to waive such claims if the secretary determines that to do so would serve the purposes of the program.SDRq