Jill Replogle covers Orange County.
The wife of an OC supervisor’s aide was hired for a $275,000 contract. The work was never turned in, county says
Supervisor Do told the nonprofit to hire the woman, Josie Batres, to do the work, according to multiple people briefed on the contract. In a phone interview, Frank Kim, who was then the county's CEO and supervised the Health Care Agency director and other county executives, also said he did not remember the contract or any related directive from Do.He added that Do was closely involved in efforts to improve mental and behavioral health care and had frequent communication with county officials about the county’s programs.Jeff Nagel, the county's behavioral health chief, oversaw the contract for the county.
LAist made multiple requests for documentation of the hiring to the Health Care Agency and Mind OC but has yet to receive any.The $275,000 in taxpayer money was paid out to Mind OC over two years in six installments, according to county records. ran from Dec. 1, 2020, to Nov. 30, 2022. It called for organizing and facilitating 24 listening sessions to gather input from groups"reflecting the social, economic, demographic, and geographic diversity in Orange County."
He added later via text message that his primary concern at the time was responding to the COVID-19 pandemic."I had to rely on my department head to do their job on small contracts," he wrote. The full O.C. Board of Supervisors must now take a public vote before awarding district discretionary funds to a nonprofit or community group, and the details of the agreements must be posted online.
Reached by phone in April and this month, Batres declined to answer LAist’s questions about what the payments were for. VAS’ attorney, Mark Rosen, told LAist last week that he could not answer questions about them. The tax filings list the payments as being for “PUBLIC RELATION.” No further detail was provided.
Andrew Do Mind OC OC Orange County Supervisor Be Well Mental Health Contract Taxpayer Money
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