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| Oriana House Nabs $4.5 Million Deal |
| By Akron Beacon Journal |
| Published: 03/04/2003 |
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The Summit County Council on Monday awarded another unbid contract worth millions of dollars to a private, nonprofit provider of alternative jail services. The $4.5 million award to Oriana House comes on the heels of $60 million in other unbid contracts over the last decade and growing questions about the provider. The new award will fund Oriana House programs in alcohol and drug abuse treatment, anger management, house arrest and more for local prisoners in the alternative to jail or state prison. County Executive James McCarthy said the county had no choice other than to award another unbid contract. He said the county solicited bids for the services in the 1980s but hasn't in recent years because no other providers offer the complex web of services that Oriana House does. He said a draft report of a $151,000 study by Huskey and Associates indicates that the county is paying reasonable prices for Oriana House's services. McCarthy said the complete report would be publicized in 30 to 45 days. Still, he said county officials asked Huskey to develop documents that would let the county bid for nine Oriana House services in the future. McCarthy said his office would be the one to decide if bids are let. He wasn't optimistic that much would come of it. ``It's an exercise in futility,'' McCarthy said. ``No one's been clamoring at my door (to bid on these services). It's an attempt to put to rest the criticism that we spend more than we should.'' At the same time, Oriana House founder and Executive Director James Lawrence is under criticism for playing a role in a series of judicial-campaign smear ads this fall. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said last week that county elections chief and prominent Democrat Wayne Jones and Lawrence arranged funding for a negative political ad campaign aimed at Republican Probate Judge Bill Spicer. Jones has admitted donating $5,409 for the ad. Lawrence contributed $9,000 and the Democratic Party chipped in $7,000. Despite the exaggerated and sometimes false claims in the ads, Spicer defeated Common Pleas Judge Jane Bond, a Democrat, in the election. Lawrence and county Republicans have been locked in a yearlong dispute over his community-based corrections operations and claims from the GOP that Oriana House has collected millions in unbid contracts over the years with little oversight. Meanwhile, another award for Oriana House is pending before the County Council -- a $2.5 million award to operate the Community Based Correctional Facility in Akron. The state, not the county, pays the tab for the CBCF, one of 19 such facilities statewide. Recently, Summit County judges who oversee the local CBCF asked the state auditor's office to examine that program. |
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