Thursday, February 24, 2000
MRDD asked to justify prices
Two homes were bought for clients
BY CINDI ANDREWS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Members of a county agency accused of overpaying for two houses will be on the hot seat today at a meeting with the Warren County Commissioners.
Commissioners want answers from the Mental Retar dation and Developmental Disabilities board, and so do the residents who have been bending the commissioners' ears for the past week.
“I'm getting a variety of phone calls,” said Commission President Pat South — including complaints of other problems with MRDD.
The purchases greatly trouble real estate agent Florence Ridinger of Waynesville, a former MRDD board member.
“It's just not right,” said Mrs. Ridinger, who said she quit the board last year because she had concerns about spending that were not being addressed.
MRDD bought two houses in 1999 for use by clients who can live with limited supervision and whose families can no longer care for them:
• MRDD paid $173,500 for a three-bedroom Springboro ranch house in December, three months after Merdia LeMaster bought the house for $98,500. The assessed value of the house — which tends to be less than the true market value — is $87,230, according to county tax records.
“We felt it was a fair market price at the time for what we needed,” MRDD Superin tendent Charlotte Marinacci said earlier this month of the purchase price. She said she did not check the house's sale history.
• In March, MRDD bought a four-bedroom house in Maineville. The agency paid Harry Montgomery $178,500 about a month after Mr. Montgomery bought it for $98,160. Its assessed value is $93,830.
The commissioners have asked the MRDD board to meet with them because the commissioners are not satisfied the prices paid were justified. The county, however, has no control over MRDD except that commissioners appoint a majority of its board members.
Today's meeting won't be the first time residents have aired grievances against MRDD during Ms. Marinacci's tenure.
In August 1998, parents of special-needs children went to Ohio Rep. George Terwilleger with concerns about restrictions on speaking at meetings. County commissioners got involved that time, too, asking the board to loosen those restrictions, Mrs. South said. The rules were changed.
IF YOU GO
• What: Meeting of the Warren County commissioners with the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities board.
• When: 5:30 p.m. today.
• Where: Old courthouse, 300 Silver St., Lebanon.
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