LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Community Action Agency Board of Directors met Wednesday, hoping to get a better grasp on the nonprofit's finances in order to put it back on track after recent service closures and employee furloughs.

Last week the nonprofit put its more than two dozen employees on furlough and closed its Transitional Living Center (TLC) House in Lower Lake after its board became aware of a number of financial challenges, according to Board President Tom Jordan.

LCCAA is being audited by the Internal Revenue Service in connection with about $100,000 in unpaid federal payroll tax, is reportedly behind in rent for its offices and facilities – including the TLC House – and is behind in payments to vendors, as Lake County News has reported.

Jordan said that the board met for three hours on Wednesday morning. “We're really trying to pull things together and understand.”

He said the group was identifying small actions that need to be taken so it can get a clearer understanding of the organization's future direction.

In the short-term, there are the issues of paying payroll and bills, which Jordan said board members are taking on because all agency employees – including Executive Director Georgina Lehne – remain on furlough.

“Everyone is taking on some activity or task to do,” he said.

The agency board has normally met on a monthly basis – with the occasional dark month – but Jordan said he expects them to meet more often as they work on putting things back together.

At the Wednesday meeting, “We got rushed at the end and weren't even able to set when our next meeting will be,” he said.

He told Lake County News in an interview earlier this week that it was during a meeting last Thursday that the board realized there were “some very weak internal governance systems” in the organization. The next day, the board convened an emergency meeting, at which time it carried out the furlough and TLC House closure.

LCCAA provides a number of critical services – food pantries, commodities distribution, youth drop-in centers, a youth safe house and transitional homeless shelter – throughout the community.

IRS reporting documents indicate the organization has been running into the red consistently over the last several years. The most recent report available was for calendar year 2008, when both revenues and expenses totaled more than $1 million.

As to the root cause of LCCAA's financial problems, Jordan said the directors are still trying to figure it out, noting, “It's complicated.”

But he went on to add that “the heart of the issue is funding.”

He said LCCAA has sustained reductions in funding sources – both government and private – which has put “a tremendous strain on the organization.”

In the process of looking more closely at LCCAA's operations, “We're discovering that this has existed for awhile and there are bills that haven't been paid,” he said.

They're looking at other expenses and assessing funding amounts, Jordan said.

“The board has been advised that there were budget reductions in the TLC House in terms of the rate that the county was able to pay,” said Jordan. “We're trying to track that back as to when that happened.”

He said, “You just add all that together and it caused the challenge that we're facing.”

Laura Solis, Alcohol and Other Drug Services program administrator for the Lake County Mental Health Department, said the reduction in reimbursements for the TLC House occurred about a year ago.

Solis, who was at LCCAA's Wednesday board meeting, said the county was paying $75 a day per client for the TLC House, which is a sober living environment with treatment offsite at the New Beginnings clinic. It is not a residential treatment facility, which combines all services and also would cost $75 a day.

Following a survey of California clean and sober living environments, Solis said she realized the county was paying nearly twice what other areas paid for the same services.

Because the county itself is facing steep funding cuts – totaling about $625,000 for two different funding sources – the rate for TLC House was cut from $75 a day to $40 a day, Solis said.

The federal government stepped in with a $240,000 grant for 18 months to help cover some costs for AODS services, but that categorical funding – which is “wicked to work with” – runs out March 31, Solis explained.

Solis said the LCCAA Board expressed a high regard for the New Beginnings/TLC House program at its Wednesday meeting, although the group hasn't spoken with Solis about reopening the program. Jordan said earlier this week the board hoped to restore the services.

Losing the contract for the valuable services TLC House has provided is “a very painful, emotional thing for me,” Solis said.

“This is a great loss to this community,” Solis said. “I'm heartsick over it.”

She said all of the women in the TLC House have been admitted into county outpatient services and they're trying to get them counseling and assistance as frequently as possible.

Solis said she was having a finance staffer in her office compile information about the contracts AODS has with LCCAA. She said a spreadsheet was to be delivered to Jordan and Supervisor Jeff Smith, also an LCCAA Board member, by the end of Wednesday, with a view toward helping fill out the nonprofit's financial picture.

As for the rest of the services LCCAA has offered, most remain on hold, Jordan said. The exceptions are a food commodity program and the teen safe house.

Jordan said LCCAA has made an arrangement with the Santa Rosa-based Redwood Empire Food Bank to carry out the twice-a-month food distribution for seniors and for mothers with children who are 6 years of age who are transferring out of the WIC Program.

The teen safe house, also under LCCAA's auspices, has three teens residing there and a volunteer supervisor, Jordan said.

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