Firm proposes to help Cape Girardeau County recover funds; officials doubt the county will accept the offer

An Indiana consultant believes Cape Girardeau County is missing out on thousands of federal dollars from unreimbursed costs of its child support program.

But Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said he is not interested in pursuing the consultant's proposal further.

"I'm not a bit interested in paying a private person," Swingle said. "We can do the work ourselves. This is someone just trying to make a buck."

Missouri reimburses the county for direct costs for work done collecting money from those not paying child support. Swingle said that for this year the prosecuting attorney's office will be reimbursed $47,399 and the circuit clerk's office is set to receive $5,177 for such direct expenses as salaries, computer equipment, training and postage.

However, Wesley Ehlers of Sequoia Consulting Group said at Thursday's commission meeting that for a fee his firm could help the county recover indirect costs such as utility bills, because the county is not submitting paperwork to the state for reimbursement.

The firm's proposal would allow the county to keep 60 cents of every federal dollar received, while Sequoia Consulting Group would retain 40 cents.

Ehlers believes his firm could help the county recover between $30,000 and $60,000. He added his firm would not require the county to pay the $9,500 it would be charged for the services if funds aren't recovered.

Swingle said a conversation Wednesday with the Division of Child Support Enforcement confirmed that if he tried to submit reimbursement requests for indirect costs, those efforts would prove unsuccessful.

"All of the money that it has available to the child support program through 2011, and that there is no additional money left to be had," Swingle said. "Thus, if we were foolish enough to pay this private company money to do a cost-study analysis and apply for reimbursement for indirect costs, the end result would be that we would pay him a fee and not receive even one cent more from the state."

First District Commissioner Paul Koeper said that while he is not sure how much money is available, he doubts much is on the state level.

"I thought the presentation was weak, and timing is off," Koeper said. "Why didn't he present his program before budget time?"

Other business

Later in the meeting Robb McClary, assistant to the commission, submitted a proposal to update the county's drug policy. Its current policy states that all employees should be aware that a controlled substance is prohibited on or in county property. The three-sentence policy further states that employees failing to abide by the policy are subject to being fired.

One department that already has a drug policy is the sheriff's department. That policy including testing for drugs before employment, during an accident while driving a county vehicle and quarterly at random.

McClary's 23-paragraph document proposes pre-employment drug screening, random testing of employees in safety-sensitive areas, offering those testing positive for drugs a rehab program and referral to an employee assistant program for counseling for employees and their families.

The commissioners said they would wait until all three of them had a copy of the proposal, because Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones was absent, before any discussion on the issue takes place.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

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