Orange County supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to approve its contracts through next year for seniors’ meals programs with board members raising concerns about the nonprofits that administer them.
Much of the debate focused on a dispute with Meals on Wheels Orange County and Age Well Senior Services about the Great Plates state program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board voted 3-1 to award Age Well $3.3 million from July 1 through the end of June of next year and $9.1 million for Meals on Wheels Orange County. Supervisor Don Wagner voted no and Supervisor Janet Nguyen abstained.
“The response always is nobody else can do the work and if we don’t give the money to them folks will fall through the cracks,” Wagner said. “I’m tired of those excuses.”
Wagner said he would rather see if another nonprofit would step up to do the work of delivering the meals to needy, elderly residents.
“I believe in this country competition works,” Wagner said. “Let’s find somebody else who can do the work and set up competition.”
Two years ago, the county got into a conflict with the two nonprofits over money awarded for the Great Plates program, which aimed to provide nutritious meals to residents during the pandemic.
County officials were trying to claw back at least $23.3 million from the agencies and were threatening to sue before the dispute was settled in mediation. Part of what fueled the dispute was the wiping clean of a laptop computer used by Meals on Wheels that county officials wanted preserved for potential litigation.
In a memo to board members, county counsel Leon Page said the nonprofit said it was a “very old” laptop that wasn’t used for the Great Plates program.
The main dispute was over whether some of the grant had to be returned to the county if it wasn’t all spent on the services.
“I definitely respect the concerns raised by my colleague,” Orange County Board Vice Chairwoman Katrina Foley said.
Nguyen also echoed Wagner’s concerns about doing business with nonprofits that were “forced to reimburse us.”
Nguyen suggested extending the contracts through the end of the year and seeking another request for proposals.
Foley noted that the county has not had luck drawing more potential vendors because of the slim profit margin for administering the program.
“That’s what we heard,” said Dylan Wright of Orange County Community Resources. “The margins were too small.”
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento said, “I think we’re going to need a year even if we were to change course,” given how long it would take to go through another process of seeking new proposals.
Wagner said the dispute “was resolved short of litigation because we had no faith the providers wouldn’t just declare bankruptcy and go on blithely (with a new name)… and the public would be out of all of that money.”
Foley told Wagner that it would be nice if another vendor came forward to run the program, but added, “Nobody has stepped into the void… There isn’t anyone stepping in to do that service.”
Board Chairman Doug Chaffee said the dispute about the Great Plates program happened “during COVID times when everything was askew.”
He added, “I’m a fan of theirs,” referring to the nonprofits.
“That little tiff we had has been resolved and I’m in favor of this because I like what they do and they have done a good job.”