Position Statement on Community Service Boards

 The Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities adopted the following statement concerning Community Service Boards on April 11, 2003:

The Georgia Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities expresses its grave concerns regarding the recent events at the Gateway Community Service Board.  We are concerned with both the particular situation regarding Gateway, and more importantly with the wider implications of how services are contracted and funded through the CSB system, their status and relationship to the state, and their financial stability in these challenging economic times.  Our preeminent concern is that services to families and consumers be protected and maintained while these issues are resolved.

First, the Council maintains that current, honest information regarding the recent financial crisis at Gateway and how it is being resolved should be shared with the families and consumers who receive services from Gateway, primarily for the purpose of relieving anxiety about the continuation of their services.

Second, in light of recurring problems with CSBs and recent information that other CSB’s in the state are facing similar economic difficulties, potentially placing many more consumers in jeopardy, the Council believes that the Department, the Division, the CSB Association, the Governor’s Advisory Council on MHMRSA, and consumers and advocates should reexamine the legal and financial relationship of community service boards to the state. 

Their status as the most significantly funded and largest providers in the state requires a high level of responsibility to provide effective services and fiscally responsible management. Their status has been a recurring concern since the inception of House Bill 100, and through the amending of HB 498.  It is time to clarify their relationship and bring some resolution to their ambiguous status for the good of the regional system as a whole.

Finally, our ultimate concern is for the consumers who receive services.  We strongly encourage the Department and the Division to clarify the circumstances under which the Department of Human Resources would intervene in a CSBs’ operations, the actions the department can legally take, the time frame under these actions could occur, and the conditions under which outside involvement would no longer be needed.

No provider should be able to go into so much debt without involvement by the funding entity; nor should consumers be placed in such jeopardy through a threat to abruptly cease services.