Bremen Youth Services, which provides mental health and substance abuse counseling to hundreds of Southland children and their families each year, appears to be on a collision course with the Bremen Township board in a dispute that could result in a severe setback and financial crisis for the social service agency.
At the heart of the dispute seems to be a disagreement between township Supervisor Maggie Crotty and Don Sebek, the executive director of Bremen Youth Services since its inception in 1986, over how to provide the township with information about the agency’s client base.
“We provide mental health, drug abuse and alcoholism counseling to between 130 and 170 clients at any time,” Sebek said. “These are individuals 5 to 21 years of age and their families, and it is patient care covered by HIPAA privacy laws.”
HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act passed by Congress in 1996, which includes strong regulations to protect patient records and confidentiality.
Bremen Youth Services began life as the Bremen Township Committee on Youth in 1964, but in 1986 it became a tax-exempt nonprofit that was able to solicit donations from the United Way and other sources while expanding its reach beyond the township. Its 2015-16 budget is $950,682, with $340,000 of that from the township, according to Sebek.
He said that for 40 years, the township was satisfied with his annual report to it, which consisted of only one page of information. That seems a little light for a $300,000 yearly taxpayer investment, although Sebek said township officials always had access to an annual financial audit of Bremen Youth Services.
In any event, something changed last year after Sebek requested $40,000 in additional funds from the township, after about five years of $300,000 township contributions. It must be noted that $100,000 of that money goes to pay off a bond issue to complete a building that houses Bremen Youth Services on the grounds of the Bremen Township administrative center near 153rd Street and Oak Park Avenue.
Bremen Youth Services began construction on the building but ran out of money. Bremen Township came to the rescue, offering to sell bonds if Bremen Youth Services would agree to pay off the debt through a lease — basically using money it receives from Bremen Township, which owns the building.
Sebek said he was grateful for Crotty’s intervention and help, but the deal means that his agency has $100,000 less each year for its counseling services.
“That’s why we finally felt the need to ask for additional money,” he said. “And that seemed to set this whole thing off.”
This “whole thing” was Bremen Township’s request for information validating the client base that comes from within Bremen Township. Crotty apparently wanted utility bills or some sort of photo ID as proof of residency, similar to what the township requires for people seeking general assistance funds from the township.
Sebek, concerned about client confidentiality, checked with an attorney, Renee Popovits, who specializes in such things, and said he was told that such a request would be a violation of HIPAA. He informed Crotty of that fact, noting that he had consulted an attorney, he said, and Crotty asked him if he had hired the attorney.
When he said he had not, Crotty then hired Popovits for the township, and the lawyer came up with a consent form for Bremen Youth Services clients to sign —authorizing the disclosure of the patient’s name, age, address, name of parent or guardian, the type of service (either youth counseling or family counseling), the date that services began, the number of sessions attended, the number missed and the service end date.
“I also authorize disclosure of a copy of my photo ID and a current utility bill to verify my residence within the township,” the consent form states.
Sebek was adamant that he wasn’t going to submit Bremen Youth Services clients to that sort of “coercion,” as he calls it.
“These are people in desperate circumstances who come to us seeking help, and instilling) confidence in them that we will protect their information at the outset is a key part of what we do here,” Sebek told me. “We can’t start off a visit by asking them to sign such a disclosure form.”
I respect and admire Sebek’s defense of patient confidentiality but his adamant opposition to the township’s request seems like bad politics. And all of us are used to signing disclosure forms at doctor’s offices and hospitals.
Sebek told me about 70 percent of the clients served by his organization reside within Bremen Township, although the township provides about 33 percent of its funding.
Now for some more background. Sebek said he has known Crotty for 40 years, calls her a friend and appreciates all that she has done for Bremen Youth Services, including her time in the Illinois Senate, when Crotty obtained state funds for the agency.
Crotty said much the same thing — she has known Sebek for 40 years, they have been friends all that time and she has been an outspoken supporter of Bremen Youth Services.
“This is simply about a government agency being a good steward of taxpayer dollars,” she told me. “You would demand no less of us. We are only trying to determine how the tax money we are using is spent by Bremen Youth Services, and we want to know that every dollar we spend is spent on people who live in our township.”
As a demonstration of her willingness to compromise, Crotty said that after Sebek refused to use the consent form, the township sent him a letter simply asking that a certified public accountant verify the number of Bremen Township clients and provide that information to the Township Board.
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Sebek said that request was not reasonable.
“The letter was dated Dec. 3, and we had to provide three months of clients by the Township Board meeting on Jan. 4, which included the Christmas holiday period when people aren’t working,” he said. “In addition, we had to pay for the CPA, and they wanted monthly reports from the CPA. We simply can’t afford that on our budget.”
And something else occurred that made Sebek wonder if there was more behind the township inquiries.
“The Township Board approved a resolution to get requests for proposals for youth and family services,” he said. “So they’re looking for another agency to provide the services we have been providing, without a single complaint from anyone on the Township Board until now.”
At Monday’s board meeting, Sebek made an emotional plea for compromise. He brought with him several people who testified to the good works that Bremen Youth Services had done, including elected officials from Oak Forest and Robbins. Sebek was called a “saint” by some of his witnesses, and township trustees agreed with that assessment. Crotty was not there.
Everyone seemed to agree that they didn’t know how the dispute had gotten to the point that the township is paying an attorney to handle negotiations. Sebek said he tried to talk to Crotty, who told him “this is now between our attorneys.”
“He was the first one to contact an attorney,” Crotty told me during a phone conversation.
The trustees urged Sebek to meet with Crotty to try to resolve the issues, and Sebek told me he’s eager to do that.
As for Crotty, she told me that “after 40 years, it’s time for us to see if there’s a better alternative for us than Bremen Youth Services. That’s just good government, to see what alternatives are out there and explore our options. Bremen Youth Services is certainly welcome to submit a bid.”
Would another agency have to pay $100,000 to lease the township building now occupied by Bremen Youth Services?
“That’s a contract between Bremen Youth Services and the township,” Crotty said. “So, no.”
As for Sebek, he’s convinced after Monday’s board meeting that everyone wants the dispute resolved.
“If we don’t get the township funding, I don’t know what we’ll do,” he said. “I suppose we can continue to exist because we have other sources of funding. But I haven’t really thought about that.”