Thurston County replaces rent and utility assistance provider after auditor’s report
A new company will provide rent and utility assistance for Thurston County residents after the county abruptly suspended its contract with a previous provider.
On Tuesday, the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a $5 million contract with Geocko Inc. d.b.a. LiveStories, a Seattle-based company.
The move comes a dozen days after the county suspended its contracts with the Community Action Council of Lewis, Mason and Thurston Counties, citing suspected fraud in its rental assistance payments.
CAC is a regional non-profit that had been dispersing rental and utility assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thurston County had been passing federal and state funds to CAC to support those services.
CAC maintains the county’s accusations are “slanderous” and they have found no instances of fraud in their monitoring, according to a statement on their website. However, a county audit report the CAC has cited in its defense includes several examples of suspicious payments.
By suspending its contracts, the county effectively paused assistance payments and thrust CAC clients into limbo. To help fill the need, the county moved to partner with LiveStories.
LiveStories’ program should be operational within two weeks of contract execution, according to a county news release.
Once it starts, the program will prioritize residents with completed, partially completed or approved CAC applications. Those who had appointments with CAC also will be prioritized, per the county.
Other residents that will be prioritized include those working with the Dispute Resolution Center who have a 14-day pay-or- vacate notice and those working with a partner organization to complete an application. Such organizations include CIELO, Innovations Human Trafficking Collaboration, Family Support Center of South Sound, and SafePlace, according to the release.
Confidentiality Concerns
Though the county will partner with LiveStories, the county says it will continue discussions with CAC to transfer clients over and resolve the situation.
But CAC has so far refused to turn over client information to the county. In a statement on its website, CAC says they are “concerned about the county’s handling of confidential client information.”
“We have every intention to continue to prioritize care for our clients and center confidentiality, but we are at the mercy of County leaders who must make the decision to put people in need ahead of their efforts to slander our organization,” the statement says.
CAC issued a new statement on Wednesday, alleging the county has released and intends to release client data to law enforcement. CAC says they have requested confidentiality conditions in a transitional contract, but the county has refused.
In response, County Manager Ramiro Chavez told The Olympian the county shares a desire to protect client information in accordance with state and federal law.
However, he said the county cannot commit to not sharing information with law enforcement if they require that information for an investigation.
Chavez shared a March 3 email sent to CAC Chief Executive Officer Kristen York by county senior program manager Tom Webster. In it, he responds to York’s confidentiality concerns and says the county has a right to access client information.
“TCPHSS will provide received client information to law enforcement, other Thurston County departments, or another organization or entity when there is a justifiable legal basis for providing the information or as allowed by contract to carry out program activities,” according to the email.
As of March 3, the county has not shared any personally identifying client information with law enforcement, per the email.
If the county does not receive client information in time, applicants the county plans to prioritize with LiveStories will be impacted.
“Those individuals will be affected and that’s my biggest concern at this point,” Chavez said. “When we presented this contract to the board, we stated that is our first priority.”
The new contract
The county’s contract with LiveStories only allows up to $5 million in assistance funding to be spent, said senior program manager Tom Webster on Tuesday.
“These funds last for another year or two,” he told the county board. “But we expect, at the rate of spending, there’s probably three months’ worth of funding available with this $5 million.”
If the board decides to re-engage with CAC at a later point, the county can terminate its contract with LiveStories before the $5 million is completely spent, Webster said.
LiveStories provides similar services for the City of Spokane as well as Skagit and Yakima counties, according to the county news release. It is also supporting oversight of rent and utility assistance programs conducted by the Washington state Department of Commerce.
Through an already set interlocal agreement with Spokane, Webster said Thurston County was able to accelerate a deal with the new provider.
“We are piggybacking this procurement which was conducted by the City of Spokane that resulted in the selection of LiveStories,” he said.
Community Youth Services continues to provide rent assistance support to young adults ages 18-24. The county’s contract with this organization remains unchanged, according to the county news release.
Client concerns
Anyone with questions about rent and utility assistance can contact Elisa Sparkman, the county’s rental assistance communication lead, at 360-490-7648 or Elisa.Sparkman@co.thurston.wa.us.
The county notes Sparkman prefers emails as her phone has been receiving a “high number of calls and voicemails.”
Teri Pajewski, a Lacey resident, spoke during Tuesday’s meeting about how the suspension of rent assistance affected her and her partner. She said she learned about the situation on Monday from her landlord.
“I thought they were calling to get the last bit of information to us to finalize our application because we had one more piece of paper,” Pajewski said. “They were calling to let us know that we would have to make payment arrangements, or we could be evicted.”
She expressed concern with how the county went about suspending its contracts with CAC and the potential impact on the community.
“You pulled the carpet out from underneath a lot of people with no plan, no transition, no assistance for clients,” Pajewski said to the board. “We are in limbo.”
However, she said she felt appreciative of Sparkman’s efforts to communicate with the community during a difficult time.
“I feel bad for her,” Pajewski said. “She’s one person and there’s a whole bunch of us who don’t know what’s going on. She has done an outstanding job of customer service despite the position you have placed her in, which is untenable.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
