Butler County will not be funding a local Winter Relief Center this year following a disagreement about a contract.
The homeless center, which is the only one in the county, is operated by the Grace Youth and Family Foundation and has been open for the last four years. It is now at risk of losing more than half of its funding because of a disagreement over a government contract.
The problem started after Butler County Human Services Joyce Ainsworth felt the program needed to have a signed contract because of its growth over the years.
“The program has continued to grow and it crossed the threshold that I felt, as far as the county’s participation is, that we needed to have a contract,” Ainsworth said.
A standard contract was presented to the organization last month, which is the same contract for any nonprofit that gets government funding.
But, the foundation’s Founder and CEO Bill Halle says he cannot agree to several aspects of the contract in which the county stipulates hiring criteria he says interferes with the group’s religious beliefs. He is also concerned about signing away ownership and copyrights to foundation’s programming and giving the county unlimited access to confidential records not related to the Winter Relief Center.
Ainsworth says the county has been happy with the organization and what they do for the community but they will move on if a contract can’t be signed. She said Wednesday the county has other alternatives to help Butler’s homeless population but would not elaborate.
In the past four years, about 40 to 50 percent of the Winter Relief Center budget came from Butler County-dispersed state funding.
The homeless shelter, which is located on Center Avenue in Butler, is set to open on Sunday.
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