County Head of Federal Jobs Program Resigns
Los Angeles County’s director of community and senior citizens services, Robert G. Medina, resigned Tuesday amid allegations that he mishandled a multimillion-dollar federal job training program.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors announced Medina’s resignation after meeting for nearly two hours in executive session to consider his dismissal. Medina’s resignation will become effective April 18.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. April 7, 1994 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday April 7, 1994 Home Edition Metro Part B Page 3 Column 4 Metro Desk 2 inches; 51 words Type of Material: Correction
Community services--A story in Wednesday’s Times about the resignation of Robert G. Medina, Los Angeles County’s director of community and senior citizens services, incorrectly identified one of the programs under his jurisdiction. His department oversees the Community Services Block Grant Program, not the Community Development Block Grant Program.
Medina, 69, who has worked for the county for 39 years, could not be reached for comment.
The Department of Community and Senior Citizens Services has been under scrutiny for the handling of several programs under its jurisdiction, including the Jobs Training Partnership Act program and the Community Development Block Grant program, both of which provide the county with millions of federal dollars for community services.
Critics contend that too much money has been spent on administrative and overhead costs.
“Every department head has a responsibility to be accountable . . . and we had a situation where state and federal monitors were consistently criticizing the monitoring of programs in the Community and Senior Citizens Services Department,” said Supervisor Gloria Molina, who led efforts to remove Medina. “We could not continue to operate the department under that leadership--or that lack of leadership.”
According to a study conducted last fall by the consulting firm Coopers & Lybrand, administrative and overhead charges to the job training program tripled in the past year, to $6.7 million.
The Private Industry Council, a group of business leaders who jointly manage the jobs program with the county, also had been highly critical of Medina’s performance and had urged the board to shift the program to another county agency.
But the board voted to keep the jobs program where it is, establish a new position to run it, and give the business council a role in selecting the person to fill that post.
Medina joined the county Probation Department in 1955 and moved to the Department of Senior Citizens Affairs in 1971. He was made director of the consolidated Department of Community and Senior Citizens Services in 1984.
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