Audit: Mental Health Agency Execs Misspent, Mismanaged

A state audit has found spending and management problems at a Lexington nonprofit agency that provides mental health care, including the management of two state-owned facilities.

Auditor Adam Edelen says in the report that executives at Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board awarded themselves benefits worth millions of dollars without scrutiny from the agency's board of directors.

Edelen says the agency has paid nearly $3 million in benefit contributions since 1997 to top executives at the CEO's discretion while most employees received little or nothing and many haven't received pay raises since 2009.

Bluegrass board chairman Scott Gould told the Lexington Herald-Leader that, in response to the findings, the board would study the report and its recommendations and take any action necessary.