The troubled Bellefontaine center
Source: Carolyn Tuft, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MO), 03/19/2006
At a time when state officials complain it's too expensive to keep open a St. Louis-area center for the mentally retarded, they are now paying consultants to help run the facility - at rates much higher than those of state workers who do similar work. In deals that have angered the state auditor, the state workers union and some patients' families, the Missouri Department of Mental Health has signed, renewed and extended contracts that would allow charges of up to $12 million with the Columbus Organization for advice and staff for the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center since October 2004.