Florida House Speaker calls Fernandina Beach program a ‘waste of taxpayer money'

The speaker of the Florida State House is calling a Fernandina Beach company’s program a "waste of taxpayer money."

Action News Jax first started investigating Florida Psychological Associates last month.

Speaker Richard Corcoran is now demanding that FPA stop receiving tax dollars immediately.

In a letter, Corcoran also said he plans to ask for the tax dollars that the company has not yet spent to be repaid.

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The company is lead by the wife of State Sen. Aaron Bean’s former campaign manager.

Bean helped score a nearly $1 million appropriation for a program administered by FPA called CELPHIE, a program to digitally self-screen for mental health issues.

FPA’s CEO is Dr. Catherine Drew, the wife of Nassau County tax collector John Drew. John Drew is also Sen. Bean’s former campaign manager.

Bean’s original attempt to pass CELPHIE program funding through the state budget process failed.

He called Florida State University’s president about CELPHIE, and the appropriation for the project appeared in the school’s budget.

Corcoran sent FSU and FPA a letter on Tuesday, saying that the money has to stop because FPA is falling short on the screenings to which it committed.

“When you have only completed 241 of 3,800 that should have been done by this time, according to your contract, we think that’s a gross waste of taxpayer money,” Corcoran told Action News Jax on Wednesday.

According to the contract, FPA has received nearly $500,000 in taxpayer money.

That breaks down to $2,000 per self-screening.

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Corcoran gave FSU until Thursday to provide documentation of the program’s finances and progress.

FSU sent that documentation to Corcoran and Action News Jax on Wednesday evening, along with a letter from university President John Thrasher.

In the letter, Thrasher said the university also felt the program was under-performing and stopped paying FPA last month.

Thrasher also said the university plans to return about $200,000 of the appropriation the university had taken for indirect costs.

FPA’s public relations spokesman John Daigle denies the company is failing to meet the requirements of its contract.

Daigle said Dr. Catherine Drew was not available for an interview on Wednesday because of a family emergency.

In a statement, Sen. Bean told Action News Jax:

“The Senate did not fund the project in this year’s budget and that decision was made with my full support. As elected representatives we should make decisions on all recurring programs based on performance. I support assessing all programs that receive tax dollars and am committed to do just that.”

Cox Media Group