Candidates focus on role of public administrator in Cole County

All four candidates running for Cole County Public Administrator agree the position is not only full-time, but a 24/7 job. Approximately 250 clients are on the public administrator's caseload, and their physical, mental and financial needs vary.

The Cole County public administrator's salary is $59,438.

Give us your input

them! Send your thoughts or questions to [email protected] or share them on Facebook and Twitter with #MoVotes.

In a recent public forum, the candidates - Republicans JoDonn Chaney, Rik Combs and Joe Kuensting and Democrat Jean Schwaller - shared their views on how much control the public administrator should have over the clients, who come under the office's care when they cannot make their own decisions and family is unable or unwilling to help.

Public administrators guide clients in their decision making or make decisions for them in regards to their health and overall well-being.

The candidates all expressed some sort of support for limited guardianship.

Kuensting, retired from the Missouri Department of Mental Health, said he's in favor of self-directed care.

"They need to tell me what they want to do," he said. "And then, if they have something that is a concern, help them achieve what they're wanting to do. It's simply the fact that they have to self-direct their own lives. They want to be productive and help themselves, and we should let them."

Chaney, real estate investor and entrepreneur, said individual cases should be reviewed to establish the level of a client's independence. Those who can function without a public administrator's assistance could possibly move off the rolls, he said, in order to fully lead their own lives.

"It's not about what I want, it's about restoring someone's ability to make their own decisions," he said. "If you can do that, if you can help someone to make their own decisions, you restore self-worth. You restore self-confidence. To me, that's really what it's about - to help an individual, regardless of who it is, through whatever means, and make them a better person."

Combs said, if elected, he would implement an "immediate case-by-case review" with "on-going and periodical" updates. He believes every person "deserves to live a life with as much dignity and independence as possible." For example, Combs said he knows a young man in northern Missouri who is progressing from a chemical brain imbalance after medication stabilized his condition.

He's employed, and he is in the court system trying to receive his driver's license and get back his voting rights, Combs said.

"I am absolutely, 100 percent in support of that young man," he said.

Schwaller said she will "support and enforce what the court deems appropriate." Her personal feelings and opinions, she said, will not prevent her from making decisions in the best interest of the clients. She said she will be an "advocate for the clients in the least restrictive way possible."

"I will always keep an open mind and try to balance needs versus wants with compassion for the individual client," she said. "This is not a job that dictates what a client must do, but a process involving the support of many agencies who can and will be involved in the clients' best interests."

The candidates said they couldn't suggest any immediate changes they would make to the public administrator's office without working there first. However, they each have a vision.

While campaigning in the community, Combs said he's met people whose loved ones are under the care of the public administrator. From what he's heard from them, Combs said "it's a pretty well run office, and they are taking care of people."

Though he didn't have specifics, Combs wants to increase the office's efficiency with the goal of "most efficient and well-run public administrator's office in the entire state." Also, he believes the office needs another person on staff.

If elected, Schwaller said she would come into the public administrator's office with a two-pronged approach. The first being the overseeing of clients' care plans, which includes reviewing evaluations and medical reports, and collaborating with the appropriate professionals to meet client needs.

"I think the care plan and executing that care plan for individuals is first and foremost for me," she said. "Secondly, it's managing finance. You need to meet the rules and regulations of agencies to keep financially compliant. You must be careful that you don't have somebody going out of the system. That's the financial part of it, and I'm well aware of it."

As the director of reimbursements at DMH, Kuensting said audited public administrator's offices throughout Missouri. He hopes his financial expertise will improve services for clients. Kuensting said his first priority for clients is to "make sure they have every financial resource and make sure they are in the correct housing environment, they are safe and protected."

"Funding might be a problem, but you have to work around it," he said. "I'll make their lives a lot better, if (voters) let me. I'm dedicated to (the clients) and I want to help them."

Chaney said if elected, he would like to recruit trained and qualified volunteers to assist clients. He sees the volunteers fulfilling a similar function as pastors who visit and chat with their parishioners, talking about whatever they would like. Clients control the conversations, he said, and the volunteers can report back to him, if he's elected the public administrator.

"What I'd like to do is make sure we get to every client as often as possible," Chaney said. "I know that's a tall order, but wouldn't it be a neat group of individuals together, volunteers, like the Sheriff's Deptartment has a lot of volunteers, wouldn't it be neat if the public administrators had volunteers who would go and talk to these individuals and assess their needs."

Candidate Profiles for this race:

Democrat Schwaller vows to protect clients

Kuensting stresses listening, accessibility

Chaney eyes job that truly helps people

Combs stresses clients' independence