Mayor Anthony Williams on Tuesday fired the director of the District’s mental retardation office and replaced her with a consultant from Alabama.
Marsha Thompson, who had served as interim director of the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration for only a year, was given her notice Tuesday morning, effective immediately. Her brief tenure, city leaders say, produced little progress for the long-challenged agency, which is tasked with providing care and housing for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
“We have terminated her services,” said Brenda Donald Walker, deputy mayor for children, youth, families and elders. “We thanked her for her effort.”
Thompson will be replaced by Kathy Sawyer, a consultant to the District and other jurisdictions on issues related to mental retardation and developmental disabilities. She is the former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
“You’ve got a train,” Sawyer said. “The train is obviously off the track. … I will be your conductor.” She added: “Systematic problems take many years to get to this point.”
Sawyer’s title will be “acting administrator,” but she will be paid as a consultant over the course of a six-month contract. The District will launch a nationwide search for a permanent director, Williams said.
Terms of Sawyer’s deal are still being worked out, Walker said.
The agency has been harshly criticized for years for failing its clients. It faces lawsuits and federal receivership without improvement.
Ward 4 Council Member Adrian Fenty, chairman of the Human Services Committee, said the “government has got to show we will hold people accountable.” He agreed Tuesday to reinstate $10 million that had been removed from the department’s fiscal 2007 budget, and said he would reconsider $23 million more the administration says it needs.
