FARMINGTON – A Superior Court justice has sent an appeal of the award of Maine Head Start and child care funds back to a state appeal panel.

That’s so an administrative appeal panel can conduct further proceedings in Western Maine Centers for Children’s appeal of Department of Human Service’s award of Head Start and child care funds.

Justice Donald Marden is seeking a review of all written records reviewing or ranking bids for the Head Start contract.

Western Maine Centers for Children of Farmington had appealed the DHS’ 2002 award of $386,000 in state funds to Community Concepts Inc. of South Paris. That was so Community Concepts could oversee the Franklin County Head Start, early Head Start and child care programs.

A state appeal panel validated the DHS’ award of state funds to Community Concepts.

Western Maine Centers then appealed that decision in Kennebec County Superior Court. It claimed that the state didn’t supply all requested documentation and witnesses to Western Maine Centers. Some of documents were in a federal file, a state employee stated in the administrative appeal hearing.

The latest decision essentially means that the case goes back to the appeal process, said Marcia White, chairman of the Western Maine Centers for Children board.

However, Community Concepts’ spokesman Matthew Smith said that his agency believes that all the documents were provided to the parties. He also noted that Western Maine Centers did not appeal the federal portion of the award.

Community Concepts was awarded $2.2 million in federal and state funds in 2002 to oversee the Franklin County programs. The state’s portion of funding was about $139,000 in Head Start funds and $247,000 in child care.

In appealing the state’s portion of the decision, Western Maine Centers claimed the state committed a number of violations during the request for proposals/applications and award process. Western Maine Centers and Community Concepts were the only two agencies that submitted bids to oversee the program.

In his decision, Marden said the law requires that the written records of all persons reviewing the bids must be available and it is clearly contrary to the letter and spirit of the law to require petitioners to obtain access to mandatory records by use of the federal Freedom of Access standard.

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