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VERMONTS voice FOR THE LESBlAN,

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 Former Al

ChiefTe|Is All

Kleier Takes Health

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A I BY EUAN BEAR *

CHICAGO —VKurt Kleier wants to
set the record straight, so to speak.

For the record, Kurt Kleier was
“asked to step down”. at the endof,
an extended'probation'ary period.
He was not fired. “My probation-
ary period was sixlrnonths, but
that was -extended forfitwo .months
by the departriieht,” Kiéiét said in
a phone interview right at press
deadline from his home in
Chicago. When he left at the end
of April, 2005, “Bill Apao and I
satdown and agreed it just wasn’t
working for» either of us.”

Apao was Kleier’s supervisor.
In the interview, Kleier cri_ticized
Apao for a lack of vision, lack of

' involvement, and lack of interest

in the AIDS unit. At a" later point

0 in the interview, however, he said

he had frequent two-hour” meetings

I with Apao. ‘ I

Kleier also charged that his

departure wasflthe result of an

orchestrated campaign by} his own
staff, who, hejsaid-,. disagreed with
some of his “strong policy stands,”
although their official case for

’ opposing him was that they didn’t

like his “management style .’'I
He said that when hejarrived he

i ' was told directly that heihad three

tasks: “One, keep it off the com-

‘ -missioner’s desk. Two, keep it off
, the deputy commission_er’s desk.
; Three, keep. it out of the newspa— ‘

i . pers.” —

 

if theiprevention grantefunding

Therefore, Kleier ‘said, when

 

  Department to Task A

. 1 process de—funded ACo‘RN, both
V the staff and his superiors were
Lunhappy when legislators were

drawn in and departrrient deputy
commissioner Sharon Moffett was
involved in crafting a compromise
to provide some funding to
Mock’s agency. “The staff didn’t
likeithis kind of backpedaling,”
Kleier said. » ’ i j

I He also said that the staff was

. opposedto his support of “names- I
. reporting” for people diagnosed

with HIV. “What that does is

I allow us to do some excellent

partner services work,” Kleier

‘maintained. “We interview the

affected person and offer to con-
tact the partners. We can then noti-
fy people who’ve been exposed.
There are some ‘tricks of the
trade’ we can use so that we don’t
reveal the sources. This has been

I tried and tested” in other states,

notably Missouri, where Kleier
had previously worked.

“The CDC [Centers forvDisease ,

Control] is pushing states toward
names reporting for HIV, but they
can’t legislatively mandate it,”
Kleier opined. “But they will

slowly but surely tie funding to I ‘

names reporting.
, “It’s a good thing for Vermont

to begin, discussions, through com-

munity forums, discussion groups,
whatever is the current Vehicle,”
Kleier said, but that policy change’

‘ was blocked by an “incorrigible, .

intractable” staff.

Moreover, he alleged, “staff
were making funding decisions for
organizations they were support-

_ administrative costs.

 

ing. You could‘ see tlieir pictures ’
on the websites. That’s a problem
in professional boundaries,” Kleier

' said. .“That’s why you didn’t see

me out in the community when I,
was there.” ' i ' ‘
Officials at the Vermont V
Department of Health declined
comment on’ any of Kleieris 0
Charges. “Kurt Kleier was _ _' _
employed from August» 23,2004 to
April 29,2005. A11 personnel’ mat-."
ters are confidential,” said Robert '
Stierwalt of the departr_rient’s
Public Information’ Off1cTe.f"‘No
formal complaints have ‘been.

I brought to the attention of the’

VDH .”

that any new director “lives in the
-shadow of,Rod Copeland,” his

irnrnediate predecessor. He” charged .

that while Copeland‘ did fully staff
the program, he did not provide V

. professional development training» A

for that staff. He said Copelandhad

_ “made side—deals with Vermont,

CARES”‘that allowed the agency
to use department fimding for g *

The other issue, Kleier said,~*was «.

 

 
    

WW

  

- Peter Jacobsen, current director
of Verrnont' CARES, said,v“There
are no special deals. We go
through the application process for
grants the same as anyone does.
We negotiate through the grants '
process and we and the Depart-
ment of Health agree on a final
grant.”

Former CARES director
Kendall Farrell declined comment _
when reached at home. ‘

i . -Rod Copeland did not return
phone calls and messages left at his

‘ home and work phone numbers.

- . AIDS‘nonprofits “have airs that
‘because we do good work we
deservethe money,’” Kleier said.
Butthese organizations, which he
did not name, need to "‘demon— .
strate transparency, accountability,
and outcomes. We know they’re-

,- doing good work.”

“There is such a disconnect

' between the Health Department and
H the community,” Kli_er said. “Some

staff just don’t have a good relation-
ship with the community. It’s really

A areflection on the governor’s, office
' - . — there’s no support there for

‘ sional challenge. Y

        

    
  

GAY, BlSEXAL, AN TRNSGENDER CMMUNWTY

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Vtainpp "deI:_ned%a.org

. increased AIDS funding. It was
' very difficult to move forward.”

— Despite his short tenure and
current criticisms, Kleier said’ he
did accomplish afew things.
Perhaps the most visible, was

moving the long-stalledoutreach’. _
needle exchangevprogram through ‘

to’ the commissioner, who
approved it. A I

Q He worked with others to
revamp the state’s AIDS profile, a
statistical picture of the disease

and where _it might be going. And‘,

although he admits thattothers will
disagree, he views it as an accom-
plishment that he began to estab-
lish “a climate of discipline and
accountability” in the staff and for
AIDS community nonprofits, a
task he characterized as “like tum-
ing [an ocean liner] 180 degrees in

' I15 rn_.inute__s_.”

Kleir@0,iit51irded,“I have the ' -

best wishes for the department and _

want it to succeed.‘ It's good for
the community and the people

with this disease to have an effec-

tive department. People in the
Vermont [AIDS] community have .
a lot to share.

“It’s complicated. There was a
whole lot of politicking and fine-
lining” he was called upon _to do

, without much guidance on such

matters, he said. “And they want-
ed me to do this for $43,000 a
year. There needs to be a signifi-
cant overhaul in the department.
orthere will just be another direc-
tor who will be there nine
months. The commissioner is‘
going to -have to take an interest.”
According to CARES Director
J acobsen, the Vermont Department
of Health has had 10 AIDS unit
directors in 10 years.
“The state Department of

V Health should be leaders, and it

has not taken a leadership role on
this disease,” Kleier concluded.
Kurt Kleier is currently living
in Chicago with a new partner
and enjoying “a stress-free life"
before taldng on a new profes-

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