THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Plans to merge the region's two largest AIDS service organizations - under consideration since 1993 - have been shelved.
The groups will coordinate some efforts, however, and their leaders said Wednesday that merging remains a later possibility. Both groups said client services will not be affected by the decision to remain separate.
``There were multiple reasons'' for halting merger plans, said Dr. Alan B. Wilson, chairman of the board of trustees of the Tidewater AIDS Crisis Taskforce, which pulled back from talks with the Peninsula AIDS Foundation.
``Our board was concerned with insuring the good financial stability of TACT, and people wanted to focus on that more than the merger,'' Wilson said. Plus, merging ``would be extremely labor intensive and we had no money to hire anyone'' to focus solely on that.
Merger is not a dead issue, both sides agree.
``Our board is very much interested in revitalizing these discussions,'' said Carol Smith, a member of the PAF board who also co-chaired the joint merger committee. ``The door is definitely still open. I don't think there was any issue that came up that wasn't solvable, but they do take time.''
Wilson said he expects the issue to come up again soon, and an eventual merger ``is not out of the question.''
In the meantime, Smith said, ``there are lots of areas that we can collaborate on that will benefit both organizations.''
The groups will work together on some grant proposals and fund-raising activities.
TACT, serving South Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore, has more than 500 clients; PAF, serving the Peninsula north through Williamsburg and the Northern Neck, has about 360 clients.
For years there have been suggestions that combining the groups could be beneficial, and planning began 18 months ago. But as the merger committee identified all the issues, Wilson said, it became clear that merging would be a daunting task.
One concern was geography.
``It was the sheer logistics of having one, single executive director,'' Wilson said. ``That certainly could be done, but that person would have to have been an incredibly hard-working individual.''
Another stumbling block was the mechanics of merging.
``We were having difficulty trying to decide how we go from two distinct organizations and immediately have one,'' Wilson said. ``How would the board be structured? What would be the responsibility of each individual? And we had to ensure equity for all the different regions'' served.
Vincent Grocki, PAF's interim executive director, acknowledged there were problems but said he was disappointed merger was put on the back burner.
``There's a list of obstacles to overcome, but that doesn't mean you stop running the race,'' he said.
Smith said reasons to merge ``are still very, very strong.'' Key among them: expanded access to services for clients, elimination of redundancy, and more clout in raising money at a time when less government money is available. ``There's a smaller pie that we are all trying to use to provide services,'' she said.
Wilson said the merger talks were beneficial regardless of their outcome.
``The interactions between the two boards were incredibly helpful and pleasant,'' he said. ``We're certainly working together more now than we have in the past.'' by CNB