State officials are examining a lease deal that has allowed a Colorado State Veterans Center at Homelake administrator to live in one of the facility’s historic – but time-worn – buildings since 2004.
The officials want to review how the month-to-month lease on the two-story, four-bedroom stone house was made.
The deal put Vickie Olson, Homelake’s admissions and marketing director, just a stroll from her office.
Olson is paying $600 a month for her house. Some of Homelake’s residents are paying $2,000 a month for a two-room cottage that includes meals and care.
“Our field audit division is conducting a review of the arrangement,” said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, whose Office of State and Veterans Nursing Homes oversees the facility.
It is the only state-owned house leased to a state employee, McDonough said.
The review will also examine whether Olson’s $600-a-month rent is appropriate for the Monte Vista area.
The rent hasn’t varied since the lease was let in October 2004. It includes water, heat, sewer and electricity service.
A rent increase is expected in October, McDonough said Friday.
Also under scrutiny is the lease held by Stephen Kralik, Homelake’s former superintendent. He lived there for a year at $300 a month rent, a price Kralik said he set himself.
Kralik ran the facility from 1992 through 2000 and is now board president of the Homelake Foundation, a nonprofit established in 2005 to raise money for the 116-year-old center.
State officials have been unable to locate any record regarding Kralik’s lease.
Olson, whose state salary is $4,000 a month, has refused to discuss the lease and called it “a private arrangement” between her and Homelake administrator Mindy Montague.
The house was built in 1895 as the superintendent’s residence, then known as Homelake’s commandant.
The state rents the historic building to ensure it doesn’t crumble, McDonough said.
“The thought was that the facility would deteriorate less quickly if it were inhabited and have a staff presence on that side of the campus, where we’ve had break-ins,” she said.
Homelake recently was cited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for problems including worn-out water and sanitary lines, a lack of access for the disabled and buildings sagging from age.
The 32-acre complex runs on a $4.5 million budget, the bulk paid by federal medical and veterans benefits programs.
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com.
