Power struggles involving Cayuga County mental health director David Blair are nothing new.

Now, members of the Cayuga County Legislature and county manager Wayne Allen are starting to question Blair's leadership, and Blair has countered that he doesn't really work for them. Blair and his supporters claim the Community Services Board is the entity that oversees Blair and mental health services in Cayuga County.

We disagree, but before we get into the reasons, it's interesting to note what Blair said in 2005. At that time, when a vocal minority on the Community Services Board was questioning Blair and urging the board majority to take a more active role, the director essentially argued that the board had no real power.

“A community services board does not decide how money is spent,” he said at the time. “They have no fiscal role under the law.”

We didn't completely agree with Blair at that time - the Community Services Board does need to be an active policy-making entity - but as with any government entity that falls under the umbrella of the county's general fund, the Legislature is ultimately responsible for making sure that the right person is heading up day-to-day county mental health services.

And with an office that is losing thousands of dollars daily in state funding because of violations, legislators should be questioning Blair's leadership.

Blair's supporters have countered that the Legislature, which has dragged its feet on getting needed building improvements for the county mental health department, is the root cause of the deficiencies.

That's ultimately true, but the state has also continually cited the agency for procedural violations.

Blair downplays those violations, but over time they never seem to get corrected. That speaks to poor management.

We agree that the Legislature has failed miserably, but a big part of that failure has been its faulty oversight of Blair.

We hope the latest developments are a sign that times are changing.