A town hall meeting turned ugly last night as people began shouting at public health chief  Dr. Terry Mason, saying clerical errors have led city officials to close four mental health facilities on the South Side.

About 100 people attended the forum at the First Presbyterian Church in Woodlawn, where mental health center patients and advocates pleaded with Aldermen Willie Cochran (D-20) and Ed Smith (D-28) and Mason to save the four South Side centers, which serve about 2,000 patients.

Citing $1.2 million in state budget cuts, as well as the loss of other funding, the city decided to close centers in Woodlawn, Beverly/Morgan Park, Back of the Yards and Greater Grand/Mid-South. Opponents worry that it will be difficult for patients to travel further for treatment.

“What happens in our communities when those centers are no more? Has anyone given that any thought?” asked Daryl Gumm, chairman of the Community Mental Health Board, drawing parallels to recent gun violence in Alabama and Germany.

Fred Friedman, a patient at the Northtown/Rogers Park clinic, which is not being closed, said the city council must find a way to save the centers. By consolidating the centers, which will absorb the current staff and patients, the city cannot expect to provide the same level of service, he said.

“We don’t care if it’s the governor’s fault, the president’s fault, Congress’ fault,” he told the alderman, who sat beneath homemade signs supporting the centers, including several decrying the money spent on Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. “We want what we need, and it’s your job to make that happen.”

Cochran and Smith were empathetic, saying they would continue working to save the centers. In response to an audience member’s question, Cochran, who represents Woodlawn, said he would investigate using tax increment finance money to invest in the Woodlawn center.

The harshest words were reserved for Mason, who spoke last. He explained that he could only work with the resources given to him by the city and state.

“I didn’t wake up one morning and decide today is the day we’re going to close mental health centers,” he said. “I do believe the system is broken. Not just here in Chicago. …I’m trying to do the best I can.”

His explanations didn’t quell a restless crowd, which shouted questions at him. Anne Irving, policy director for the AFSME union, which represents employees at the centers, waved a letter she said was signed by Mason, which said the mental health centers had not submitted billing invoices to the state for six months in 2008.

Mason admitted a new computer system, introduced last April, confused employees. Between April and June 2008, he said, fewer patients were treated. It was during this time, he said, that the state chose to examine government departments to determine how much money they would receive in 2009.

Consequently, the Illinois Department of Human Services told the health department it would receive $1.2 million less in 2009.

Mason said the mental health budget is paid by the state upfront. The city then treats patients, and bills against that budget, sometimes treating more patients than its budget allows.

Irving countered by saying the September letter, written to Laurie Jones, director of DHS, accounted for six months of billing that did not occur. Mason said the city manually accounted for the billing between April and June.

His explanations did little to satisfy the crowd, which was calmed only when a moderator dismissed the meeting.

Southside Together Organizing Power, which organized the forum, is leading a protest at the health department’s offices, 333 S. State, next Thursday.