Late yesterday afternoon, mental health advocates were pleasantly surprised to learn that Mayor Daley had put a temporary hold on the city's plan to close four South Side clinics run by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). The mayor said he wanted to gather information on the flawed billing system that triggered the cuts (and came with a $16 million pricetag). But the Chi-Town Daily News' Alex Parker reports that, after attending a three-hour meeting with city officials last night, activists "left confused, frustrated and uncertain":

“At this point, they are supposed to get back to us,” says Darryl Gumm, chairman of the Community Mental Health Board. He says officials gave no indication when they might make a final decision.

Community members aren't the only ones clueless about what Daley intends to do. Bedonna Rheingold, a board member at the Woodlawn clinic, told Parker that that her clinic is still on schedule to close Friday. Meanwhile, a Progress Illinois reader and CDPH employee sent in this dispatch from the department's annual all-staff meeting on the South Side this morning:

[Health Commissioner Terry] Mason just now said he still has no actual instructions from City Hall to halt the closures, and that he is trying to clarify it with them.  The others below him say they take orders from the Commissioner.

We'll let you know if we hear of any further developments.