LAWRENCE COUNTY Acreage next to Hill View sought

The prospective buyer wants to build homes and commercial buildings.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- An offer has come to Lawrence County commissioners for the vacant land near Hill View Manor in the same week they voted to close the facility.
County commissioners agreed Tuesday by a 2-to-1 vote to send a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Health giving notice that the county will close the nursing home in 90 days.
They also agreed to have the administrator and social worker prepare a letter to the residents or the person responsible for the resident giving a 30-day notification of closing to allow them to make transfer arrangements.
Purchase offer
Commissioners said they received an offer Monday from someone wanting to buy the 28 acres adjacent to the facility.
Commissioner Roger DeCarbo said an offer was submitted through Tanner-Gibson Real Estate. He would not say who made the offer or how much was offered.
DeCarbo asked the board during the meeting to get the land appraised, on the advice of county solicitor John Hodge.
Commissioners Brian Burick and Ed Fosnaught refused.
Fosnaught said the matter had not previously been discussed.
"Whenever people rush to do things, red flags go up," he said after the meeting.
Burick said he would rather let the new board of commissioners handle the matter because it won't directly affect the 2004 budget.
DeCarbo said he is unsure what will happen to the offer, because the other commissioners refused to support the appraisal.
Proposed use
He said the buyer has proposed building homes and using the portion of land near Pa. Route 65 for commercial business.
DeCarbo and Burick did agree during Tuesday's meeting to start the process to close the nursing home.
But Fosnaught, who is the only commissioner returning to office in January, doesn't think this is the end of Hill View Manor.
Fosnaught's fellow commissioners are leaving office Jan. 5.
Burick, who proposed closing Hill View, said he would gladly leave the decision to the next board of commissioners, but he is responsible for voting on the 2004 budget. It will cost an estimated $1.1 million more to operate the nursing home next year if the census remains at 55 people.
"At this time we have the budget, a low census and staffing problems [at Hill View]. Weighing all of those factors, I believe we need to phase out operations at Hill View Manor," Burick said. "The bottom line is I have to make a decision on what I believe is good for the whole of the community."
DeCarbo agreed.
"This is not an emotional issue to me. It's a building to me, and it's a drain on the taxpayers," he said.
An employee of Hill View and some others spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting urging commissioners to keep Hill View open. Most asked that the decision be left to the new board of commissioners taking office in two weeks.
Others, though, encouraged commissioners to close the facility.
"The cost is so great, I think the compassionate thing to do for people paying taxes is to put an end to it," said Bob Llewellyn, the leader of the local Libertarian party.
cioffi@vindy.com