HERMITAGE Neighbors fear home residents

City officials have no control over where group homes go.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- A group of Richmond Drive residents wants to know who will be living in a group home coming to their neighborhood and what personal problems those people have.
Ed Gallagher of Richmond Drive and a half-dozen other residents showed up at a city commissioners' workshop Thursday to ask questions about the Community Counseling center of Mercer County project.
Angelo Stamoolis, the center's executive director, told commissioners in May that his agency planned to house three people diagnosed with mental health disorders at that house.
Financing
The state will pay $185,000 a year to run it and kick in $125,000 to help buy and renovate it. The center is looking for a $32,500 county grant for additional financing.
Gallagher said residents of the neighborhood have concerns about the residents of the group home and have been having trouble getting answers. They want to know if the group-home residents might be violent or have some behavioral problems that might put area residents in jeopardy, he said.
Kip Hoffman, clinical director for the center, was at the workshop and said there will be 24-hour supervision at the home but the three residents who will live there are already living in the community.
They have no history of violence or any kind of abusive or criminal behavior, he said, adding there aren't any safety issues for neighbors to worry about.
The residents are people who have trouble with organizational skills that they need for everyday living, he said.
That might be something as simple as help with shopping, managing finances or grocery shopping, he said.
"They're just normal people," said Sandra Patterson, the center's group home supervisor, adding that she's known these three people for "a long, long time."
Life skills
The center is teaching them skills they need to run their daily lives and they will be able to live at the group home for as long as the wish, she said.
"This is going to be their home," she said.
Gallagher asked what medications the residents might be taking and other personal details, but Hoffman refused to give that type of information, explaining it's a matter of confidentiality.
City officials said they have no control over where group homes are located. As long as they meet zoning requirements, they can go anywhere, officials said.
Gallagher didn't appear to be appeased by the answers he got.
"If anything [bad] happens, I'm going to own [Hermitage]," he told Hoffman.