DEVELOPMENTAL CENTERS Panel's report says Taft should shutter two retardation sites

One of the state's 10 developmental centers is in Mineral Ridge.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Republican Gov. Bob Taft didn't indicate when he would announce the final fate of the Springview and Apple Creek developmental centers.
A special state commission charged with reviewing the possible shuttering of the two mental retardation centers said in a report this week that Taft should proceed with their closing as he initially proposed last year.
"I have not yet seen the report," Taft said Wednesday outside his ceremonial offices in the Statehouse. The governor declined to comment further.
The report, compiled by the Ohio MR/DD Closure Commission, said the proposed closings -- Springview in 2005 and Apple Creek in 2006 -- were justified. Springview is in Clark County, and Apple Creek is in Wayne County.
The state's 10 other developmental centers are in Mineral Ridge in Trumbull County, Toledo, Cambridge, Columbus, Gallipolis, Huber Heights, Mount Vernon, Batavia, Tiffin and Highland Hills.
"We believe the [state mental retardation department] sufficiently presented its argument for the closure of both Springview and Apple Creek Developmental Centers," the report said.
What's in report
The report, submitted by a majority of the six-member closure commission, noted that testimony before the commission indicated that nine states have abandoned state-run mental retardation centers in favor of care in the communities.
Further, the report said state MRDD officials have indicated that the state needs fewer than the 12 current centers and that the Springview and Apple Creek facilities are two of the oldest in the state system.
Springview, which houses 48 patients, was built in 1910, and Apple Creek, which houses 119 patients, was built in 1931.
A minority report, however, recommended that the governor not shutter the two facilities, saying there is no need to close them.
The minority report, submitted by commission members Monty Blanton, president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees section that covers developmental centers, and Richard Klein, whose daughter Shawna Klein is a patient at Springview, said closing the centers would create unfunded mandates for counties and weaken the mental retardation services throughout the state.
The minority report added that support and services for the mentally retarded are overburdened now with 17,000 on a waiting list for residential services.
Last year, Taft announced his intention to close the two centers, saying the closures would save about $23 million in the next four years.
In December, Taft vetoed a bill that would have given a closure commission the power to stop such closings. Later, under threat of a veto override by the GOP-dominated Legislature, the governor signed a compromise bill that required him to at least justify the closings to a closure commission.
Taft is not bound by the closure commission's findings.
State law says the governor can reverse his original decision to close the centers, take other action that he deems necessary or follow the commission's recommendation.