MERCER COUNTY Nursing home to stay open despite loan denial

It will be business as usual, the chief officer said.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- The chief operating officer of Woodland Place nursing home said the institution has no intention of closing, despite a court ruling denying the home a $1 million emergency loan from Mercer County.
"We're not shutting our doors," Drew Pierce said this morning, after a Tuesday night meeting of the home's board of directors.
It will be business as usual and the plan is to continue to operate and continue to take care of indigent and elderly residents of Mercer County, he said.
Pierce declined to offer any specifics of how Woodland Place will deal with its financial problems without the county loan.
Refused to pay loan
Commissioners Michele Brooks and Olivia Lazor voted in August to approve the loan, but Tom Amundsen, county controller, refused to pay it, contending the commissioners had no authority to make such a loan to a private entity.
Woodland Place was once the county's nursing home but was sold to a private nonprofit group in 1977.
Lazor and Brooks challenged Amundsen's position in court but a judge ruled in Amundsen's favor, agreeing that the commissioners had no legal authority to make the loan.
The money was to cover some building renovation costs and make one payment on an $8.8 million bond issue borrowed by the home to consolidate its debts and provide some money for on-going renovation work.
County made payment
While the loan issue was being argued in court, Woodland Place defaulted on the loan payment and the county, which had guaranteed the loan, had to make the $220,000 payment.
Lazor and Brooks met Tuesday to review the court ruling, but Lazor said they haven't decided if they will appeal the court ruling, file some new court action seeking to get the payment approved or do nothing.
She said the worst-case scenario is that Woodland Place could declare bankruptcy and the county might have to take over operation of the nursing home, which has about 85 residents.
The best-case scenario, she said, would be that the county has to pick up about four of the bond issue payments to give the nursing home time to get back on its feet financially.
That money could then eventually be repaid to the county, she said.