Residential recovery center would be asset, director says

Residents must work and adhere to a strict daily schedule.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Despite opposition from a city councilman, the director of a local Christian-based addiction rehabilitation program says establishment of a residential recovery center housing up to 35 men in a historic Mahoning Avenue home would be an asset to the community.
"It's going to be a working ministry," said Gary Gill, director of the local chapter of Reformers Unanimous, which is sponsored by Liberty Bible Church in Fowler, where he is assistant pastor.
The community will see recovering residents' lives changing, and residents will be available to perform community cleanup projects, Gill said. "We want to give back," he said. "We want to help the community that's helping us."
With headquarters in Rockford, Ill., the program founded in 1996 has affiliates in the United States, Canada, India and Japan.
Calling itself the nation's largest faith-based addiction abstinence program, it has more than 400 chapters in the United States serving people with drug, alcohol, gambling and other addictions. A Reformers recovery group, typically with about 40 people in attendance, meets at 7 p.m. Fridays at the Fowler church.
WRAP discussion
The Warren Redevelopment and Planning Corp. has had an exploratory discussion with Reformers concerning establishment of a residential recovery center in the vacant Woods-McCombs House at 624 Mahoning Ave., said Anthony Iannucci Jr., WRAP director.
If the house near the city's downtown is to be used for the recovery program, Reformers would most likely lease the structure initially from WRAP, Iannucci said.
Dr. Daniel B. Woods, who built the house around 1858, was one of the first doctors to use ether as an anesthetic during surgery in 1846. The McCombs family resided there later.
Residents of a Reformers recovery center, known as students, must be accepted into the six-to-eight-month program, adhere to a highly structured schedule and a dress code, and work, Gill and Iannucci said.
Besides full-time work, residents' daily routine also includes evening chapel and self-help, job readiness and personal finance classes, said Gill, adding that Reformers approached city officials here for help in establishing a residential program.
Other resident requirements
Participants without high school diplomas would also work on obtaining their general equivalency diplomas in the evenings, he said.
Residents must also meet a tuition of more than $4,000 by having a sponsor or working to pay it, Gill said. A resident director and staff monitor would work at the facility, and lights-out time would be 10 p.m. (11 p.m. Saturdays), he added. Individual counseling for residents would occur primarily on Saturdays. Reformers plans to have residents undergo urine testing for evidence of drug abuse, Gill said.
Councilman opposed
City Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, said he doesn't think programs such as Reformers belong in a historic or residential district.
Novak said he and neighborhood residents would fight any zone-change attempts or other actions to facilitate this type of program in the Woods House or any other building in his ward.
"I am adamantly against this," Novak said, citing two other similar faith-based programs on Washington Street, where he said the clients "became nothing but neighborhood nuisances."
"I understand we need development in the city, but this sure is not the type of development that we need," Novak said.
Residents would work on house
If WRAP makes the Woods House available to Reformers, the plan would be for the residents to continue to improve the house and "make it a model property in the neighborhood," benefiting the city and WRAP, Iannucci said.
The house has all new plumbing, electric and heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, Iannucci said, characterizing it as "90 percent rehabbed." Residents would also be available to work on city projects, such as park beautification, Iannucci said.
"There's not going to be smoking. There's not going to be cussing" among Reformers residents, Gill said. "There's not going to be guys sitting outside with no shirts on and loud music playing."
"We're just doing our due diligence to figure out whether this is an appropriate agency for this particular place," Iannucci said. WRAP wouldn't "do anything to hurt the neighborhood when we're trying to revitalize downtown," he added.
Iannucci concluded: "Our community should be open to people who want to reform their lives."
milliken@vindy.com