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Proposed state commission would review facilities closures
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A new state commission would review facilities closures proposed by the governor, under legislation being considered in the Ohio Senate and House.
Lawmakers said Wednesday they plan an amendment to include the announced closings of developmental centers in Youngstown and Montgomery County, with hopes that disabled residents can remain where they are.
“This decision has left many residents, their families and current employees with unanswered questions regarding their futures,” Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni of Boardman, D-33rd, told the chamber’s Government Oversight and Reform Committee, where the bill had its initial hearing.
“Although community-based and private group- home care can be a successful alternative for some, it is the consensus of the families and residents affected by this recent decision that other types of care do not meet their needs, based on their disabilities.”
SB 62, sponsored by Schiavoni and Sen. Capri Cafaro of Hubbard, D-32nd; and HB 73, sponsored by Reps. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-59th, and Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown, D-58th, call for the creation of closure commissions whenever the administration proposes to close a state-run facility.
The 13-member panel would review the reasons for the closure, the potential impact and other issues and offer recommendations before affected facilities could close.
Schiavoni said he planned an amendment to cover the closings of the Youngstown and Montgomery developmental centers, which are slated to ceased operations in about two years. He said that decision is affecting 180 disabled residents and 400 employees.
“The residents at this facility require round-the-clock, highly skilled, individual-specific care,” he said. “For many patients, a consistent routine has been established, and that is so crucial to ensure the safety of residents and staff.”
Wednesday’s hearing came a day after families of residents and employees of the two facilities offered testimony before another lawmaker committee, urging reconsideration of the closures.
The administration has cited a decreasing population of disabled residents among other reasons for the closings. Residency at state-run centers has dropped about 40 percent over the past eight years.
Schiavoni and Cafaro said employees at the Youngstown center have been instructed by the state in recent years to move residents to other residences when they can.
“Now it seems they’re being punished for doing what the state told them to do — they tried to get folks out that can get into group homes,” Schiavoni said. “What we’re left with in the facility... are the most at-risk people not only in the Valley but in the state. There’s no option, there’s no alternative that fits the needs of the folks that are currently in there.”
Cafaro added, “These folks don’t really have another place that will be able to serve them.”