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Clients of Fairhaven sheltered workshops will have same jobs after privatization, superintendent says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Clients of the Fairhaven sheltered workshops who are developmentally disabled won’t see significant changes in the jobs they have in the Fairhaven workshops as they transition to being employed and paid by the nonprofit Fairhaven Industries, a top official said Wednesday.
Ed Stark, superintendent of the Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said he disagrees with many of the comments a union official made at last week’s commissioners meeting about the change.
Jennifer Ramer, president of the union that represents about 110 workers at the Fairhaven workshops, said privatization of the workshops will make it so clients “sit around and color all day.”
“I don’t believe that’s the case,” Stark said Wednesday.
When the 400 adults working at four sheltered workshops make the transition to Fairhaven Industries through 2024, they “will continue the same level of services in the same buildings, the same locations, doing the same jobs they do now,” Stark told the commissioners.
They also will have the option to switch to another private provider of work, Stark told the commissioners.
The county DD board will transition clients of Fairhaven workshops to Fairhaven Industries in phases through 2024, Stark said.
The reason for the change is a “federal mandate” that went into effect in March 2014, he said.
“There is an inherent conflict if you are the funder of services and the provider of services. So essentially we’re writing and authorizing the plans for our own services and then paying ourselves to provide that service,” Stark said.
“So we have to pay somebody else to provide that service,” he said.
As for the change making the jobs no longer meaningful or helpful to the clients, that’s not true, Stark said.
“No one’s being forced to go into the community go get employment in other jobs,” Stark said. “We do have folks who are interested in that, and we do provide that service,” he said of working in more “competitive” workplaces.
The clients will be paid the same amount as they are paid now, but approximately 110 workers who currently work at the sheltered workshops and provide transportation will earn less, Stark said. They currently earn about $16 per hour but will make about $10 to $12 under Fairhaven Industries.
Stark said the reason for wages being reduced is that the non-profit must operate with the amount of Medicaid funds provided per client.
“They have to work within those rates,” Stark said. The private providers “will not be able to pay employees the same rate as the county board would be able to.”
The board has to move 70 percent of its clients to a private provider by 2020 and the other 30 percent by 2024, Stark said.
Stark also refuted Ramer’s allegation that “nobody knows” that the change to outside provider is taking place, saying the DD board has spent years explaining the change to the families involved and involving all the necessary parties in the transition plan.
He also disputed Ramer’s contention that there are other DD boards fighting this change. “This is a federal mandate. I don’t know any way to fight it,” he said, adding that 44 of the 88 counties in Ohio already have finished their transition.