Published: August 04, 2009 09:18 am      

CCI asks for more time to use $180,000 in county demolition funds

Request met with resistance by Chairman Starling

CLINTON — The Clinton County Board of Supervisors on Monday discussed whether Community Care, Inc. will be given an extension on money the board pledged to provide by Dec. 31, 2009.

In 2004, when CCI agreed to purchase the Charlotte facility at 1611 330th Ave., Charlotte, it was with the stipulation the county would pay $180,000 for demolition and maintenance of certain buildings, to be paid no later than Dec. 31, 2009. These funds would be provided with proof of the cost involved in each phase of demolition, with half being dispersed upon proof of partial demolition and the second half upon the completion of the project.

Community Care, Inc. CEO William Bonnes attended Monday’s meeting to ask for an extension of the funds, as the demolition has not yet been planned. He said the members of his board decided at a meeting last week to ask for the extension of the $180,000 to be used for demolition and maintenance of the original county home portion of the Charlotte facility. If the extension requested were allowed, the new deadline would be June 30, 2011.

“The commitment was for five years for the county to help with the demolition of it. I guess, why wasn't it done sooner than this,” asked Supervisors Chairman Dennis Starling. Bonnes said while he could not answer specifically because he was not a part of the organization at the time, it appears changes to the organization’s board is among matters that may have prevented them from executing this plan as quickly as they would have preferred.

“We come to a point now, to where you're not able..., you don't want, or whatever, to do it at this time. And I guess, from my perspective, and as a trustee of the dollars of the taxpayer, I'm going to have to be convinced that the county taxpayer is going to benefit from any extension of this. Now it's true that we have county people out there at your facility, but it's also true that the county taxpayers pay the bill for these people, or the state or whoever,” said Starling. “I guess I have a problem with this not being resolved before this period of time.”

Bonnes responded that the facility is a part of the county and provides services and jobs. He said around 30 individuals from the county are employed there and several of the patients are from Clinton County.

Bonnes said, if able, they would take even more county individuals into the facility.

“What the citizens from my board, who are all from Clinton County, said basically is that, 'For whatever reason, we're not ready to demolish this building.' However, as Jill (Supervisor Jill Davisson) indicated, if you all won't give us an extension, then we probably will still go ahead. We won't like that. But we probably will still go ahead,” said Bonnes. “Because there will be some displacement if we go ahead and demolish that part of the building because it will be a hazard site because it has asbestos. So we'll have to remove the people from the building. We'll have to put them in other facilities until this abatement is done and then bring them back. So we're causing a lot of unnecessary movement of people who are mentally ill.”

Starling pointed out this displacement would occur no matter when the demolition happens.

Bonnes said while that is true, the problem related with the displacement could be lessened if they had more time.

“But it could be done with some better planning, over the course of the next 12 months or 18 months, as opposed to doing it in three months. Cause my board doesn't want to lose that $180,000. So all we're saying is 'Listen. We want to plan this in a way that would benefit the individuals we serve and the employees who are primarily Clinton County residents,” said Bonnes.

Another concern Starling voiced was over CCI’s plans for this site and the future. He wanted to know what exactly the plans were, which Bonnes said had not been officially decided.

“The jobs in that area. Being as this site is not profitable and stuff and when we discussed at our first meeting, when we had a meeting, we discussed the possibility of selling the facility and maybe moving it someplace else. So we would be losing those jobs in that area, if that would happen,” said Starling. “If we were going to tear this down, we were going to expand it, we were going to make more services available and that money was going to go for that, I would have no problem with it. But if we're going to tear this down, just so we get rid of a liability so that perhaps it can be sold and that money transferred someplace else, I guess that's the concern I have.”

Jill Davisson said she mostly supported the extension. She was reluctant to have CCI rush their plans, especially as the $180,000 had not been budgeted for this specific purpose.

The funds are available due to a couple of projects that are no longer necessary, including the county’s cleanup on the Buffalo Bill property.

However, Davisson said she would still prefer it if this line item was officially in the budget. Supervisor John Staszewski had very little comments or objections to the extension.

“We've got to pay it. Like I said before, we can pay it now or we can pay it later,” said Staszewski.

Davisson brought up the idea that as a way for taxpayers to receive some benefit from the extension, CCI could agree to lower the amount to $160,000 in exchange for extending it. Bonnes said he could not comment on the possibility of such an agreement without talking to his board.

“At this time, I would think that I kind of oppose extending. But that's me. I'm only one member,” said Starling. “Now, we are contractually obligated for $180,000. If your board decides that they want to move on this and get that done, we will meet our obligations. I mean, this is an obligation we have to you and we will meet that obligation.”

The board will decide on the matter Aug. 10, assuming Clinton County Attorney Mike Wolf can have a resolution written up at that time. It will be put on the Aug. 10 agenda under the 9:15 a.m. resolution and action items. If the resolution is not ready in time, the matter could be decided at the Aug. 17 meeting.