5/9/07 - Health department’s space needs still exist

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

While two of the county’s three major space needs received discussion Tuesday, the needs of the Mental Health Department, which was the impetus behind efforts to place a Public Health Facility on south Main Street, went unaddressed.

Both the Mental Health Department’s primary clinic space on Clayton Avenue and the Horizon House day program facility on Grant Street have received citations from the state Office of Mental Health for space and confidentiality issues, according to Mike Kilmer, director of administrative services for the mental health department.

Both facilities will be reviewed by OMH in June, said Kilmer, who was concerned that Horizon House’s operating certificate, which has been paired down from a three-year certificate to a one-year certificate based on the citations, would be reduced further, to a six-month term.

“That’s really the best, worst-case scenario, diminishing the operating certificate to a six-month status,” Kilmer said. “They could potentially pull the certificate entirely, and then we don’t have a treatment center … (or) the county could try to mitigate with them, assuming they’d be willing to do that.”

The building on Grant Street has a two-year operating certificate, and while Kilmer said the duration of the certificate could potentially be reduced in June, he also noted that the lease for the building runs out at the end of 2008.

“We’ve outgrown that space, and we were hoping to be somewhere else before then, but it’s mid-2007, so I don’t really see that happening right now,” Kilmer said.

Legislators Tuesday said they were reluctant to move forward on seeking a new facility until the lawsuit regarding the annulled property purchases on south Main Street are resolved.

“I think it’s pretty apparent that (plans to relocate the Mental Health Department) have been set back, and its all contingent upon what’s going to happen (with the lawsuit),” said Legislature Chairman Marilyn Brown (D-8th Ward).

Sean Clark (D-2nd Ward), who chairs the Health Committee, agreed, but said the issue needed to be addressed quickly. “As I understand it the state’s been pretty understanding to this point, but that’s only going to last so long,” Clark said.

I will be checking to see whether the citations were ever published, What the OMH citations for space and confidentiality issues were, and how that impacts the departments. I do not believe that any of them are serious enough to cause operations to cease and pull the operating certificate... stay tuned.