This is not right and you shouldn’t do it.”

Aileen Gunther

Brian McPhillips changes his vote

Sullivan County Legislator Brian McPhillips, who originally voted to keep the care center open during the first vote on March, was one of the votes to close the facility during a special full legislature meeting on October 1.

The reasoning for the change is that McPhillips expresses hope that a new operator can better manage the facility than the county could while not driving up county expenses. McPhillips, chair of the Management and Budget Committee, also said he was trying to avoid placing a “burden” on county taxpayers. He views the request for proposal and the idea of a private operator continuing services at the ACC the best path forward.

“The RFP is an attempt to have the residents know that the direction is to keep it as an elderly care facility,” McPhillips said. “I think it’s the clearest way of moving forward for the residents and to provide future care.”

McPhillips said that the RFP is the reason for things to be the way they are. He said he is a strong supporter of the facility, and wants to keep medical services in that building and in Liberty, but that the current situation at the ACC led him to vote for closure.

“The care facility was obviously very important to me, as I’ve been vocally in favor of keeping it open. But at that time, it’s a 146-bed facility and it was almost [at] capacity. Things change when you have five residents in a facility now.”

McPhillips also said he was happy that the public got a chance to voice their opinion, and said that the message he got was more focused on having a care facility in general, not specifically a county-operated one.

“The ultimate undertone I heard was that the public was more concerned of having an accessible facility for elder care, not so much concern of whether or not the county was the one that operated it.”

McPhillips also said that his responsibility is financial in addition to providing public services, and ultimately that responsibility decided his vote.

“I don’t have faith that the county could have run it in the best interest of the people that were in need,” McPhillips said. “It’s a tough position to be in, being a legislator. But at the end of the day, my responsibility is to provide care, and I think my responsibility is also fiduciary.”

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — In a public five-to-four vote, the Sullivan County Legislature authorized the closure of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center, also known as the Care Center at Sunset Lake, and began a request for proposal process to find a new long-term care operator to run a facility in the building during a special meeting of the full legislature on October 1.

This move is the latest in the tense process of closing the facility, which started with a vote taken during an executive session on March 26. The closure was announced August 19; at that time, the facility employed 86 people and had 93 residents. Since then there has been public outcry that the vote was carried out during an executive session and without the public having its say. Complaints led to a lawsuit filed by a former resident of the facility and their family members, as well as workers at the facility, that called foul on the process.

According to an attorney for the county working on the lawsuit, the move signaled a compromise between the public, legislators and the county. The county said it could not comment on matters of ongoing litigation, although Sullivan County Communications Director Dan Hust did say that “the county will continue to abide by Judge Bryant’s injunction and looks forward to presenting its case in court later this month.”

“This resolution, this day, is about the art of compromise. Politics is the art of compromise for the public good,” deputy county attorney Khalid Bashajwish said. “All of the legislators have different views. They have strong opinions…but they’ve done their best to find a compromise for a very difficult decision.”
In the end, the difficult decision lay squarely on the shoulder of legislators. A resolution put before the special meeting authorized the closure of the care center and directed county manager Joshua Potosek and his office to issue an RFP to find a new operator for long-term care services. Legislators Nadia Rajsz, Brian McPhillips, Nicholas Salomone Jr., Joseph Perrello and Amanda Ward all voted in favor of the closure, while legislators Matthew McPhillips, Catherine Scott, Luis Alvarez and Terry Blosser-Bernardo voted against it.

Rajsz, who is the chair of the legislature, said she was glad the question was settled, and said that the decision did not come easy to the legislature. She cited ongoing financial difficulties with the county as driving this decision.

“This was not meant to harm any human being or resident or employee, but I think that this is in the best interest of all the residents of the county,” Rajsz said. “We have to be fiscally responsible, and I do believe that a private operator will do a better job than the county government is in overseeing an adult care center.”

Scott, who is the chair of the Health and Human Services committee and an outspoken advocate for the ACC, said the closure was “incredibly disappointing” and “very frustrating.” She urged Sullivan County residents to pressure their legislators and demand better.

Chair of the Health and Human Services comittee Legislator Catherine Scott, said the closure was was “incredibly disappointing” and “very frustrating.”

RR photo by Patrick Kelly

“The people of this county deserve better than what they’re getting, and people need to demand more of their government,” Scott said. “More transparency, more information and more of a say… I think we made a mistake and we didn’t take our time, and now we’re making the same mistake today.”

Blosser-Bernardo, who was the one legislator who did not vote originally on the ACC closure, said she wanted to give it back to Infinite Care, a consulting firm that had been consulting with the county and acting as an operator. Infinite Care signed an agreement to the county that would see the facility’s operating document transfer to Infinite Care. Due to bureaucracy surrounding that process, Infinite Care withdrew from the facility.

In comments made explaining her vote, Blosser-Bernardo said that she has made contact with representatives from Infinite Care who said they would still be interested in the facility.

“Keeping the county care center county-owned, as you see, does not have support from this legislature,” she said. “Closing this deal with Infinite Care is the only safe harbor that will keep these nursing home beds in this county open. Rejecting it is irresponsible.”

Public outcry

Several members of the public expressed their dismay at the closure of the ACC, including former elected officials. Former Assembly Member Aileen Gunther, who was a nurse and who served on the health committee of the New York State Assembly for the full duration of her time in office, said that residents were community members before they were residents of the ACC, and that the facility was their home.

Former Assembly Member Aileen Gunther speaks out against closing the Adult Care Center, saying the closure will be "devastating."

RR photo by Patrick Kelly

“This has become a home to them, and to take them away from their home is really a tragedy. These folks were living in our community and paying taxes for year and year after year after year,” Gunther said. “This is not right and you shouldn’t do it.”

After the vote, Gunther said to the River Reporter that it was “ridiculous” that Sullivan County, which has an aging population, was closing the ACC. Gunther also expressed concern about where residents are being transferred to, saying that some family members may not be able to see them.

“I’m very upset for the aging people in our community,” Gunther said. “I’m really upset about it.”

Bonnie Lewis, one of the petitioners on the lawsuit against the county, said that the move to close will have major impacts, and will influence her vote next year.

“I personally will take an extreme interest in their future political careers,” Lewis said. “It’s devastating for the families of the 93 residents. It’s devastating for future generations.”

Not everyone who gave public comment was against the closure of the ACC, however. Joy Wood, a former administrator of the Roscoe Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, said that the county should not run the facility and it should go to a private operator.

“I don’t think any county can manage a nursing home today. It’s very, very complicated. It’s not for the faint of heart,” Wood said.

Wood cited a changing regulatory environment, staffing shortages and low reimbursement rates as difficulties facing the nursing home landscape right now. Wood also said that the county mismanaged the care center, leading to its failure.

“I would love to see the care center operational. I would love for another provider to take it,” Wood said. “Is that possible? I don’t know.”

Nick Lancione, a former employee of the care center, also spoke on the county’s mismanagement of the facility. He compared his current employer, Orange County’s county-operated nursing home, Valley View, to his time at the ACC bluntly.

Former care center employee Nick Lancione spoke out against county's mismanagement of the Adult Care Center.

RR photo by Patrick Kelly

“I’ve actually been at Valley View for two [years] now,” Lancione said. “I have to say, a county that gives a sh*t, drastic difference.”

Lancione said that the closure of the ACC was a result of this mismanagement. “It’s been on the road of failure for decades. And this is the final result.”

Lancione also said that the staff and workers of the care center truly did care, and did their best with the circumstances they were given. However, the legislature’s management of the facility did not make it easy.

“They loved it. They put their hearts and souls into it. It’s a hospitality industry,” Lancione said. “And unfortunately, there are people in this room, I am facing them, that do not have the heart for it. It’s about caring. That is why it is the care center.”

The future?

Majority Leader for the Sullivan County Legislature Matthew McPhillips is working on a resolution that would put the ACC closure on the ballot as a referendum.

RR photo by Patrick Kelly

As the county puts out an RFP for the facility, it has received some interest already from organizations that would want to operate a care facility in the former ACC.

“The county has already received multiple inquiries in past weeks from parties interested in operating the care center as a long- and short-term care facility,” Hust said. “The county therefore anticipates that a request for proposals will elicit a similar amount of interest.”

Rajsz also told the River Reporter that there are “many interested vendors” who would like to set up shop in the former ACC, but that the county isn’t making any determinations until the RFP process is complete. Rajsz also said that in that RFP process, the county could gain services.

“It could be rehab, it could be other services they can provide that we were not able to provide,” Rajsz said.

Some legislators hope that the fight isn’t over yet. Legislator Matthew McPhillips is working on a resolution to have the questions of the ACC’s closure put on the ballot as a referendum.

“I do believe that there needs to be at least the option to the public to have it publicly run,” he said to the River Reporter. “I look forward to working with my colleagues who expressed interest in a referendum so that the voters of Sullivan County can make their choice known.”