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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1516 REMINGTON, REMINGTON HOUSE GROUP HOME - PDP - 11-00 - MEDIA -INS � 0 ■ Region, State/2, 612 ■ Obituaries, Record/4 ■ Cash 5/4 ri City editor: ■ Opinion/8 Mary Benanfi, 224-7740 y- LO v Countyshuttin its ouch tregq&_ By DAVID PERSONSg Yment center $bje Coloradoan %v"Larimer County commis- dtoners approved a plan Tuesday to close Youth Safe, a county -funded residential tment center for trou- youths. -V Me closure becomes ef- fective March 31. About half of the 15 FOuths currently being treated at the facility will be rWocated to private treat- ml'ent centers in the area. The remainder are ached- t9ed to finish their treat- ment at the end of March I _ , _. ;. and will be released. The county has operated the Youth Safe — formerly Shelter Care — program since fall 1990. However, Youth Safe officials have struggled since the outset to keep costs in line with the revenue they received. The county has spent $888,000 over the past 10 years to subsidize deficits in the pro- gram. While the deficit is a Prime reason why Larimer County Human Services Di- rector Ginny Riley recom- mended that the cemmis- Financial woes add up to trouble for Youth Safe sinners close the program, it was not the only reason. "Mere's also been indi- rect cests to the program in addition to the deficit," Riley said. "In 1999, those costs were about $80,000." In addition, the program's 10-year lease to rent space at Foothills Gateway Inc, 301 Skyway Drive, expires at the end of the year. Youth Safe must sign a new 10. year lease with Foothills Gateway by June 30. The new lease, however, will reflect the goingg rental rate, about $12 to $15 per square foot. Rent on the old lease was $3.50 per square foot. Two new residential treatment centers, with the capacity of nearly 30 beds, will open in the next couple of months, further increas- ing the community's ability to provide these services, Ri- ley said. They will be operat- ed by the Jacob Center and Mountain Crest Hospital. All these things put'to- gether make it prudent to close Youth Safe,' Riley told the commissioners. Riley added that the im- pact on parents should not be significant. "Medicaid pays for this service so there will be no (additional) cost to the fami- lies," Riley said of the clo- sure. As for the program's em- ployees — 14 full-time workers,'nine temporaries, two contract mental health workers and four student interns — Riley said some planning were already un- der way to take care of them. The manager of Youth Safe has already resigned to take a job managing one of the new centers, Riley said. Two other employees have found assignments within the department. Riley said this effort would continue so as many employees can be relocated as possible. Because some employees may wish to leave before the Program ends, Riley sug- gested that if any employee is willing to work until the closing at the end of March, that the employee be given two weeks' severance pay as an incentive. The commis- sioners approved the sug- gestion. Riley also suggested that the Program staff be allowed to sell office equipment that isn't needed elsewhere in the county and keep the money to help defray close- out expenses. The commis- sioners agreed.