Representative Terry Morrow has called upon the Department of Human Services and the Department of Administration to answer questions regarding the still-unoccupied nursing home at the Regional Treatment Center.
Excerpts from Mankato Free Press coverage, July 3, 2010
“An $8.8 million facility to house aging convicts and sex offenders at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center remains unoccupied a year after construction was completed and nearly eight months after state officials hailed it as “a great structure” at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.”
“Morrow said it wasn’t until June that he realized building deficiencies were keeping the facility from being used — and only then because of reports from area residents who are familiar with what’s going on at the treatment center.
“I found out when a good number of folks individually stopped me in the last couple of weeks around town and talked about was happening,” said Morrow, who was elected to the House in 2006. “I never heard from the department that there were any kinds of problems.”
Awaiting answers
Morrow responded with a letter to Human Services Commissioner Cal Ludeman on June 24 to “express my deep concern regarding the forensic nursing home located in St. Peter” and asking “who is responsible for these failures.” He requested a response by June 28.
Human Services forwarded the letter to Administration, and Morrow began to get answers Thursday afternoon — about the same time answers to the list of Free Press questions arrived.
The response was the same: that the parties involved were still working to determine how the fixes will be done, and that completion dates and costs can’t be estimated yet.
Who’s responsible for the additional cost is still being sorted out as well, Morrow was told.
Morrow said he has questions that go beyond the violations themselves, including the months-long delays between when the contractor finished construction and turned the building over to Human Services (July 14, 2009) and when the fire and health inspections were conducted (April 29, 2010).”
Morrow said he’s already taking steps to allow the Legislature to verify that and has informed the chairman of the House Health and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee of the problems.
I’m going to ask DHS to report to the Legislature who was responsible. I’m going to ask the department to report that no tax dollars were lost because of these mistakes.
$8.8 million RTC state nursing home unusable
http://mankatofreepress.com/bigstory/x383292768/-8-8-million-RTC-state-nursing-home-unusable