Dudley House Answer Near?
No agenda was available today, but a brief item in the legal notice for tomorrow night's special City Council meeting appears to signal possible closure to the Dudley House situation.
"Resolution authorizing a contract for substance abuse counseling services" could mean an agency has been found to take over the formerly city-run residential program. The facility lost its license last year because it was not handicapped-accessible, as required under state regulations. Since then, it has been renovated and brought up to ADA standards. But council members said they would prefer to have it operated by a private agency rather than by the city.
Almost all costs associated with the program came out of state and county funding for clients in the 15-bed residence, but the required renovations increased the city's tab last year. As of last May, all clients had left the program and no new ones could be accepted until the improvements were complete. Meanwhile, other management possibilities were being explored.
The plight of Dudley House brought out many former clients and advocates in 2007 to plead for its continuance. Click here for Plaintalker's story.
The special meeting tomorrow (June 25, 2009) is 8 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice Paglia
"Resolution authorizing a contract for substance abuse counseling services" could mean an agency has been found to take over the formerly city-run residential program. The facility lost its license last year because it was not handicapped-accessible, as required under state regulations. Since then, it has been renovated and brought up to ADA standards. But council members said they would prefer to have it operated by a private agency rather than by the city.
Almost all costs associated with the program came out of state and county funding for clients in the 15-bed residence, but the required renovations increased the city's tab last year. As of last May, all clients had left the program and no new ones could be accepted until the improvements were complete. Meanwhile, other management possibilities were being explored.
The plight of Dudley House brought out many former clients and advocates in 2007 to plead for its continuance. Click here for Plaintalker's story.
The special meeting tomorrow (June 25, 2009) is 8 p.m. in City Hall Library, 515 Watchung Ave.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 6:01 PM
3 Comments:
So will the staff, if any, associated with Dudley House be let go, or assimilated into an already bloated city hall?
The Dudley House staff is competent, caring, and conscientious and I hope they stay with the program. And the Dudley House name should be kept, no matter who operates it--Dudley House has been an outstanding and well-respected facility for many years and has cost the city very little to run since most of the cost has come from grants, as did much of the funding for rehabilitating the building so it would meet ADA standards.
I suspect that if the city had met its deadlines for grants and made the appropriate repairs on time, we would not be having this conversation. The reason Dudley House is being taken over by an outside organization is because the city messed up.
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