MONTICELLO – Members of the Sullivan County Legislature on Thursday engaged in shouting matches over when and how the decision to shut down the county nursing home was made, which was announced on Wednesday.
At the same time, several county residents spoke up, all opposed to the closure, among them Star Hasiema, a member of the county Senior Action Committee.
“I don’t understand how people can claim to be supportive of their duty to take care of the people who elected them and also their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of Sullivan County and turn around and say we just can’t afford this, so we’ll spend on airports, we’ll spend on other things that we don’t have to keep people well through using, and now we’re going to get rid of it,” she said.
Mark McCarthy, a former county legislator and former Neversink town supervisor, was not pleased with the decision.
“Needless to say, I’m as upset as anybody that they are going to close this place. I was town supervisor. My mom was there. She complained about being there. Never complained about the place, but she didn’t want to be there. Hell, nobody wants to be there. Of course not,” he said. “But for 60 years, 70 years, the taxpayers of this county have paid for that facility in case their parent, grandparent, somebody needed it.”
Legislature Chairwoman Nadia Rajsz tried to make a case for closing the facility, saying the county has covered $22.8 million in shortfalls and the building needs $10 million in upgrades.
The county has promised to find new skilled care homes for the 96 patients at the Sullivan County facility, but Legislator Luis Alvarez said the county has been on the phone non-stop and cannot find other area facilities who can take on the additional patients
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