MAYVILLE - County lawmakers will consider a proposal Wednesday to contract for an unbiased study of the County Home.
The resolution, proposed by George Borrello, R-Irving, is to contract with the Center for Governmen-tal Research to provide an analysis of the facility and its operations.
The Center for Governmental Research was one of a few agencies mentioned by County Home supporters and CSEA officials at the end of last year. Talk about potentially selling or altering operations at the County Home came to a head in recent months when lawmakers were asked to approve the selection of Marcus & Millichap - a consulting firm retained to market the County Home.
In response, CSEA officials had questioned how the legislature could move forward with marketing the facility when it had never had an unbiased assessment completed.
The resolution to hire the Center for Governmental Research passed the Human Services Committee unanimously recently. As such, it will go to the full legislature for vote Wednesday.
According to Borrello, conversation about the proposal was all very constructive in committee. The minutes of the meeting can be found online at the legislature's section of the county website.
Rose Conti wasn't at the Human Services Committee meeting, but said Friday that she and others will be in attendance Wednesday. Conti is the president of CSEA Unit 6300. The Center for Governmental Research was one of a few such agencies which Conti had mentioned to county lawmakers in suggesting an unbiased study be done on the County Home.
"I just think that somehow, we have to have a look at the County Home by somebody other than a business whose job it is to sell such facilities," Conti said Friday. "That's what they do. If we're really wanting to look at all our options, than why do we only go to someone who can help sell? I guess that is my question.
"I just thing that there's a lot of things that could have been done in the past and still could be done so that we don't sell this County Home," Conti continued.
STUDYING OPTIONS
In December, the majority of the legislature approved a resolution naming Marcus & Millichap as the firm chosen to market the County Home. That proposal had been tabled in November, but was brought back to the floor by lawmakers during the body's December meeting.
In explaining his reason for drafting the resolution, Borrello said that he had found the Center for Governmental Research to be a third party source of information which could be considered to be objective and independent
"They are uniquely qualified to analyze the County Home because they have already analyzed, I believe, four or five other county public homes in New York state," Borrello said. "So, for that reason, I consider them qualified to analyze our County Home to give us a list of recommendations or an analysis back that might tell us where we stand and whether the County Home has the ability to be solvent, to be operated in the black."
If approved by the full legislature Wednesday, the Center for Governmental Research will conduct its study separate of but concurrently with Marcus & Millichap, which continues to advertise the home.
"So much is going on," Borrello said, pointing to state reimbursements for Medicaid and Medicare. "So much is in flux. We really need as much info as possible in order to make an informed decision here."
According to the proposal, the contract with the Center for Governmental Research is not to exceed $80,000. Additionally, the study is to be funded from the County Home's 2012 contractual account budget with any necessary adjustments to be made later in the year.
