Facility sparks debate in Vale
Meeting generates more questions than answers regarding proposal

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:30 AM PDT

Vale — A proposed assisted living facility for mentally ill patients along the John Day Highway in Vale produced a wave of criticism from a number of area residents at a Vale planning and zoning public hearing Monday night.

The proposed facility — set to be situated near the 900 block of Campbell Street in Vale and operated by Lifeways — stirred a critique from residents regarding security, safety and property tax issues at the Monday session.

Lifeways contacted the city of Vale regarding permission to build a 6,528-square-foot living facility designed to house eight residents from state mental hospitals under constant supervision.

This building, Vale City Manager Brent Barton said, would contain a full kitchen and dining area, as well as a covered deck and outdoor meeting area.

Lifeways Executive Director Greg Schneider said the facility would offer long-term care, with patients from state hospitals receiving treatment at the facility because they are unable to perform the day-to-day tasks needed to survive on their own.

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“Some of these people have records,” Vale resident Bonnie Westerberg said. “Are we getting thieves, sex offenders, ax murders? Though I don’t think they will be that. What type of people are we going to have as neighbors?”

Schneider said state law forbade him from releasing information regarding the potential patients’ mental illnesses or any criminal histories.

He said the list has not been completely compiled yet, but the center is currently looking at 14 names, which will be narrowed down to eight to fill the facility.

These patients have been evaluated by the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which has jurisdiction over patients found “guilty except for reason of insanity” of a crime. This board, Schneider said, decides what should be the best course of treatment for patients who fit the proper classification. Schneider also called this board “conservative” and said patients are sometimes placed under more care than they actually need.

Schneider said he did not know for sure what crimes the patients set for the facility are charged with.

He said, though, major crimes were still on the table.

“Attempted murder, could be murder,” he said. “I don’t know.”  

Schneider said the patients would be medicated and supervised at all times and statistically, mentally ill patients are more likely to be victims of crime rather than commit crimes when on medication. It is when they are left unmedicated and untreated, he said, statistics show an increase in crimes committed by the mentally ill.

However, he said the patient selection process would be up to Lifeways.

“You’re going to have to trust us,” he said.

He also said Lifeways will report any incidents to The Office of Investigations and Training, a state agency that monitors facilities such as the one proposed by Lifeways. Schneider said the agency will visit the facility after one month, in six months and then one year after the facility opens. It will also investigate any incidents to learn why those problems happened.

“We have an obligation to report to them,” Schneider said.

Beyond safety, residents were also concerned about the location of the proposed facility. Vale resident June Johnson asked why Lifeways chose the area it did.

“The facility has to be close to utilities,” Schneider said. “Electricity, water, sewage. It can’t be isolated, those folks need to get to town to do things like go to doctor’s appointments.”

Schneider also said remodeling an existing building to suit the needs of the facility would not be cost-effective.

Another idea that would have raised the facility’s ultimate cost would be building it near the 1100 block of Southwest Fourth Street in Ontario. Schneider said the area would have cost $300,000 to make improvements to bring the site in compliance with city code.

“We had to back away from it,” he said.

Another monetary issue brought up at the meeting involved property taxes. As a non-profit mental healthcare provider, Lifeways does not have to pay property taxes on a majority of its buildings such as McNary Place in Umatilla, a facility similar to the one proposed in Vale. However, if Lifeways not paying property taxes proved to be an issue for the Vale P&Z, Schneider said he would re-evaluate the budget to make room for those additional taxes.

Vale resident Roy Campbell, who lives near the proposed site, said he was concerned not all residents living near the facility were not informed of the potential building, including some who lived across the John Day Highway from the area. However, Barton said he sent out letters throughout the distance dictated by city law. If he continued to send letters further, he said, some residents would still feel excluded.

“Where does it end?” he said of the letters mailed.

Kevin Campbell of the Eastern Oregon Human Services Consortium said it would be unfair to expect a mental health facility to follow different rules than if the facility were a motorcycle shop or some other land use.

“You can’t discriminate against a group of people,” he said.

The planning commission decided it needed more time to evaluate the concerns brought up at the meeting and would reconvene on the issue at 7 p.m. Monday.