MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD TO SELL FOUR WORK CENTERS
Agency will phase out direct services to clients with disabilities.
The Montgomery County Board of Developmental Disabilities Services is trying to sell four of its work centers as it phases out a variety of direct services for clients with disabilities.
The board has issued a request for proposals in search of private organizations that want to buy the Calumet, Jergens, Kuntz and Liberty centers.
The county is seeking buyers who will offer services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The centers serve about 609 clients.
“Offering our buildings up is another way for us to find private providers to serve folks in our county,” said Nancy Banks, the board’s superintendent.
The transition is expected to impact 182 staff who work at the adult services centers and 54 who provide transportation services, officials said.
By 2024, the county board of developmental disabilities services must cease its adult day, employment and non-medical transportation services and transition clients with federal funding waivers into privately run programs.
The county will be in charge of case management for people with developmental disabilities. But the board will no longer provide adult services and transportation to people with and without federal waivers in the county, except the county-operated Stillwater Center.
By 2019, county boards in Ohio can directly serve no more than 30 percent of people on federal waivers in their counties.
The board is soliciting proposals from private providers who want to purchase the four work centers and offer services at the facilities. Proposals are due May 17.
“We’re looking for quality services for individuals that we are serving,” Banks said.
The board is working to increase the number of private providers in the county as well as expand the capacity of existing providers, Banks said. Four existing providers have expanded their services, including United Rehabilitation Services, which is investing more than $7 million to upgrade and add onto its home so it can double the number of children and adults with disabilities it can accommodate.
Fourteen new providers have set up shop in the county, and there are six new transportation service providers, officials said.
The county board will continue offering health and behavior management services and recreation and early intervention programs. The county also will fund waivers.
In March 2016, the county board served 634 people in its day services facilities who were on waivers. That number has dropped to 481.
Similarly, those facilities also served 253 people who do not have waivers. Now, that population is down to 133.
The county board is working hard to connect clients and their families with private providers in the county, said Mitch Snyder, provider development manager
“As we brought in new providers, it was important to make sure that families knew they are out there and they could find each other,” he said.
The board has helped facilitate 224 tours of private providers’ facilities. The board has coordinated private tours and helped arrange two-week trial visits for clients to give providers a testrun. The board has had meetand-greet sessions, open houses and created online tools aimed at connecting clients with the services they need and program options, officials said.