Saratoga County’s actions led to planned closure

In the article on the planned closure of the Saratoga Center for Rehab and Skilled Nursing Care, Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, R-ballston, raises valid questions about the poor timing of this announcement. Elderly residents just learned they will lose their homes and employees will lose their jobs.

This has me thinking about the last transition forced on residents and employees of the old Maplewood Manor. In 2012, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors voted to wash their hands of public health care. CSEA joined with the community to oppose the sale. County officials told us not to worry, that the new owners would invest millions and that nothing would change. We were told a sale was the only option, that the board’s actions were purely fiscal, a cruel calculus indeed.

The county created a local development corporation (of questionable legal standing ) to aid the transition of money from the new owners who started, also as a corporation, only to morph into two subsequent limited liability corporations, a dizzying dance most aptly described as a shell game. Promises were broken and responsibility has been shirked every step of the way. Staff and residents were left to fend for themselves. And here we are.

I would like to ask the board members who approved this folly whether they have even an ounce of regret. And I would like to ask current board members what they are going to do about this now.

Ron Briggs Latham CSEA Capital Region, President