No presentations Tuesday on Portage Manor. Task force surprised.
SOUTH BEND — St. Joseph County commissioners said Monday that they won't provide time for presentations at their meeting Tuesday about proposals to save the county home Portage Manor. That surprised and disappointed leaders of a local task force who submitted their recommendations on Thursday. They were planning to make a presentation, saying it was part of the public and open process that commissioners had requested.
"I am sorry we won't have the opportunity to have the discussion we were hoping to see, but I am hopeful that our work up to this point will produce some sort of beneficial outcome," task force co-chairman Jason Critchlow said in an email Monday to task force members.
The meeting, at 6 p.m. in the County-City Building, marks the deadline for proposals to take Portage Manor off of the county’s hands and keep it running as a home for people with disabilities and mental illness. It’s the end of a two-month reprieve from the county’s plan to close the home and settle the residents elsewhere.
More: Task force submits proposals to save Portage Manor with 4 options
But Carl Baxmeyer, the commissioners’ president, said he didn’t see a need for a presentation Tuesday because details of the task force’s recommendations have already been published in The Tribune, including the group’s 10-page document embedded in an online article. The task force's slides for its planned presentation reiterate what’s in that document.
“There’s no need for a big presentation,” Baxmeyer said. “We can read.”
He said commissioners had originally agreed to some time for a presentation but, at the time, didn’t realize the proposals would be made public in the media beforehand. Commissioner Derek Dieter said he expected only the proposals, no presentations.
But, Baxmeyer said, if they see a need for it, commissioners could still arrange time for a presentation in the future by the task force or others with proposals.
“Let’s see what we get tomorrow,” Baxmeyer said.
As expected, commissioners have also received a business plan from Dr. Sylvana Atallah of Granger. The task force offers four options, the top being to give the home to a private owner, whether it’s Atallah or another private party.
A county press release states that the proposals will be posted on the county’s website and will be “provided to industry experts for review.” Once commissioners have reviewed them, they plan to give feedback to the county council for their vote, potentially on June 13.
In an email Monday to commissioner Derek Dieter, Critchlow said its members may be disappointed that they wouldn’t be allowed to present Tuesday, though they still aim to deliver more than 1,400 signatures of support that they’d gathered in a petition.
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Portage Manor proposals come to commissioners but no presentation
