Woodward residents oppose regional mental health center

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Todd Folkerts, standing, addressed about 40 of his fellow Woodward residents Friday night on the regional mental health center planned for the old nursing home.

Emotions were raw Friday night when about 40 Woodward residents attended a public meeting to learn about–and largely to reject–a proposed sub-acute mental-health crisis center opening in town.

“We don’t want a bunch of druggies and homeless people wandering the streets of Woodward,” one woman said.

“My backdoor is 75 feet from that building,” a neighbor to the project said. “What sort of security will there be for my kids when they’re in the backyard?”

“When people do things in our community on the hush hush, that bothers me.”

According to Woodward resident Todd Folkerts, who lives near the proposed center and who led the public meeting at the Woodward Social Center, the facility will be run by Jefferson-based Genesis Development, a not-for-profit company offering rehabilitation services to people with physical and mental disabilities.

Clients will be placed in the Woodward facility by Heart of Iowa Community Services, said Folkerts, repeating information he said he got from Darci Alt, CEO of Heart of Iowa, the recently formed regional provider of mental health and disability services to Audubon, Dallas, Greene and Guthrie counties.

According to a city-issued certificate of zoning compliance, the facility will be part halfway house for rehab patients transitioning to normal life and part short-term residential-care center for “folks who have mental health/disability or substance abuse issues.”

The site proposed for the facility is the former Park View Manor Care Center at 706 Cedar Ave., a 19-room nursing home built in 1965, according to records of the Dallas County assessor. Neighbors to the property said it has stood vacant for nearly 20 years.

The former Park View Manor Care Center at 706 Cedar Ave. in Woodward, a 19-room nursing home built in 1965, will house the new regional mental health center.
The former Park View Manor Care Center at 706 Cedar Ave. in Woodward, a 19-room nursing home built in 1965, will house the new regional mental health center.

Records indicate James and Kathy Harney of Madrid sold the property at the end of January to Premier Woodward LLC, a corporation owned by Jamie M. Myers of Urbandale. Premier Woodward is to  enter into a long-term lease agreement with Genesis Development, Folkerts said.

“When people do things in our community on the hush hush, that bothers me,” said a man at the meeting. “About five entities have had a hand in moving this, and we haven’t heard anything about it,” he said.

Others attending the meeting criticized Woodward’s mayor and city council for not bringing the project to the people’s attention sooner or stopping it outright.

Woodward Mayor Brian Devick did not attend the Friday meeting but said he was aware of “a small group of citizens concerned about developments at the old nursing home.” He said the property was bought by a private developer and leased to Genesis Development to operate “on behalf of” Dallas County.

Since the property was still zoned for use as a residential care facility–the nursing home’s original classification–its sale did not trigger public hearings on zoning changes or variances, Devick said, and it is “not our legal position” to inform citizens about property transactions between private parties.

Folkerts said he was told by Woodward City Attorney DuWayne Dalen that “the city had no choice” but to issue the certificate of zoning compliance because the applicant met all the terms of the current city ordinance.

Rumors about plans for the building have been in the air for months, Folkerts said. “I’ve heard everything from battered women to mothers with kids to a veterans home to the worst of the worst,” he said.

“They don’t call them ‘mental-health crisis centers’ anymore,” Folkerts said, “but ‘wellness centers.’”

“They don’t call them ‘mental-health crisis centers’ anymore,” Folkerts said, “but ‘wellness centers.’”

Dave Lukes, 59-year resident of Woodward and a member of the city council, attended the Friday night meeting and said the people present knew more about the proposed project than his fellow council members.

“A ‘mental crisis unit’ is what it was called in the board of supervisors’ minutes back in June,” Luke said. He encouraged others at the meeting to “tour any Genesis home within 50 miles of Woodward and judge for yourselves. You’ll see people smoking and hanging around looking homeless.”

The longtime Woodward residents appeared to be familiar with the costs and benefits of living near a mental hospital. Virtually everyone at the public meeting said they knew stories of incidents involving people from the 100-year-old Woodward Resource Center, which has long been a steady source of income for its 650 employees in the region, and from the Woodward Academy, a 259-bed residential treatment center for delinquent males opened in 1995.

The March 9 meeting of the Woodward City Council will give residents an opportunity to air their views on the project. Heart of Iowa’s Alt and Genesis Development CEO Terry Johnson are expected to attend and address concerns and questions from the public.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Woodward City Hall, 105 E. Second St.

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