Two members of the Pleasant View Rest Home Board of Directors and several residents approached the Pulaski County Council last week to discuss the elimination of the county home’s funding from the 2015 budget.
Larry Rausch and Michelle Roudebush explained to the council that 1,640 signatures were gathered on petitions to keep the county home open.
“Sixteen-hundred and forty people signed this and there are more that are supporting us that didn’t sign it. You might have your own agenda, but this is the will of the people,” said Rausch.
Rausch and Roudebush said the county home has made money, but according to the council that revenue isn’t enough to pay insurance.
Residents brought up the fact that the budget for the county home wasn’t on the public agenda for the Oct. 13 meeting when it was up for a vote. However, Auditor Shelia Garling noted the budget adoption was on the agenda and the council members voted to eliminate the funding prior to the budget adoption.
Tom Roth spoke about safety issues at the county home including the aging electric at the home and the lack of fire suppression. He voted for the defunding of the budget because of the liability to the county. Mick Tiede made the initial motion to eliminate the county home’s funding.
Doug Roth voted against the defunding of the county home. He stated that the county allowed the building to deteriorate.
“I don’t understand why we are even considering stopping a service because we allowed a building to fall apart,” stated Roth.
An assessment report has been submitted on the 133-year-old building that outlines repairs which are estimated close to $500,000. Residents argued that all of the repairs don’t need to be done at once, but the bigger items that would need to be done right away could be costly. A link to that report from 2007 is here.
Nine residents currently live at the county home, and as it stands now they will have to find another place to live.
The Pulaski County Council will meet tonight at 7 p.m. ET in the second floor meeting room in the Pulaski County Courthouse. Board President Bob White is expected to speak to the council tonight regarding the county home.
