How did Commissioner Courtney Burke misspeak so badly?
This afternoon, NCPR is reporting that the Sunmount Developmental Center is not slated for closure, as suggested by a statement earlier this week made by Commissioner Courtney Burke, head of the Office for People With Developmental Disabilities.
Travis Proulx, a spokesman for OPWDD now says Sunmount isn’t on any closure list — period.
Before I go on, here’s exactly what Commissioner Burke said, during an interview on WCNY.
Interviewer: What about Sunmount in Tupper Lake? Is that going to be closing?
Burke: (As a direct answer to the question) We are seeking to close all of our developmental centers by the end of 2014.
Burke then went on to talk about the detailed planning and specialized services that would be needed to move people out of big institutional facilities.
Burke: It is a process and we’ve begun that process.
It’s important to note that this statement was made in the context of a long discussion about the closure of large institutional developmental facilities in New York state, including West Seneca State Institution.
It also followed Governor Andrew Cuomo’s surprise visit to Sunmount last year, where he signaled that the state budget crisis will threaten large government programs. “If I was a state worker, I would be afraid of what is ahead,” he told Sunmount staff.
Finally, the conversation followed a New York Times expose, published earlier this month, that suggested “systemic” patterns of abuse at Sunmount. (Staff and local government officials dispute that characterization.)
Given all that context, her statement was remarkable and it naturally sent shockwaves through the community.
More about that in a moment, but as an aside, I want to say a word or two about why NCPR reported Burke’s statements so swiftly. In an interview with WNBZ, Franklin County legislator Paul Maroun suggested that journalists may have jumped the gun.
“Somebody asked the question, is Sunmount on the list? She said all developmental centers are going to close. And they ran with that instead of following up and having her and her people really devise the answer properly,” Maroun said.
But Arbetter asked the question about Sunmount bluntly, directly and unambiguously. The commissioner answered in what appeared to be full candor.
I’ve listened to the interview several times and Burke seems to speak fully and confidently and knowledgeably about the issue.
What’s more, Burke’s comments seemed to fit a pattern of doubts expressed by state officials about Sunmount and its future.
Frankly, I think with all this confusion, I think it’s time for Commissioner Burke to make a public visit to Tupper Lake where she should lay out a vision for the future of Sunmount.
If this facility is different from the other big institutions slated for closure, how is it different? What is the long-term plan for using the facility, and for maintaining client counts and staffing levels?
With all the uncertainty that’s been raised by OPWDD and the Cuomo administration, we need to see the roadmap for the future in black and white.
You won’t. Politicians are like people in business. They like to play their cards close to their vest. You are an incompetent fool if you lay all your cards on the table.
Pete: that’s why usually pols are ambiguous. Most do not make outright statements like the commish. They obfuscate. Once you make an unambiguous statement, you look like a fool when you have to retract.
I don’t know of course, but in my experience these kinds of things are a sign of internal divisions within the department or between the department and the executive or legislative branch. The goal is to eliminate these large expensive institutions where people are warehoused for indeterminate amounts of time away from family support costing huge sums of money. My guess is Burke was not misspeaking at all, but got a swift call from the Gov’s office to retract.
I doubt she will come to Tupper to lay out a plan that is in flux.
The suggestion is made that Commissioner Burke visit Tupper Lake and lay out a plan. It seems the executive staffs of State agencies simply lay rules down when they are ignorant of the actual playing out of life and work in the very agencies they are supposed to lead. They send out scouting parties who only get to meet the employees or residents who have been handpicked by facility management who don’t want “Albany” to know what is really taking place. Employees are afraid of being interviewed because state agencies are known for their intimidation by retribution techniques used to keep local management from being embarassed.
The media love to play up abuse against those behind the fence at Sunmount and other such places that house the criminally insane. However, the media does not give fair play to the stories of how understaffing keeps high contact staff at risk of being attacked by those residents who may be in that secured facility because they are, sadly, unfortunately, criminally insane. Many behind the fence were placed there because they were not able to stand trial due to insanity after they had committed acts against persons, children or adults, which we would consider felonious brutality or sexual depravity.
I suggest that we need a few brave investigative reporters to conduct a full investigation of the physical abuse against staff, the total disregard of the safety of the staff who work in both the secure facilities and community residences throughout the state. Protect the identity of persons interviewed for such an investigation and let the public get the full picture of the danger staff faces every day and every night. Investigate the policy of using full time staff to work overtime in an already physically and mentally challenging role, until they become exhausted and depressed. The overtime policy is supported by their being an overtime fund to pay these workers, yet there is no support of having a backup staff of per diem employees.
Consider the fact that these people are away from family because it is cheaper to keep them in economically depressed areas where there is a huge unemployed labor pool to draw from. For the very same reason, prisons are located in like areas. Also consider that the families of many of those housed in institutions like Sunmount, were forced to turn their violent family member over to an agency because that family member was violent at home and could no longer be supervised by the family.
Where are the investigative journalists now?
Is anyone else uncomfortable that discussion of this issue seems to prioritize jobs over what is best for the people in this facility?
Here is the key quote from today, in my opinion: “We ultimately hope to see people as integrated in the community as possible, living the lives they want to live, having the home of their choice, having relationships with people that are important to them; all of those things I think need to be part of what we see in the future”
Are we willing to avoid doing what is best for the people being cared for here for the sake of jobs?
ps: Comment system was acting quirky as I submitted the above, apologies in advance if it shows up in triplicate.
Dave, is the quality of life of a criminally insane person more important than the quality of life of a tax paying Sunmount employee and his community? Is putting those who aren’t capable of caring for themselves on the street increasing their quality of life? There’s a direct correlation between the burgeoning homeless population and the closing of many of the States larger facilities. There a study out on it that was done some years back.
Tough questions, tough issue. I think public safety demands the criminally insane be kept under control. And I think it’s cruel to dump those with limited faculties on the street. Is caring for them expensive? Oh yeah, but what is the cost of not caring for them?
Travis Proulx is a political appointee now tasked with damage control while Commissioner Burke is an employee of the state dept. that actually runs the facility. Which one do you think knows a bit more about the underlying issues of running such a facility as Sumount and, perhaps, has been involved in discussions and decisions as they relate to these types of facilities all across the state in these trying economic times? My monies on the bureaucrat and not the politician.
I forgot to mention that I so hope I’m wrong and that Sumount will be open for years to come. Not just because of the obvious economic impact to the community of Tupper Lake, but because I believe there’s a need for such a facility.
Bret,
There are few layers to this, but I think the most important one – the one we all have to agree to start with – is this:
You don’t keep people somewhere they shouldn’t be just for the sake of jobs. It is akin to suggesting we extend prison sentences so as not to lay off prison guards.
That out of the way…
The tougher question is determining if Sunmount is still the proper care environment for the people there.
Answering that depends, in part, on knowing the population being served.
Does Sunmount only provide care for those who are involved in the criminal justice system?
Or do they also provide care for people who are intellectually or developmentally disabled, but not part of the criminal system?
Obviously public safety is a priority with the former.
But for this latter population, supporting them while they live the lives they chose should absolutely be our goal. This doesn’t involve leaving them to the streets. It means helping them integrate into the community, having homes, and friends, and relationships.
Caring for individuals in this way is almost always less expensive than maintaining large facilities, so it is a win-win… so to speak. The individual’s quality of life improves (as does the community’s, I would argue) and the state saves money.
Dave:
Does Sunmount only provide care for those who are involved in the criminal justice system?
Or do they also provide care for people who are intellectually or developmentally disabled, but not part of the criminal system?
The people living behind the fence are mostly court ordered to be there for various reasons, typically they are involved with the legal system, and jail is not an appropriate alternative.
Also most are not crminally insane, they are intellectual disabled in some manner and are not culpable for their crimes. Some are there as they are not capable of living in the community either dur to extreme violence towards family and the police won’t or don’t arrest because the person just doesn’t have the cognitive functioning to understand what they are doing–AND no voluntary or other community agency wants to have them living in their community residence because they are too violent.
Ms. Burke needs to be more informed of the population Sunmount and the many other facilities like it across the state before saying they are going to be in the community in two years.
Or did she foget that the five year plan put out to reduce costs at OPWDD indicates no new developements (housing) to reduce costs…where exactly is she or Gov. Andy going to let them live??