The committee charged with closing the Montana Developmental Center has voted to keep part of the Boulder facility open indefinitely.
The MDC Transition Advisory Committee is supposed to oversee the eventual closure of the center, and the transfer of its developmentally-disabled clients to private group homes around the state. Meeting in Boulder Thursday, the panel voted to refurbish the center’s twelve-bed Administrative Segregation Unit, as a refuge for those who can’t make it in a group-home. Dan Villa is the committee’s chairman.
“At some point that the state, as the committee’s previously decided, will be the provider of last resort. That is (if) a community provider has someone act out or devolve into crisis, we will still have a facility for them to be safe that hopefully is not in a jail cell.”
Villa believes the committee’s action is legal, even though the legislature specifically ordered the MDC closed by mid-2017. Keeping the segregation unit open will cost an estimated $1.5 million, compared to $9 million to replace it with three small group homes around the state.
Democratic Representative Mary Ann Dunwell voted no — not because she disagrees, but because she thinks the committee is neglecting its primary job.
“We need to deal with the crux of the issue, which is: are we providing the best treatment possible for those individuals; assess that, if not, how do we do that?”
The Transition Committee still has to identify community-based services, propose a rate structure for them, and find additional sources of funding before time runs out in 18 months.