Turlock officials are asking Stanislaus County to delay a decision Tuesday on a contract renewal for a controversial residential mental health facility on Colorado Avenue.
Turlock City Manager Reagan Wilson criticized the county for not communicating with the city when the contract with A&A Health Services, or Alamo Health, was to be submitted to the board for approval.
About 200 city residents held a Turlock council meeting in February to oppose the adult residential care facility at the former Las Palmas Estates at 1617 Colorado. People expressed concern that adult clients with serious mental illness would endanger students at nearby Dutcher Middle School.
The center is down the street from another school and near pediatricians’ offices, critics of the proposal said.
Clients of the center receive behavioral therapy and help with taking medications, but can also come and go as they please.
In a letter to the Board of Supervisors last week, Wilson said the city had learned from the contractor, not the county, that changes to the agreement with A&A Health were scheduled for Tuesday’s board meeting.
The contract extension is included in a package of “agreements and modifications” with behavioral health providers and is difficult to find in a 132-page provincial staff report.
“After everything that has transpired in this matter, we find it very disappointing that I had to request the status of changes to your agreement with (A&A) instead of the province contacting us to listen to our community’s concerns ,” Wilson wrote. last week. “It is clear that the county has no interest in the impacts of this facility in Turlock, including its proximity to a high school, housing and medical facilities.”
Turlock issued a news release Thursday about the upcoming board item, saying the proposed county decision was made without prior consultation with city residents. “We are committed to ensuring that all voices are heard in decisions that affect our residents,” Mayor Amy Bublak said in the news release. “Our community seeks and deserves transparency and communication from the province.”
The county CEO’s office did not formally respond to Turlock’s request to delay the decision. The county claims its Behavioral Health and Recovery Services agency has been placing clients at the Colorado Avenue center for decades. A county spokesperson said the contract extension is contingent on A&A Health obtaining licenses and city permits to reopen the former Las Palmas Estates facility, which closed last year for renovations.
The center would reopen with 84 beds. In the past, 75% of clients placed in the facility had to be 60 years of age or older and 25% had to be between 18 and 59 years old. The plan would change this to 60 and older, which represents 25 percent of occupancy and allow 75% for adults 18 to 59.
County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, whose district includes Turlock, said clients from Stanislaus County will be sent to other counties if there is no contract to place them at the Colorado Avenue center.
“In 16 years I haven’t heard any complaints – that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any complaints,” Chiesa said. “(A&A) has had good results with their customers at their San Pablo facility.”
Chiesa said he will listen to the city’s concerns at Tuesday’s meeting.
Wilson wrote that most residents have complained that the facility’s location is inappropriate. “Had the province and (A&A) approached the city with their plans in a timely manner, we would have worked together to find a more suitable location for such a facility that was not so close to school children and children receiving medical treatment,” he writes in his letter. said.
The provincial staff report stated that the contract with A&A was $6.14 million over a period of July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024. The amendment is $7.76 million for services between July 1 and June 30, 2025 .
The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the basement room of Tenth Street Place, at 1010 10th St, Modesto.
