CSH Boland Building to serve as hurricane evacuation site

May 24—Some state property in Milledgeville changed hands with the stroke of a pen earlier this month.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order on May 12 transferring the Boland Building on the former Central State Hospital grounds from the Georgia Department of Defense (DOD) to the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). According to the order, DBHDD requested custody of the property to use as a hurricane evacuation site for residents and staff of Georgia Regional Hospital-Savannah.

Located near Vinson Highway, the Boland Building had been under the care of Georgia DOD as a site for the National Guard's Youth ChalleNGe Program from 2016 to 2020. The program was first established by the Georgia National Guard in 1993 "to turn around the lives of young men and women between the ages of 16 and 18 who are experiencing difficulty in completing traditional high school," according to the Youth ChalleNGe website.

The Milledgeville location opened in 2016 and had over 200 cadets/students enrolled at one point. The local site became the victim of state budget cuts in 2020 though, closing its doors to create a reported savings of $1.4 million to the state.

Now the Boland Building becomes the charge of DBHDD, who will move patients and staff there from Savannah should a hurricane threaten that area of the Georgia coast. Georgia Regional Hospital-Savannah serves mentally ill adults and individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 34-county area of Southeast Georgia.

The property changing hands pretty well puts to rest any thought of the Youth ChalleNGe Program returning to the Boland Building unless another transfer takes place. According to Kemp's signed order, the DOD adjutant general on March 22, 2023 requested that custody of the property be transferred to DBHDD. DBHDD then formally requested custody of the property for use as a hurricane evacuation site on April 12.

Although the Boland property is not under the purview of the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority, Chairman Johnny Grant shared the news of the transfer with his fellow board members at last Wednesday's meeting to keep them apprised of happenings around the campus.

"This is probably a pretty a good use of it because the Department of Defense did not have any plans for immediately re-instigating that Youth ChalleNGe Academy," Grant said. "Rather than sit and continue to deteriorate, at least it will be maintained at a basic level of preparedness."