Humans, bricks and land deals: Answers as Portage Manor nears possible closure

SOUTH BEND — “Why the rush?” a man asked St. Joseph County Commissioners this past Tuesday after yet another vote inched the county toward closing Portage Manor.

Advocates are pleading for time. They believe there could be a chance to keep the 101 residents of this county-owned home together — people with mental illness and disabilities who need the daily guidance of staff.

Some county leaders, though, say so much time has already been spent over the last couple of years looking at options for a home that's stricken with deficits and needs several building repairs.

At its 6 p.m. meeting this coming Tuesday, the county council is poised to make the final vote to close the home, triggering staff to alert the state and formally begin a shutdown that could take years. Commissioners had previously approved by 2-1 a resolution to close the home, and the council had voted 5-3 on Feb. 28 to recommend it.

Town hall meeting:Resident, families and petition seek to keep Portage Manor as home

Also Tuesday, the council is set to vote on $3 million of federal American Rescue Plan dollars to pay for Portage Manor staff bonuses and incentives so that they’ll remain in their jobs if the home closes. On Feb. 28, the council’s budget and administration committee sent the funding proposal to the full council without either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation. 

There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle — humans who’ve lived there for decades, bricks that have fallen, financial analyses and a potential land deal. Here’s what we’re learning as the story unfolds.

Are the building conditions all that bad?

Along with finances, county officials cite the building’s poor physical condition as a reason to close.

“The facility is in disrepair," county council member Dan Schaetzle said at the council’s Feb. 28 meeting. “We’re not taking care of residents. The consensus is we need to get out of the business.”

Carl Baxmeyer, the Board of Commissioners president, noted, “Nobody is suggesting there’s poor care at Portage Manor.”

Baxmeyer argued at the Feb. 28 council meeting that the structure isn’t perfectly sound. He mentioned an exterior wall where bricks have collapsed. That, actually, is a separate, unused garage building in the back that has a fence and barrels to keep people out of it.

He mentioned large columns on the front porch that are crumbling at their bases. They don’t appear to compromise the columns themselves, but they do need repair.

He also pointed out a failing heating and air conditioning system.

At the county council meeting on Feb. 28, county attorney Mike Misch said the basement has a lot of water pipes running over electrical wires, implying a safety issue.

Council member Randall Figg said he visited recently and, having seen issues like the basement, concluded, “We need a new building.”

Repairs may be needed, but Todd Zeiger doesn’t think they’re any more than a good restoration project could handle. He’s been in the building several times, and he’s director of the northern regional office of the preservation advocacy group Indiana Landmarks.

"It’s a solid old building and deserves to be renovated,” he said.

So, could a renovated Portage Manor be a viable option?

Under her leadership, former administrator Robyn Challinor made a plea in 2021 to do needed building repairs but also to create a memory care unit and add 30 bathrooms so that Portage Manor would qualify for Medicaid waivers, which would provide better income for the home. Construction estimates have ranged between $9 million and $12 million.

Misch, the county attorney, recently argued that the home could lose at least half of its residents through the Medicaid waiver adaptations and concluded, “It doesn’t make any sense to renovate.”

The Fort Wayne firm Bona Vita Architecture was three-quarters of the way through studying whether the renovations — and Medicaid waivers — could have led to enough income to support itself, project manager and designer Andy Hesterman said. While they were working on that, the county changed course and started to pursue other options.

There were still some funding options that it hadn’t yet explored, but Hesterman said that, as he studied the various possibilities, it was looking as if the home wouldn’t support itself.

County officials also paid for studies of building a new home: a 144-bed facility for $10 million or a 75-bed facility for $20 million.

But Zeiger, with Indiana Landmarks, said the county has failed to consider historic-preservation tax credits from the government that could help to finance the renovation. In 2000, Portage Manor was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

He just recently suggested rehabbing the home so that it could house current tenants as well as, in a separate wing, people who have below 30% of the median income.

Are there plans to sell Portage Manor or the surrounding county-owned property?

The city of South Bend has been working with a developer, Magnus Capital Partners, based in Grand Rapids, who's interested in possibly buying and building “workforce housing” on a northern parcel of the Portage Manor property, close to the Indiana Toll Road, that had been leased out for farming.

But the city has also been talking with other potential developers for that or nearby parcels, Bill Schalliol, the county’s director of economic development, said.

The city is involved because the home and its 100-plus acres of county-owned land sits within the city of South Bend. The city’s boundaries have grown to include it since the home opened in 1907.

Though he didn't name Magnus, Baxmeyer said discussions have continued with a developer who's presented sketches of the housing, but nothing definite. The founder of Magnus spoke publicly with officials last spring about such a project. Baxmeyer is hopeful that the county could sell that parcel through public bidding later this spring. Schalliol said that the process to bid and sell the land, taking almost three months, hasn't yet been scheduled.

When asked if other parties are interested in buying the home or other parts of the land, Baxmeyer said, “Not that I’m aware of.”

As well, Schalliol said, the county is conducting two land studies at the site for a potential new highway garage.

Magnus had explored building an apartment complex at the Portage Manor site in 2021, too, then immediately backed off after it appeared that the county was also offering it the chance to buy the whole campus.

Schalliol had brought a “letter of intent” for the commissioners’ approval that would have provided that and even given Magnus the right of “first refusal” on acquiring the Portage Manor building. That surprised and alarmed Commissioner Derek Dieter and advocates, who worried that the county could shut down and sell off the home. Schalliol apologized for the way it had been introduced. Magnus put the brakes on its immediate plans within two weeks.

October 2021:Developer backs off project at site of St. Joseph County home for disabled adults. Here's why.

At the time, Andy Kostielney, who was the commissioners’ president at the time, said the land sale could have generated money to help pay for Portage Manor's overdue repairs.

Apart from that parcel, there's also a woods south of the home where, two years ago, Dieter led a cleanup of trash from homeless camps and where he’d sought ideas to turn it into a public park with trails. With his guidance, the county paid a trail building consultant to take an initial look at the woods for possibilities. But there apparently hasn’t been much, if any, progress on the park ideas so far.

Some county officials have touted a roughly $800,000 deficit at Portage Manor in 2022. Is that realistic?

The home's actual deficit in 2022 was $403,651. But some officials have added the roughly $400,000 that the county didn't charge the home for its estimated share of health insurance premiums that year. The county gave the home a break because it knew that the home was struggling financially, county Auditor John Murphy said. The county is self insured, and the home's fund did pay $110,154 for estimated premiums in 2022, down from some $570,000 in 2021.

County records show that the home's deficit was $468,005 in 2021. But, in the prior four years, during Challinor’s administration, the deficit ranged from just $59,600 in 2017 to $91,504 in 2019. In 2018, it even posted a surplus of $59,274. Before Challinor’s time, the home had been struggling with six-digit deficits of about $300,000, give or take.

The home runs on its own income, which means that it doesn’t rely on county tax dollars. The problem is that the home has been spending through its reserves.

Financial records show that the recent deficits have mostly been driven by a decline in government reimbursements for residents, likely from a drop in the number of residents. Misch also said that reimbursements from the Residential Care Assistance Program haven’t risen, though costs from inflation have. RCAP supports many of the residents.

When she became administrator, Challinor said, she tightened up the budget by decreasing staff, boosting the census and taking other small measures to save costs. Staff would hold fundraisers and coordinate special holiday events for residents.

Some of the land has been leased for farming, including the parcel where Magnus hopes to build apartments. Challinor said the farming leases had drawn about $7,000 per year in income, which staff used to buy shoes that residents needed.

Admissions to Portage Manor have slowed in recent months. Have they stopped altogether?

More residents would mean more income for Portage Manor. But the number of residents at Portage Manor has been decreasing in recent years. Although it has a capacity for 144, there were just 101 residents as of March 9. After officials on Feb. 7 had announced the possibility of closing, officials said, some have moved in with family and some to assisted living facilities.

Feb. 7, 2023:County officials tell Portage Manor residents it'll close, but not right away

That’s a decline from 126 in 2021 and from 136 in 2018, Challinor said. In July 2022, officials reported that they’d bumped the census up from 116 to 123.

Why the decreases?

County officials say the COVID pandemic and precautions played a role, as they did at care facilities in general.

Misch said a limited number of staff have also kept the home from admitting much more. He said the home was trying to hire an extra nurse in recent months, but the salary offered wasn’t competitive with the generous offers for nurses elsewhere, where demand is keen. A nurse was finally hired just within the past two weeks.

Over the past couple of years, news stories about the home's questionable future also have dampened interest from potential new residents. Now, the current administrator said, some residents and their family members are already beginning to tour assisted living facilities.

When asked if staff have put a freeze on admissions, Baxmeyer said, “Ostensibly yes.” With the possibility of closing, he added, “There’s no sense in taking new admissions.”

How much would the county pay consultants to help close the home?

On Tuesday, the commissioners voted 2-1 to approve paying seven staff members from Byron Wellness Systems in Fort Wayne to assist in closing Portage Manor and settling residents into other homes. Byron has served as a consultant on the home.

Commissioner Deb Fleming, who is against closing the home, voted against it after Baxmeyer and Dieter quickly rebuffed her plea to delay the vote.

The agreed-upon rates include $150 per hour for Byron CEO Deb Lambert, $120 per hour for its financial officer and $55 to $75 per hour for other staff, including a junior accountant, director of move-ins and resident engagement staff. The county would also pay for hotel rooms, if needed, and meals at up to $20 to $40.

The county home had paid Byron about $82,000 last year so that Lambert could help the home with consulting, finding a new administrator and seeking a viable revenue stream.

County officials are moving forward with plans while Portage Manor’s own board hasn’t met since Dec. 20. What’s up?

Portage Manor’s board doesn’t approve policy but serves in an advisory role, though it can make recommendations to the home and the commissioners. The board was involved with discussions over high-profile, controversial moves in the past couple of years.

The board is in transition. Frank Fotia, a county employee who was the most recent president, stepped off of the board on Feb. 17, saying that he wanted to focus on a new job that he’s shifted to within the county, now as a planner in economic development. Misch had served on the board until about a year ago.

County employee John Butler now serves as the board’s acting president. Early this month, he said the board aimed to schedule its next meeting for mid-March. Since then, he's provided no confirmation on when it will be.

Does the community have the capacity to absorb and settle all of the Portage Manor residents?

“Other communities have succeeded, including LaPorte County,” Baxmeyer said, referring to a similar county home there that closed a few years ago. “We’re just at the start of this.”

He has said the home and consultants will ensure that each resident is housed and settled somewhere, adding, "We don’t know how long this will take.”

Oaklawn, a local mental health service provider, hopes to settle about 10 residents into new homes, said Cindy Schulz, Oaklawn's vice president of adult case management and housing.

As for the many other residents with mental health issues, she said, there are “very few places that provide the level of care they need.”

Of those, she’s not sure how many would find another home that’s both local and appropriate, or how long it would take. Many, she said, require 24/7 long-term care. Some may benefit from a placement through the state’s Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services, but, she added, "That often takes a while.”

Feb. 14, 2023:Commissioners act, public reacts to Portage Manor, 2 officials' removal

Schulz said the 10 residents that Oaklawn would settle could move to supervised group homes, with staff on site 24/7 to help with daily living skills and medication, or move to supported community living, where residents live independently but have access to case management and extra support.

Most of Portage Manor’s residents see an Oaklawn psychiatrist, she said, while about 10% percent of residents receive outpatient services such as therapy or case management.

The local nonprofit Logan Community Resources has guardianship for four Portage Manor residents. When asked if they’d want to move, they’ve replied, “No, we love it here,” according to Matt Costello, Logan’s director of protective services.

One, Costello said, will find it especially troubling, because he’s blind and copes with both an intellectual disability and paranoia.

“What I don’t think the commissioners realize is how hard it is to place people,” Costello said.

Logan has offered to help with assessing residents for disabilities and to help with those residents’ big decisions. But Costello suggests what local leaders really need to do is gather the area’s experts on housing, disabilities, mental illness and aging to assess how to meet the housing needs.

When the Holy Cross Living Center in Mishawaka closed about 20 years ago, he recalled, it had 38 residents with mental and intellectual disabilities. Four of them under Logan’s guardianship were placed in “beautiful, wonderful” new group homes where they still live today, Costello said.

He said it isn’t a good idea to move residents out of the St. Joseph County area — for example, if they were to go to Byron’s home in Fort Wayne. That, he said, means leaving a familiar town, doctor and psychiatrist, along with friends and family.

Pete Earley, a former Washington Post reporter who has authored books on mental illness after coping with his son’s mental illness, wrote a blog Wednesday questioning county officials’ swift actions on Portage Manor.

“St. Joseph County Commissioners have assured residents that they will not become homeless," wrote Earley, who’d visited South Bend in 2014 to give an awareness-raising speech for Oaklawn. “I hope that’s true, but I’ve heard such talk before and the sad reality is that in many cases displaced residents are shuffled off to substandard housing where they don’t receive adequate care.”

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Portage Manor closure raises questions on county home for disabled