Sallisaw construction error causes difficult choice on Talihina veterans center

The decision to begin closing the Talihina Veterans Home is in doubt as lawmakers pressure the agency and its oversight commission for another solution.

At a June 22 meeting of the Oklahoma Veterans Commission, interim Executive Director Greg Slavonic reported the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs is losing half a million dollars a month by keeping the facility open. Presented with options to either keep running the facility at a loss or begin downsizing, the commission voted unanimously to begin ceasing operations there.

Talihina was at 21% occupancy with 36 veterans living there as of last week. Residents have known for years that the center eventually would close, which has contributed to low occupancy and, therefore, less federal funding to operate it.

The original plan was for a newly constructed veterans center in Sallisaw to be open by this summer as a replacement, but construction delays have pushed back the completion date to late 2024 or early 2025.

"Sallisaw was supposed to be open this month, and those promises would have been logical to keep, but the landscape has changed. It's a different scenario," Slavonic said.

The decision to close, however, quickly ran into a political roadblock with lawmakers from southeastern Oklahoma pressuring the agency to wait. Slavonic and Oklahoma Secretary of Military Veterans Affairs John Nash met with senators this week.

More: Troubled Sallisaw vets home may be back on track with a new $10.8 million appropriation

'We must always put our obligation to our veterans first'

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, sat in on the meeting. His spokesman said the goal was to gather information and make sure lawmakers were given a heads-up and a briefing about the situation.

Also at the meeting was state Sen. Warren Hamilton, who said Wednesday that plans are now on hold as veterans agency and the Legislature are working "to find a better solution."

"It is easy for competing priorities to become confused when the situation is tense and fluid, which this situation clearly is. We must always put our obligation to our veterans first," said Hamilton, R-McCurtain. "To put it bluntly, we wouldn’t even have this situation to consider were it not for the sacrifice and the service of these great Americans. They didn’t let us down, and we cannot let them down now."

In a conversation with The Oklahoman after that meeting, Slavonic also said the situation was fluid and that he was taking it one day at a time.

"I'm waiting for guidance from the people I work for, which is the commission," he said.

More: Oklahoma's Department of Veterans Affairs director a no-show at cost overrun meeting

Questions raised over where residents from closed Talihina Veterans Home would go

Lawmakers have been concerned about where the residents would go when Talihina closed. Its replacement over an hour north in Sallisaw won't be finished until at least late next year, which raises questions about where the veterans would go after leaving the long-term, skilled nursing care facility.

State Rep. Jim Grego heavily criticized the commission's decision. He said that after the commission made its choice last week, he visited the Talihina Veterans Home the same evening.

"They were all pretty much visibly shaken and upset. You know, they had been in the understanding all along that they would be able to stay at Talihina until Sallisaw was ready to occupy," said Grego, R-Wilburton.

Construction at the new facility hit a setback when the prime contractor discovered that parts of its design would not meet fire code standards. The Veterans Affairs Department has since filed a lawsuit against a subcontractor, architectural design firm Orcutt Winslow, in an attempt to recoup costs.

Slavonic declined to comment on the case, which he said was in its infancy.

The situation in Sallisaw was so dire that lawmakers rushed to find millions of dollars to pay for additional design work and inflation of construction costs.

The department has opened other beds at centers across the state to those who want to move. Slavonic said that as of this week, 20 of the 36 remaining residents say they're ready to move.

"It's their decision on what they want to do. We're not forcing anyone to move out if they don't want to," Slavonic said.

There will likely be additional updates regarding this issue in the coming weeks as the commission and legislators respond to the political situation. It's not clear which options are available for the agency, but a special session on budget-related matters is open to lawmakers through the end of July if they decide to send the Veterans Affairs Department more funds to keep Talihina open for a longer period of time.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Lawmakers pressure Veterans Commission, ODVA to halt Talihina closure