Benzie commissioner: No plans to sell the Maples
Mar. 6—BEULAH — The Maples skilled nursing home in Frankfort is not going up for sale, despite a proposed goal on a five-year strategic plan for Benzie County, which owns the facility.
Commissioner Gary Sauer, Benzie County Board liaison to the Department of Human Services Board that manages the Maples, said there is no plan to privatize the facility.
Sauer said he is not sure how "Privatizing of the Maples" made it into the minutes of a special meeting Monday to work on updating the plan. The goal is listed later in the minutes as "Exploration of options related to the Maples," and that is how it will appear on the strategic plan, he said.
"We are not looking at privatizing," Sauer said. "I'm not even sure it's legal."
Even so, the minutes hit social media Thursday, prompting several calls to Sauer.
Commissioners have met twice to update the plan and likely will meet at least once more before a completed draft will be up for approval, he said. Any commissioner can put forth a suggested goal.
Kathy Dube, Maples administrator, said she did not know the Maples was under discussion by the board.
"We were told nothing," Dube said. "I get a copy of the minutes and there it was."
The minutes were posted on Facebook by a staff member, Dube said.
"Then it got shared and shared and shared and shared," she said.
Dube said former Commissioner Sherry Taylor, who did not run for reelection in November, was very vocal about selling the facility. Sauer said he is not in favor of selling, but said other commissioners may feel differently.
"That's not the goal of what we're looking at," Sauer said. "Other commissioners may feel differently, but we can always talk."
Dube said she and human resources Director Megan Garza plan to attend the March 9 commission meeting, though the issue is not on the agenda.
The Maples facility is supported by two voted millages — a 0.362-mill tax is collected for operations, and a 20-year, 0.635-mill property tax was approved by voters in 2010 for a project that added a new structure and renovated the existing building.
The construction bond was refinanced last year at a lower interest rate that will save $645,000 in costs over the next 10 years.
Sauer said there is still discussion about what to do with those savings, whether the full amount of the tax should be collected to provide a cushion for the Maples, or if the tax should be reduced and the savings passed on to property owners, which would be a small amount.
Sauer said Dube should have been notified the issue was going to come up at the special meeting, but said he didn't like the way it was posted online.
"I'm disgusted they went that route because they stirred up their employees and scared them to death about losing their jobs," Sauer said. "That is the furthest thing from what we're trying to do."
Sauer said the facility has great employees and is very well run.
"There is enough stuff going on with COVID and everything else that you shouldn't have to worry about whether you have a job or not," he said.
Dube agreed she should have been told ahead of time.
The Maples was built in the mid-1960s and the idea of selling it comes up about every 10 years, Dube said.
"We've gone through a lot of controversy over the years, but the facility is stable," she said. "I can't even imagine why that would be a topic of discussion at this point."
The construction project was mismanaged until a new Building Authority was appointed in 2017, Sauer has said. Problems have included a roof that did not meet fire codes and caused a two-year delay in opening, dishwashers that rotted cabinets in four satellite kitchens and a generator that was only wired to power about 13 percent of the building.
The generator, the last of the construction problems, now serves the entire building.
