County officials tell Portage Manor residents it'll close, but not right away

SOUTH BEND — In their collective dining room, St. Joseph County Commissioner Carl Baxmeyer stood Tuesday before dozens of Portage Manor residents and announced something earlier than officials had hoped — but that they now see as inevitable.

The county-owned home will begin the long process of closing down after more than a century of providing a bed for adults with mental or physical disabilities.

“There is no good financial opportunity to continue Portage Manor,” the commission president said. “Each and every one of you is our priority — how do we provide services for you? How do we find a place for you?”

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He and other county officials say they will work with each one of Portage Manor’s 105 residents to find their next homes.

“Don’t worry that the doors will be locked tomorrow morning," Baxmeyer said. “This is going to take an extended period of time. I can’t tell you how long.”

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One resident, a woman, began to weep as she heard the announcement. Several had questions.

One resident referred to a meeting months ago, asking, “How did you go from assuring us that Portage Manor was not going to be closed … in a meeting to debunk rumors that it was going to close?"

“This is the latest of several events,” Baxmeyer responded, noting that officials have struggled for more than two years to find a financial way forward for the facility.

Although the closure hasn’t officially been decided yet, county attorney Mike Misch said, “It certainly is looking like that.”

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Officials say the closure will rely on $3 million in federal pandemic aid from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to cover the cost of running the facility until it actually closes.

Out of $50 million of ARP dollars, the county has $17 million left and a long list of requests. Misch said that one commissioner and a few council members recently met about ARP funding, and it became clear, he said, that the council was unlikely to finance beyond the $3 million that’s now requested for Portage Manor’s transition.

A county council committee is expected to consider ARP funding requests on Feb. 28, and then it could come to the council on March 14, Misch said. Once voted on by the council, it would go to commissioners for their vote.

County officials say they’ve considered two alternatives that would have required many more dollars: replacing Portage Manor with a new 144-bed facility for an estimated $10 million or a 75-bed facility that, in fact, would cost twice as much, $20 million.

The announcement also came as a surprise Tuesday to some council members, who didn’t learn of it until the county sent out a press release — at the same time that Baxmeyer started speaking to Portage Manor residents.

Council member Diana Hess, who’s also the St. Joseph County Democratic Party chairwoman, said that was the case for her and fellow Democrats on the council. It left them in a quandary.

“We could have been alerted,” Hess said.

The release states: "Unfortunately, after three years of investigating, and hundreds of thousands of dollars researching various funding mechanisms to continue operations, the Council has come to the very difficult decision that Portage Manor will have to close and residents will be rehoused."

But council member Bryan Tanner immediately took to Facebook to emphasize that no decision had been made by the council.

Hess said that Misch had made an informational presentation about the three alternatives for Portage Manor to council members after its committee meeting on Jan. 24. Council members had questions, but Hess said there wasn’t a poll. Nor, she said, did anyone say they preferred one proposal over another.

Baxmeyer said county leaders likely would have waited to make any public announcements about closure until it had been formally decided. But he said word of a likely closure got out on social media Tuesday morning, causing staff to get inquiries. And that prompted Tuesday’s quickly arranged meeting and the press release.

Misch pointed out to residents and staff that officials are seeking retention bonuses for the staff, adding, "We don’t want staff to quit overnight.”

In an interview afterward, Baxmeyer said, “Our first priority is to maintaining the facility while it is closing.”

Finding new homes for the residents

County officials emphasized that they first have to develop a plan for closure and get it approved by the state, per the state’s required process.

“This won’t even happen next month,” Kortney Mullins, Portage Manor’s administrator, told the residents about the closure. “This is just the first step of many."

“You will not be left homeless,” Misch told them.

“Is it possible to get a list of agencies (to help with housing)?” a resident asked.

Mullins replied that, yes, a list of agencies and housing options will be supplied to residents, family members and those who have power of attorney for residents, as the list is developed in the coming weeks and as Portage Manor’s closure plan is developed.

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A representative from Byron Wellness Community, a Fort Wayne agency that provides similar housing in Allen County, will come to help residents find new homes. Byron has served as a consultant to the county as it has been seeking options over the past several months.

Where will the aid come from for residents to pay for their next home?

The answer isn’t clear cut yet, Misch said, but he emphasized that choices of where to live would be “resident driven.” They are either younger than 65 with disabilities or are older than 65.

He said Portage Manor’s residents each come with a range of options for how they could pay for housing. Some qualify for the state’s Residential Care Assistance Program, which pays a modest $54 per day, Misch said. Many have help through the state’s Medicaid Waiver program. Some may qualify for veterans or low-income housing. Some use Social Security income to pay for their rooms. Byron Wellness Community may offer space in one of its facilities in Fort Wayne. Others, he suggested, may choose to live with family.

“This is going to be your decision,” Baxmeyer said.

Baxmeyer said officials cannot predict if they’ll need all of the $3 million or less or more. But they’d looked to LaPorte County, which closed a similar county-owned home, a process that just finished up in the past year, having taken a few years. Most of those residents moved to senior housing or veteran housing.

Baxmeyer said consultants at Byron have said Portage Manor’s closure should go quicker than that.

The Portage Manor building, on Portage Avenue on the city’s northwest side, was finished in 1907. It’s fate, Baxmeyer said, isn’t yet clear.

“It’s a beautiful building,” one resident said. “I don’t want it to be torn down.”

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: St. Joseph County officials announce plans to close Portage Manor