By Jamey Dunn
A union representing public employees is asking lawmakers to slow down on their timeline to consider the closure of several state facilities.
A union representing public employees is asking lawmakers to slow down on their timeline to consider the closure of several state facilities.
According to Gov. Pat Quinn, the budget passed by lawmakers falls
$313.5 million short of paying for state operations through the end of the current fiscal
year. The governor’s proposed solution includes closing seven state
facilities and laying off about 1,900
employees, which he said will save the state about $54.8 million.
But Henry Bayer, executive director of the Council 31 of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the
schedule for hearings before the legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and
Accountability, which will make recommendations on the proposed closures, would
discourage input from the public. “[T]he administration is intent on
implementing these closures as quickly as possible with as little public
scrutiny as possible. Unfortunately, it appears that COGFA is prepared to
collaborate in this effort to stifle public review and input rather than
seeking to provide an independent review based on the broadest possible public
examination of the facts — as is the clear intent of the law,”
Bayer stated in a letter sent to COGFA members.
A statement from AFSCME says that scheduling a hearing on
the Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford for next Wednesday — giving
the public a week of notice — as well as
scheduling another hearing on the Murphysboro Youth Center in Carbondale on a weekday morning makes it difficult for concerned citizens from
the community and employees of the facilities to attend. AFSCME also complained
that COGFA does not plan to conduct a hearing on the Tinley Park Mental Health Center because the commission already voted in support of closing the
institution in 2009.
AFSCME is asking that hearings be held on nights or
weekends, that two weeks notice is given before any hearings and that the
hearings be held in the same municipality as the facilities being considered
for closure.
Hinsdale Republican Rep. Patricia Bellock, a COGFA co-chair,
said scheduling decisions are based solely on the logistics of trying to
get as many COGFA members to a hearing as possible. She adds that the legally required timeline for a facility closure forces COGFA to act quickly when making
recommendations. “We certainly want to give transparency. The whole reason we
are having theses hearings is so that people can have public comments.”
Bellock, who voted to close the Tinley Park center in 2009, said she understands that things have changed since then, but she said she does not know if COGFA will reverse its decision about holding a new hearing. “We did have the hearing. We had a long hearing on it.”
Bellock said that no matter how soon COGFA makes its
recommendations, the closure of any of the state faculties will take time if it
is to be done right. “It took us over
two years to transition people out of Howe [Developmental Center in Tinley Park.] …. So the governor, I know he feels
financial pressures, but at the same time these are people’s lives and these
are people’s jobs and these are people’s communities.”
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