Oriana House plans gets pushback from local residents

Residents wary of plans for rehabilitation center

Tempers flared Monday night as more than 40 parents voiced fears about a potential new neighbor.

Oriana House is under contract to buy the former Woman's Home on Third Street, with plans for a rehabilitation center there.

"It's common sense, who would put these people that close to any school?" said Christina McMahon, whose son attends St. Mary Catholic School, a private school housing pre-K through eighth grade at the corner of Marion and Fourth Streets.

McMahon, other parents and neighbors were gathered in the basement of the school in a meeting called by Oriana House, a private 501(c)3 nonprofit which provides addiction treatment services, community corrections programs and behavioral health services in Ohio.

Currently, Oriana runs both a halfway house in Reno for court-mandated clients and those transitioning back into the community from prison, and Rigel Recovery Services, an outpatient substance abuse treatment program.

Oriana also contracted with the county two weeks ago to design and facilitate a drug court with Washington County Common Pleas Judge Mark Kerenyi.

Monday's meeting was about the next level in a continuum of care requested by the Washington County Behavioral Health Board in response to the opioid epidemic that has hit southeastern Ohio counties and Appalachia as a whole the hardest in the nation.

"We were asked by the (Ohio) Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to bring that halfway house to southeast Ohio because there wasn't anything down here and frankly rural counties are underserved," said Jason Varney, vice president of correctional programs for Oriana House in northcentral and southeastern Ohio.

But the residential treatment portion, which parents at the meeting said they are in support of, is slated to operate within 200 feet of the private school, which many in the room were vehemently opposed to.

John Jack, a parent at the school, echoed concerns about the proximity to his and other children and noted a provision in the Ohio Revised Code would make the facility illegal by the middle of next year. A provision prohibiting an opioid treatment center within 500 feet of a school or daycare is scheduled to take effect next June.

"I'm going to steer away from just the 'not in my backyard' argument," he said, accepting that drug addiction treatment is needed in the area. "My main question is, is this proposed facility going to provide opioid treatment?"

Anne Connell Freund, executive vice president of Oriana, said the facility would provide medically assisted treatment for those with alcohol and drug addictions, including those addicted to opioids.

She said the Oriana team would look into the Ohio Revised Code John Jack cited, to review if the plan to purchase the Woman's Home would be impacted.

Freund also described a treatment model in the facility which would begin with a voluntary admission into the residential program by individuals for whom home outpatient treatment did not work.

"It will be staffed 24/7 and our clients are engaged from 7 (a.m.) through the day until 10 (p.m.)," she explained. "There will be medical staff, treatment staff there at all times."

Several parents said they had "absolutely no doubt that these people need help," but took issue again and again with the proximity to their children's school and a lack of security explained, noting the direction for the facility to not be locked.

Then one parent asked what screening process would be used to admit clients into the facility.

When the answer included no direct screening of criminal history or sex-related offenses, yelling began.

Eric Brockmeier, a former municipal probation officer for the county who now runs Oriana's halfway house in Reno, took off his badge as he addressed the concerns of the parents.

"I have three kids just down the street here and my heart is racing because I can empathize," he said. "I was a probation officer here for 12 years prior to this and I've done the house checks and taken drugs off of this block numerous times. It's already here."

Another parent asked why the nonprofit couldn't operate a residential treatment program out of the estimated 60 percent vacancy in the County Home on County House Lane.

"We tried, in fact, that was our first choice and we put a lot of money into architectural drawings there to see what we could change there to meet the needs of the program," said Bernie Rochford, another executive vice president for Oriana.

He said ultimately that 18-month process was killed because the Washington County Behavioral Health Board and the Washington County Commissioners could not come to an agreement on a lease price for the facility.

"It's still where we would prefer to be," noted Varney. "But I was told that the lease the commissioners were asking for was cost prohibitive."

"It was ridiculous," added Freund.

Varney said he believed the lease discussed priced a monthly rate for the space at $10,000 per month.

As parents left the meeting Monday several stated they would be talking with the commissioners to reconsider a contract at the county home in Marietta Township. Others said they would be talking with members of the Woman's Home board of directors.

Molly Frye, principal of the school, said she would continue to take additional questions and concerns from parents and forward them on to Oriana leaders.

"We're thankful for the turnout tonight," said Freund. "We don't come into any community under the cover of darkness… we'll next be looking into that (Ohio Revised Code) before making any other moves."