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Fighting another state closure

With the Illinois Department of Human Services planning to close 17 of its rural offices, including the one in Fayette County, Vandalia’s mayor and this area’s legislators have begun working to get a full explanation of those plans.

Mayor Rick Gottman, state Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) and state Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Greenville) have also begun the fight to prevent the implementation of those plans.

DHS told employees at the 17 rural offices, including the one in Vandalia, last Wednesday of the plans to close the offices. In making the announcements, DHS officials told the employees that they would be allowed to relocate to other offices.

But Gottman, McCarter and Stephens are, at the very least, confused about the DHS plans.

“The employees were told that their jobs are secure,” McCarter said, “but the troubling issue is, how do they continue serving their clients?

“I’m still trying to put the pieces together,” he said. “There appears to be some conflicting information being put out by the agency.”

Gottman agrees. “When I asked the reasons, they told me it was for security reasons, then it was because of the amount of clients they see, and then it was looking for ways to cut costs.”

Agency officials told the mayor that DHS plans to operate in a manner in which clients don’t have to travel more than 30 miles.

But, first, Gottman said, that’s not accurate, if DHS plans to serve Fayette County residents through its Centralia. “Depending on where the client lives, it could be close to double that,” Gottman said.

Second, he said, many of the DHS clients are capable of making such trips.

“You’re talking about the elderly or low-income people, some of whom are both, and they can’t get or don’t have transportation,” Gottman said. “This would really put a burden on these people, as well as those who can travel but will have to pay more to travel to Centralia.”

Stephens said he feels the closure of the Vandalia office “makes no sense. The Vandalia office handles more than 2,600 cases per year; that’s 10 percent of the population of Fayette County.

“I’ve reviewed the methodology used by DHS, and it’s clear to me that the Vandalia office does not meet the criteria for closure,” Stephens said.

Stephens said documents provided by the Department of Human Services outlined the five criteria used to make the decision to close the Vandalia office:

• Number of staff assigned to the office (up to six).

• One local office administrator managing up to three offices.

• Caseloads less than 2,000.

• Cost savings.

• Nearest local office within 40 miles.

McCarter said he challenged DHS officials on the ability to serve its clients adequately, “and they told me that they would send people out to help if the clients can’t get to the office.

“Now, I have a problem with that,” he said. “They say they don’t have the money to keep these offices open, but they will spend additional money to send employees out?

“I think the people of Vandalia are skeptical about this, that it may be a political spanking of some type, and I think they have a reason for feeling that way,” McCarter said.

The answer, McCarter said, could come as legislators work on a new state budget.

“We’ve got to look at this budget in a practical way,” he said. “We have wants and needs, and we may have to forfeit some of those wants to take care of our needs.

“It would be good to have a balanced budget, but are we going to do that to the detriment of the poor and those who need help?” McCarter said.

“I agree with Rep. Stephens,” he said. “When you look at the agency’s criteria, it doesn’t look like Vandalia should be on their list (of office closures).”

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