By Mark Fischenich
ST PETER — Local lawmakers said Wednesday that most of their questions remain unanswered about what prompted the proposed lay-offs of 63 full-time and part-time employees at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center.
But Sen. Kathy Sheran and Rep. Terry Morrow hope to learn more during a meeting Friday with Minnesota Department of Human Services officials in St. Paul and retain hope that the department will hold a community meeting in St. Peter to discuss the job cuts. They also hope that the department will delay the lay-offs, which are set to occur on Wednesday.
“To find out during a holiday week that a large number of security officers are going to be laid off in two weeks makes for a bit of a scramble,” Morrow said of last week’s announcement. “And we want to slow down the scramble.”
Morrow and Sheran sent Human Services Commissioner Cal Ludeman a letter containing more than 15 questions about the lay-offs, which the lawmakers said were prompted by up to $15 million in overspending. Christine Bronson, the deputy commissioner of Human Services, sent a letter Tuesday to the lawmakers stating it would take time to gather answers to most of the questions.
Bronson’s letter, however, attempted to address the most pressing worry — that security at the facility would be compromised by the staff reductions.
“Concern over job loss is real, but the staff reductions we are making have no bearing on the security operations on the St. Peter campus,” Bronson wrote.
She stated that nearly half of the lay-offs are staff assigned to a unit that was vacated when clients were moved to another unit. Other lay-offs were possible because of a fall in the number of adolescent sex offenders at the facility. Some were made in early morning and late evening shifts in units serving “a stable patient population.”
The changes will not impact the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, according to Bronson. That’s the program that houses former prison inmates who were committed to the program to keep them from being released into the community after serving their prison terms.
Two years ago, four sex offenders committed to that unit escaped, some entering St. Peter neighborhoods and one eluding capture for two weeks until being picked up in Kansas City.
Union officials representing workers at the facility, however, maintain that patients throughout the facility —including those in the Minnesota Security Hospital — can be extremely dangerous.
So Morrow and Sheran say they’re hearing conflicting messages from department officials and treatment center workers.
“I take everyone involved at their word that security is their primary focus,” said Morrow, DFL-St. Peter. “... At the same time, people more knowledgeable than I am are raising concerns about security given the threat of lay-offs of security personnel.”
Sheran, DFL-Mankato, said she saw hints in the letter that the department is willing to consider changes to the plan.
“It subtly suggests that it’s a work in progress, which is hopeful,” Sheran said.
Sheran and Morrow, along with Mankato Rep. Kathy Brynaert, will be meeting Friday afternoon with Bronson and assistant commissioner Wes Kooistra. They hope to learn more then, particularly about the possibility of setting up a town-hall style meeting in St. Peter.
“The community that hosts this facility would like to have a conversation,” Sheran said.
The city deserves that, considering its century-long service hosting the treatment center, Morrow said.
“It’s a very confusing and sensitive situation,” he said. “We have some very dangerous people being housed in that facility. And I believe St. Peter has been a supportive community over the decades. My hope, with a town hall meeting, is that the relationship between the facility and the community can remain a positive one.”
