The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    St. Peter forum

August 28, 2008

Tough questions for SPRTC

St. Peter forum leaves some unconvinced

By Robb Murray

ST PETER — With a lot of change happening these days at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center and Minnesota Security Hospital campus, officials there agreed to hold a public forum to answer questions.

But when it was over Wednesday, some in attendance weren’t quite satisfied with the way the forum was held or the answers Department of Human Services officials gave to submitted questions.

The forum was meant to answer questions about layoffs at the SPRTC, budget shortfalls, security issues in the wake of patient escapes and other topics. It was a community forum, designed to give the public a chance to learn more about what’s going on with one of the city’s biggest employers.

Wes Kooistra, assistant commissioner, gave a 30-minute overview of what services the state agency offers. He talked of how the services the DHS offers have expanded.

He outlined many changes made at the treatment center, including better training for staff, security cameras, enhanced security fence, cross-training of staff, etc.

He talked about the vision of DHS and the plan to move all sex offenders eventually to a new facility under construction in Moose Lake.

He also conceded that a recent announcement of layoffs was handled poorly and that more consultation with staff and others affected should have taken place before the announcement was made.

“We failed to do that,” he said. “We take seriously what we’ve heard from staff.”

Some wondered why so much time was spent on a review of DHS services when there were many submitted questions waiting to be answered.

Others, including Bonnie Enz and Betty Davis — both nurses who work on the SPRTC campus — said a little more give and take between the panel and attendees would have been better.

“I thought it was one-sided,” Enz said. “We only got the good side.”

John Knobbe — who is an official representative of the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees — said their presentation sounded good but didn’t address some key community issues. One issue he used as an example was how new shifts being introduced are longer than normal, which would be tough to pull off for families with kids who need day care.

For anyone wondering about the future of the SPRTC, Kooistra said the DHS has no plans to shut it down.

And for anyone worrying about how safe the community is, Dennis Benson, who runs the SPRTC, said that when sex offenders begin transitioning into the community, they’ll be heavily supervised, drug tested several times weekly and subjected to polygraph tests.

“We’re going to be very careful,” Benson said.

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