Girard treatment center may move out

BY MARCUS CLEM | HOMETOWN GIRARD

Girard residents will possibly see the departure of another service from town.

The Addiction Treatment Center (ATC) of Southeast Kansas is exploring options to move to a new building in the region, said Executive Director Rick Pfeiffer of the Community Mental Health Center of Crawford County, which administers the ATC. Pfeiffer made his comments in a presentation to the Board of Crawford County Commissioners on Jan. 29.

Commissioner Jeff Murphy, whose district includes Girard and the surrounding area, said in a phone interview that commissioners had general awareness of Pfeiffer’s proposal for about a month before the Jan. 29 presentation.

“What is for certain is, we need more information,” Murphy said. “We need a detailed financial breakdown. We need, I think, discussions with the people of Girard, the (Girard Medical Center) hospital board, and the City Council. They all need to be informed. I think the (Girard Area) Chamber (of Commerce) will need to be involved too. We should talk first about expanding the old facility before (sponsoring) a move.”

Murphy said he personally did not expect Pfeiffer to speak at length about his proposal for the ATC; Pfeiffer’s conversation with commissioners lasted about an hour, Murphy said. It’s possible Pfeiffer or his agency made the board aware of the planned presentation, Murphy said, but if so he did not see this notification.

In any case, Murphy is concerned that he did not have the opportunity to inform Girard residents about the proposal so that they would be able to give their input.

“I’m a little disappointed about the meeting today (Jan. 29),” Murphy said. “We didn’t have a chance to give notice to Girard residents. They didn’t know about it. If we don’t know what exactly we’re going to hear about, they can’t participate. They won’t know when to attend. I hope we are able to do a better job on that going forward.”

Update — 5:30 p.m. Jan. 29: County Clerk Don Pyle confirmed in a phone interview that the Board of County Commissioners as a whole did not receive notice as to the specific nature of the ATC presentation today, therefore could not inform the public about it. Commissioner Murphy told us earlier today he would have done so, if given the opportunity, but at that time did not know if his lack of information applied to the whole commission.

The Board of County Commissions is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Anyone may attend and a time is typically reserved for members of the public to comment on the business before the board.

Hometown Girard will update this story as information comes in. A call to Pfeiffer did not receive an immediate reply.