Boulder City residents up in arms over disrepair at Children’s Home

Wednesday, May 14, 1997 | 11:37 a.m.

BOULDER CITY -- An angry Boulder City Council blasted Gov. Bob Miller and the state for allowing the Southern Nevada Children's Home to fall into disrepair while waiting until "the 11th hour" to seek city input.

What sparked Tuesday night's uproar is a proposal to scale down the 70-bed tax-supported facility because of pressure from state legislators to spend money elsewhere. Councilman Bryan Nix, who has volunteered at the home, was upset by the conditions he found during his last visit.

"I was appalled at the level of neglect the state showed toward the children's home," Nix said. "It seems to me a good portion of the problems the children's home has experienced is due to a lack of commitment on the part of the state to keep it a first-class facility."

Opened in 1969, the home is in many cases a last resort for children who have trouble in foster homes or have even been abused by foster parents. The home, a campus with seven cottages, also has provided haven for large sibling groups who don't want to be separated.

Nevada Department of Human Resources Director Charlotte Crawford told the council that Miller favors a 35-bed option that would use the cottages as private foster homes for up to five children each.

Miller's plan also would renovate the cottages and leave room for an unspecified number of emergency beds. The state estimates this option would cost about $600,000 annually.

There are 47 children in the home now, but Crawford said some could be moved to other group homes without problem. A transition period would be flexible enough so children transferred from the Boulder City home wouldn't be forced into unsuitable situations.

Another option favored by a lawmaker Crawford wouldn't name would retain the 70 beds only for children with the most intense needs and cost about $3.3 million annually. Many of the children in the facility now wouldn't be eligible to remain there under that proposal. Yet another option is to eventually close the facility.

"Boulder City has traditionally been dedicated to this facility and the children there," Crawford said.

She added, however, that some lawmakers who sit on money committees, namely the Assembly Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees, believe the costs to run the facility are too high for the current level of care provided.

"Each of these legislators is mindful, however, of how supportive Boulder City has been," Crawford said.

That didn't appease council members who were told by Crawford that the city's input was needed quickly because the Legislature is likely to adjourn in about six weeks. The children's home options will be considered by a joint legislative subcommittee dealing with human resources and kindergarten through 12th grade matters, and co-chaired by state Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Jan Evans, D-Sparks.

Councilwoman Iris Bletsch, who sits on the board overseeing the home, said she has never been "so disgusted in my life" as she has been by the facility's deterioration. The home has been run under a contract the state has with the nonprofit Volunteers of America Inc.

Bletsch accused Miller of being slow to react to the problems at the facility. She noted that Miller, in office since 1989, wasn't just recently elected.

"Gov. Miller allowed this to happen," Bletsch said. "I'm totally appalled at what has happened."

Instead of making a recommendation Tuesday, the council decided to postpone that action until its May 27 meeting.

A parade of Boulder City residents, some of whom either are employed by the facility or volunteer there, complained about its fire hazards and other shoddy conditions. Resident Wallace Best complained that the state, under Miller's plan, would be serving considerably fewer children than it does now.

"They should be getting more bang for the bucks they have now by using the tremendous power of volunteerism," Best said. "This community has the manpower to serve twice as many kids for the same money."

Facility volunteer Torri Haney described the children as "the neediest group any of us have been around."

"If you take these kids and scatter them in Las Vegas, they'll be in so many different schools, they won't have the schooling they have here," she said.

Crawford and Ken Patterson, administrator of the state Division of Child and Family Services, stressed they're trying to push an option that is cost effective and meets Boulder City's needs.

Patterson said when the home first opened, the only other option for children was foster care. The state now has 75 contractors with group homes for children, he said. The state also has 500 foster homes, down from a peak of 600.

In the past five years the percentage of children in group homes has risen from 20 percent to 35 percent, while the percentage of children in foster homes has declined from 80 percent to 65 percent, he said.

Patterson said Miller wants to encourage an increase in foster homes by raising foster home payments 20 percent and providing more money to clothe children. This also could lead to a greater number of adoptions by foster parents.

"If we had an adequate supply of foster homes, we increase the likelihood we'll have adoptions in those homes," he said.

After the council meeting, Crawford said she could sympathize with the outrage city officials aired. She said she understands they believe "the state hasn't embraced them as much as they've embraced the state's facility."

"This is a community that cares a great deal."

As for why the state allowed the home to fall into disrepair, Crawford responded:

"I don't think the children's home has been singled out. Maintenance of state facilities is difficult in a state that has grown as fast as Nevada has grown. The competition for state funds has been fierce. I'll give up maintenance when it means services to more people, but it does mean that in the long run we'll end up with extreme maintenance loss."

In a separate matter, the council heard a presentation from state Public Works Board Manager Eric Raecke on a proposed veterans home for Southern Nevada. Raecke is looking at three 40-acre sites in Boulder City and land owned by the federal government at Fifth Street and Craig Road, near Nellis Air Force Base.

The first phase of the skilled nursing home would provide 180 beds and cost $19.3 million, including $12.6 million from the federal government and $6.7 million from the state. Raecke said plans call for the facility to grow to 900 beds over the next 20 years. The Legislature is expected to approve funding for the first phase, which he said could open by May 1999.

The council didn't take a vote on the issue, but Raecke emerged from the meeting confident he'll be able to continue working with city officials. However, Raecke said specific sites haven't been prioritized.

Whether the home ends up near Nellis or in Boulder City will depend on the best deal the state can get for land and other improvements, such as roads and utility access, he said.