Union calls for slowdown on facility closures

A major union is calling for more time for public input on Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed closure of a prison and other state facilities, saying the current schedule of public hearings will “depress turnout and stifle participation.”

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said residents should have at least two weeks’ notice of public hearings that should take place in communities where the threatened facilities are located.

In a letter to lawmakers Monday, the union asked for a revised schedule and suggested that the meetings be held on evenings or Saturdays. The union noted that a hearing to discuss closing a Murphysboro youth detention center was scheduled to be held in nearby Carbondale.

The Commission for Government Forecasting and Accountability has scheduled a series of hearings next month to take public comment. By late Tuesday afternoon, the commission had moved the hearing on the youth prison to a Murphysboro location, according to the panel’s website.

“We realize that it may not be COGFA’s intent to depress turnout or stifle participation at these public hearings, but that will certainly be the result if the hearings go forward as currently planned,” wrote AFSCME Council 31 executive director Henry Bayer.

The commission’s director, Dan Long, said the union doesn’t understand the logistics involved or the timeline required by the state law governing facility closures.

“The issue is from the time we get these recommendations we only have 35 days to schedule a hearing,” Long said. “I don’t think we’re doing these too quickly at all.”

The first hearing is set for Oct. 5 and deals with Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford. It will be held at the University of Illinois Rockford School of Medicine at 4:30 p.m.

The hearing on the youth detention center is set for Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. A hearing on the Chester Mental Health Center in Chester is set for Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.

Hearings aren’t yet scheduled on three other facilities slated for closure — a prison in Lincoln and facilities for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville and Dixon. The commission doesn’t intend to hold a new hearing on Tinley Park Mental Health Center because previous hearings on closing the facility were held in 2008 and 2009, Long said.

The commission is taking public comments on all the proposed closures and citizens can submit comments by email if they can’t make it to a hearing, Long said.

Quinn announced the closures and layoffs earlier this month, saying the legislature had forced his hand.

“The simple fact is that the General Assembly did not appropriate enough funds to keep all these facilities staffed and running for the entire year, and we had to take action now to prevent all facilities from running out of funds in the spring,” Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan said Tuesday in an email. “This is what is necessary to manage the budget passed by the General Assembly.”