Lake Co. leaders debate future of Winchester House management

Lake County Board members are divided — mostly along party lines — about what to do with the Winchester House nursing home.

Commissioners on Tuesday will decide whether to seek bids from private companies to operate the facility, which is on Winchester Road in Libertyville. The county has run Winchester House for decades, but revenues aren’t keeping pace with costs, officials have said.

Some Democrats on the panel oppose the move, saying a private management company would result in lower salaries for workers and inferior care for residents.

Some Republicans insist officials are legally bound to operate Winchester House within current tax-revenue limits and believe private management is the best way to do that.

A volunteer advisory committee studying the matter recently recommended seeking bids from private companies to run the facility.

County commissioners debated the issue Friday during a committee-of-the-whole gathering in Libertyville. The full board will vote on the proposal Tuesday.

Salaries and benefits for the center’s 192 employees are the biggest expenditure for Winchester House, officials said.

County officials are negotiating now with the union representing Winchester House workers. The union — representatives of which attended Friday’s meeting — hasn’t said what money-saving steps, if any, the workers are willing to take.

Plans to tear down the aging facility, which dates to the 19th century, and build a smaller and more specialized center nearby have been on hold for more than a year. An architect was hired in 2009, but construction never began.

The original plan was to build a $32 million facility that would be completed by 2012. The proposed price tag has since risen to $36 million.

North Chicago Democrat Audrey Nixon said she opposed building a new Winchester House when that plan moved forward and opposes privatizing the facility now.

“(Private firms) are in it to make a profit,” Nixon said. “We are in it to take care of the citizens of Lake County.”

Grayslake Democrat Melinda Bush joined Nixon in opposition, saying privatization will result in lower wages for workers and contribute to a decreased standard of living in the area.

“I think it’s wrong,” she said.

Gurnee Republican Steve Carlson disagreed. Keeping Winchester House open is his priority, he said, but the county can no longer afford to run it.

Libertyville Republican Carol Calabresa said board members and the advisory committee unsuccessfully spent several years looking for creative funding solutions for Winchester House.

“We’ve got to be fiscally responsible (to) all of our residents,” she said.

Crossing party lines, Grayslake Democrat Pat Carey took a similar stance, saying the board should investigate privatization because of the facility’s budgetary restrictions. Asking private companies to present proposals, Carey said, is different from hiring one to do the job.

“We’ll have more information once this comes back,” she said.

Contradicting previously published reports, County Administrator Barry Burton and other officials said Winchester House’s 192 employees wouldn’t necessarily lose their jobs if a private company takes over.

The company likely would interview current employees for jobs, they said. A firm would not be required to hire the county’s workers, however.

In a prepared statement he read at the meeting, Round Lake Beach Democrat Terry Wilke attacked board members for considering a step that would result in lower wages for workers at a time when the panel is considering giving some of its members pay raises.

Citing a variety of statistics that later were questioned by board Chairman David Stolman, Wilke called for commissioners to cut their pay and asked if they really wanted Winchester House employees “to eat out of garbage cans.”