A few days before Christmas, the Hospital District did some last-minute shopping, laying out almost $4 million of taxpayer money for an abandoned building on 10th Street, behind Dyer Chevrolet, that was once used as group housing for foster children aging out of the system.
District officials say they intend to find an operator who can turn the buildings into a 30-bed women’s sober living home similar to one of the men’s sober living halfway house currently operating in Vero. They say the need is great for such a facility.
But beyond the fact that the purchase exhausted the entire $3.8 million the Hospital District realized from selling the taxpayer-owned Hospice House property to the Visiting Nurse Association in 2023, there also is the matter of how much setting up and subsidizing operation of a women’s sober home might cost taxpayers.
If there is a business plan for this initiative, the Hospital District hasn’t produced it.
Is owning a women’s sober home a wise investment of taxpayer dollars? What risks are involved in this type of property ownership? How much will the building cost to insure and maintain?
Would such a facility break even, or would it require continual financial support from the Hospital District?
These questions should have been asked before $3.8 million was spent.
This was not a rush decision. The idea for a women’s sober home surfaced nearly four years ago, according to board members of Dynamic Life Recovery, a 30-bed men’s sober home in Vero.
Former hospital district executive director Ann Marie Suriano was so impressed with Dynamic Life’s work with local men that it seemed a natural step to want an equivalent facility to serve local women in recovery.
Suriano formed a special committee to conduct a needs assessment. Dynamic Life Board Member Mike Cianci served on that committee, which he said stopped meeting once a need was established. Cianci said he never saw a written needs assessment from the committee’s work.
By October 2023, Hospital District trustees had agreed the county needed a women’s sober living facility along the lines of the Dynamic Life men’s model, and Suriano was working with a Realtor to searching for appropriate properties.
The former Children’s Home Society facility for foster children was quickly seen as a prime candidate – though the parcel and two buildings were not for sale. In addition to dormitory space, it featured a commercial kitchen and dining area seen as ideal for communal meals at a women’s sober home.
Most of 2024 was spent on negotiating the purchase of the former Children’s Home Society property, with Trustee Karen Deigl appointed by the board to spearhead the project in conjunction with district legal counsel Jennifer Peshke.
In October, Deigl submitted a $4 million offer on the property, with a 60-day due diligence period, during which an inspection revealed needed repairs. The price was reduced by a $200,000 allowance for needed repairs, but it’s unknown whether that dollar amount was based upon contractor estimates.
The zoning still needs to be changed on the property through the county process, as the land use is listed as an orphanage. Due to a deed restriction in place until July 2026, the property cannot be used as a women’s sober home for 18 months.
Meanwhile, Isele said there are “many details yet to come as we develop the RFP with a consultant; we won’t be the operator.”
Cianci, who just last month shifted from a staff position as Dynamic Life’s grant manager to a board member, and board president Pastor George Pellington said Dynamic Life expects to mount a bid to operate the women’s sober home, and they anticipate a competitive selection process.
In his work on the Women’s Sober Living Program Committee back in 2023, Cianci said he was never asked to help put together any sort of business plan or financial projections to determine whether such a women’s sober home might be financially viable.
“That would depend on the people who operate it and manage it,” Cianci said.
Dynamic Life enjoys strong support from six churches plus foundation grants, so in many ways it is a model program for what the district hopes to provide for local women, but the Hospital District still funds a quarter of the operating expenses for the Dynamic Life men’s sober home here.
In 2023 the Hospital District awarded Dynamic Life $63,000. Then in 2024 the district increased Dynamic Life’s funding to $123,000.
Based upon that annual need, the $3.8 million purchase price for the women’s sober home could be only the beginning of a long-term, six-figure annual drag on hospital district funds.
Trustee Paul Westcott began his term on the district board in January 2023. He has focused on pushing the district to take a more active role overseeing Cleveland Clinic’s operations of the Indian River Hospital.
But Westcott said he does not recall seeing a business plan or any financial projections for the women’s sober home.
“I had always believed that the district would select an established organization with a solid, lengthy track record in the recovery business to operate the facility,” Westcott said.
Vero Beach 32963 almost a month ago submitted a public records request for documents relating to the purchase, but as of press time had not received them. Here’s a sampling of what we asked for:
- Inspection report on the building outlining the major needed repairs and renovations, with work estimates.
- Budget for needed facility improvements, with anticipated sources of revenue.
- Timeline to begin accepting clients
- Who will run the center? What happens if no qualified operator comes forward?
- Pro forma of expected annual operating expenses and revenues once the center is open.
- If it is anticipated to result in a net financial loss, will the Hospital District be expected to subsidize the center for a certain number of years, or indefinitely?
- Risk analysis for the project.
- Market/need analysis for the project.
Presumably, the basic information requested would be together in an old-fashioned project binder, or its electronic equivalent. Apparently not.
Hospital district Executive Director Frank Isele replied that staff would require “some time to get this together” and that he and others had time off planned over the holidays.