Late actions not enough for county mental health

There has been too much talk and too little action on serious problems at Cayuga County's Community Mental Health Clinic, and county Mental Health Services Director David Blair and the Cayuga County Legislature need to be held accountable.

The state Office of Mental Health first cited the county for inadequate physical space for its mental health offices in 1999.

This was followed by similar citations in 2002 and 2004. State citations for a lack of patient privacy in the building and poor record-keeping followed in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee said in March 2006 that the issue had become a priority it was planning to face.

Since then, there have been several discussions and studies that have failed to have any impact.

This week, on the eve of yet another expected citation by the state - and the very real possibility that $750,000 in annual state aid might begin being withheld - the Legislature decided that the answer to the county facility's shortcomings is to simply abandon ship.

Knowing that yet another citation was expected to reach the county Wednesday, some legislators on Tuesday toured some available space at Auburn Memorial Hospital. Later the same day, the Legislature unanimously agreed to explore the possibility of moving county mental health services to AMH.

It was then suggested that a copy of the resolution be sent to Albany ASAP, as though the county's 11th hour decision to “explore the possibility” of a move would somehow be sufficient enough to keep the state at bay.

The lack of communication between the Legislature and the overseers of county mental health services has been dismal, and this situation should never have been able to drag on for this long, with so many people doing so little to resolve it.