Saratoga County Mental Health programming will soon be moving into a new home in Saratoga Springs.
The move comes after notification from Saratoga Hospital that the main facility, Cramer House, which operates in the hospital, will need to leave when the lease is up. The lease is set to expire in March of 2013.
Hans Lehr, the director of the Mental Health Department, informed the Buildings and Grounds Committee of the Saratoga County Supervisors in April that the lease would not be renewed due to a planned expansion at the hospital.
“They are following the lease agreement, which gives them that right,” said Lehr.
The eviction notice was not a surprise to county supervisors. Both the Buildings and Grounds Committee and the Public Health Committee have been aware for the past two years of the possibility that the lease would not be renewed at Saratoga Hospital, according to Ballston Supervisor Patti Southworth.
A search by Saratoga Springs supervisors Joanne Yepsen and Matthew Veitch for a new facility began following news of the notice. The only stipulation was the location should be within the city limits of Saratoga Springs, according to Lehr.
The committee initially looked at three locations, but the old Topper Pontiac building, at 135 South Broadway, was deemed the best because of timeline and price.
The Topper facility will at first house the Cramer Facility, which is a state Office of Mental Health-licensed facility. Eventually, all three facilities operated by Saratoga County Mental Health will be located under one roof.
Besides Cramer House, the county runs a drug and alcohol program, which is across the street from Cramer House, and the Friendship House, which is a mental health day treatment program on Geyser Road in the Town of Milton. The Friendship House has a lease that expires in 2014. It is anticipated they would move to the new facility at that time.
“The idea is to have the ability over time to locate all of our mental health clinics at one location, which will save money in the long run,” said Ryan Moore, of the County Administrator’s Office.
The building on South Broadway is owned by Frank Parillo of Saratoga Prime Properties. Parillo also owns properties like the Wilton Travel Plaza and Saratoga Strike Zone.
Saratoga County will lease the building from Parillo for $28,151 per month, plus taxes, water and sewer charges and all other maintenance costs. In comparison, the county currently pays about $350,000 in rent every year between the three facilities it runs now.
The County Board of Supervisors approved entering into the lease agreement on Wednesday, Dec. 18. Under the lease, the rent will increase by three percent in years four, six, eight and 10 of the lease. The base monthly rent for those years will increase to $28,996 in years four and five, $29,866 in years six and seven, $30,762 in years eight and nine and $31,685 in the 10th year of the lease.
Greenfield Supervisor Dick Rowland, who is head of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, was happy for the successful end to the search and feels that the former Topper Pontiac building will be a good fit for the county.
“Having this building will allow for the consolidation of services and will be a much more functional space,” said Rowland. “I think the realization that it will be their home for a while will be good.”
Rowland said he anticipates the lease to be signed before the end of the year, but the committee will probably ask for an extension on their lease at Saratoga Hospital because the move-in date into the Topper building is projected for late July.
Yepsen was also pleased with the building her committee selected.
“We wanted to make sure it was on the bus line,” she said. “Keeping the location in Saratoga was important because the majority of our clients are in Saratoga.”
She noted that right behind the Topper building is Saratoga Transitional Services, which is often used by mental health patients.
“It will provide convenience to them,” she said. “They will literally be able to walk to it.”
Yepsen agreed the county would be saving money by consolidating the three facilities.
“After much research, I think we came up with the best plan possible,” she said.
Cramer House, which treats around 1,000 patients a year, helps mainly people with more severe mental illnesses who are unable to pay at other clinics because of lack of insurance.
“Our clinic focuses on people with more severe mental illnesses,” said Lehr. “We deal with those who are unable to access care otherwise, primarily due to insurance. We treat patients who have Medicare, Medicaid or no money at all.”