County Home Supporters Voice Concerns to Pulaski County Commissioners

Pleasant View Rest Home
Pleasant View Rest Home

Members of the Pleasant View Rest Home Board, employees of the facility and family members of the residents in the county home appeared before the Pulaski County Commissioners last night to ask for the commissioners’ support to keep the county home open.

The Pulaski County Council members voted last week by a majority vote to eliminate the funding for the county home in the 2015 budget.

Pleasant View Rest Home Board President Bob White read a letter to the commissioners submitted by the residents to keep the county home open. He asked that the county home board and the county work together to keep the facility operational. Employees made an impassioned plea to support the people in their effort.

Commissioner Terry Young read a statement and made a motion to direct County Attorney Kevin Tankersley to draft a letter to the council to ask them to reconsider their decision to de-fund the county home in the 2015 budget. The motion failed for a lack of a second.

Tankersley stated that the commissioners have no authority to override the council’s action.

“We don’t have any legal power to undo what the council did,” explained Tankersley. “I’ve looked in the statutes. There’s nothing that would allow the commissioners to mandate the fiscal body of this county to put something into the budget. We just can’t do it. You can voice support like Terry has. I’m not here to argue it. I’m telling you that this board can’t mandate that board.”

Commission President Larry Brady reiterated that they were not the fiscal body that made the decision to cut the county home out of the budget and urged all in attendance to take any concerns to the county council.

However, supporters continued in their comments, bringing the outsourced building assessment of the county home in question. The assessment found several costly structural concerns. The Pleasant View Rest Home officials have ordered a separate assessment to compare the two reports. It was noted by the county attorney that the commissioners did not act on the assessment and that they merely reviewed the assessment.

The support of the county home by the members of county government also came under fire.

The matter will come before the Pulaski County Council on Monday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. ET.

Pleasant View advocates have established a website, www.keeppleasantview.com.