Holden says closing Cape treatment facility was not his choice

A handful of mental health-care workers appeared Thursday afternoon at a news conference by Gov. Bob Holden to ask why he's calling for budget cuts that will eliminate jobs and, they believe, hurt some of the state's most vulnerable children.

Holden visited the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority office near Scott City to further outline his State of the State address and to talk about Jobs Now, a plan for immediate job creation. About 40 people attended the news conference.

But questions about the closing of the Cottonwood Treatment Center dominated the event. Christina Williams, a child psychiatric care supervisor at Cottonwood, and co-worker Emily McArthur repeatedly asked Holden to explain his call for a budget cut.

Williams asked Holden who made the decision to close Cottonwood. He replied that it was a decision made by the Department of Mental Health.

Williams told Holden it was devastating to learn within the same 24 hours that while the facility would close due to the budget crisis, he had authorized raises for other state workers.

"We don't care about more money, we care about he health of the children we serve," she said.

After Holden explained that the pay raise was the first in three years for many of the state workers, Williams said the caretakers at Cottonwood are more concerned with the children than salaries.

"There is no other facility in the state of Missouri like Cottonwood," she said.

One of their concerns is that the children will be transferred to Farmington, an adult psychiatric facility.

"These kids -- a lot of their problems are adults -- they've been molested, abused and so on," Williams said. "And you're talking about combining them with a program that has never worked with children before. How is that in the best interest of our children? This is not a local issue."

She also called him to task over Cottonwood's loss of more than 80 jobs with his budget cut.

Holden's repeated a similar answer to each of her questions, "I would encourage you to contact your state senator and encourage him to show some leadership on this issue, as well as your state representative."

He reminded the audience there are schools and programs suffering all over the state.

"If we don't have the money, we can't fund the programs," he said. "... The Department of Mental Health has taken some significant cuts over the last three years. They were cut before education. My feeling was education was the single most important priority we have."

Holden laid the blame for the $100 million budget cut at the feet of the Republican-controlled legislature, which the governor said refuses to budget for education responsibly.

"I'm just like a CEO," he said. "I've got to make sure at the end of the day there's money in the bank to pay the bills."

Cottonwood's closing was "the consequences of not having enough money in the budget," he said.

The state needs more revenue to meet its growing needs, he said.

"It is not the politically smart thing to do to be calling for a tax increase in an election year," he said. "... But it is the right thing to do."

Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder and House Majority Floor Leader Jason Crowell have said they will seek out funding in an effort to keep Cottonwood open. But if they try to pull that money from education, Holden said, he won't support it.

Kinder and Crowell will lead a public discussion about Cottonwood's closing today at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160