Officials voice opposition to halfway house

CELINA - City officials on Monday night denounced the idea of a state-proposed halfway house for drug and other criminal offenders from as many as 10 counties in northwestern Ohio.

St. Marys officials reported resident opposition to the plan.

Celina officials believe the city lacks adequate law enforcement and other resources to support the facility and fear it could spawn additional crime in a county already struggling with a heroin problem.

Police chief Tom Wale at a community betterment committee meeting informed council members about the Ohio Department of Correction's proposal. He said common pleas judges from Auglaize, Mercer and Van Wert counties are meeting to discuss a halfway house, potentially in Celina or St. Marys.

The facility would help convicts transition from prison back into society and also serve as a sentencing alternative, Wale said.

No decision has been made but state officials want to have one open by the summer, Wale said.

"Once they decide to move, they're going to move fast and it's going to be done," Wale said.

However, state officials have said they won't place a halfway house in an area without local support, Wale said.

St. Marys City Council president James Harris and council members Robin Willoughby and Dan Uhlenhake said they have received phone calls from concerned residents opposing the plan. Safety service director Greg Foxhoven said discussions are still in the early stages and no decisions have been made.

The halfway house would be for people returning from prison to Auglaize, Mercer or Van Wert County, he said. The house would need to be located in an area allowing the men to walk to work or church since they would not have driver's licenses, Foxhoven said.

House residents would come and go from the facility "almost as they please" to seek jobs and shop, Wale said. Only a few inhabitants would be from Mercer County, he said.

Wale said he fully supports initiatives, such as the Mercer County House of Hope, to treat local residents but not one that would house people from throughout northwestern Ohio.

"I personally don't feel that this is an option that is good for Celina," Wale said.

Mayor Jeff Hazel and council members agreed. Though they feel criminal offenders deserve a second chance, they believe the city is simply unequipped to deal with an influx of out-of-area convicts and drug offenders.

"They could relocate here. What does it do for the area? What does it do for the surrounding areas?" Hazel asked.

Councilmen Mike Sovinski, Eric Clausen and Fred LeJeune also feel the proposal is a way for the state to shift the cost of criminal rehabilitation onto the local level.

"Why should Celina be the magnet for the rest of the state's problems?" LeJeune questioned. "Why can't their own communities take care of their residents and nurture their people, and then reinsert them back into society?"

The meetings, Wale said, have been attended by Ohio Department of Corrections representatives. The state is considering putting halfway houses in southeast and northwest Ohio, he added. A nonprofit organization would manage the site.

Officials are eyeing Celina or St. Marys because they're centrally located in the three counties, Wale said. The state would pay the organization $60 a day per inmate - about one-third less than the cost of incarceration, Wale said.

Programs typically last up to 120 days. To be financially viable, the halfway house would need to house at least 30 to 35 residents and would likely take in individuals from the adjacent counties of Paulding, Allen, Putnam, Hardin, Logan, Shelby and Darke counties - and maybe even farther away, Wale said. That means potentially 125 people a year.

"Mercer County last year brought back 17 from prison. So we're looking at 100 or more people coming from other counties," Wale said.

Placing a halfway house in Celina would cause problems, Wale said. Drugs are smuggled into every halfway house in the state, he added

"I'm not seeing a net positive for our area," he said. "The idea was that they'd get out of the drug-infested culture they were in but the halfway house is a drug-infested culture itself."

He also noted recidivism rates are generally worse among prison convicts who transition to halfway houses before re-entering society.

"They bring in girlfriends, associates and set up shop in the area," Wale said.

His point of view as a law enforcement officer differs from that of the judges.

"The judges seem to be proponents for having this because they did want the alternatives to sentencing to prison," he said, adding they're under pressure from the state to reduce prison sentences. "It's politically expedient to reduce prison populations and the state of Ohio likes to see a reduction in the population."

Hazel said he fully agrees with Wale and added his own concerns.

"Honestly, it could be as large a facility as these (organizations) would want it. They're contracted out by the state, and with Celina, it would be all on the shoulders of Celina guys to police and monitor this," Hazel said.

"There's no other money coming to Celina to take care of this, so our officers would be taking care of any kind of disturbance or issues that they have," Hazel added.

Wale also noted that a Celina man in 2015 had an overdose in a Lima halfway house.

"I hate to be so negative, but I can't find a redeeming quality in this facility," Wale said.

Sovinski said he doesn't see a benefit to the community.

"It makes the state happy because they're not spending as much money as they would if they had to take them to jail," Sovinski said.

Celina is "more of a residential-based community" with "a lot of residents in relation to the amount of industry that we have in town," he said

"I don't believe that what is being proposed fits very well with what Celina has to offer," Sovinski said.

LeJeune said council's main obligation is to ensure residents' safety.

"This is going to impair safety in our future if we allow this to be planted here in our town, in our backyard, around our schools," he said. "We don't have the jobs to provide them that they seek. It seems they would be better served in another community or within their own community."

"What does the city of Celina get out of this?" councilman June Scott asked.

"Nothing," Wale said.

Council president Jason King, who noted he's a pastor and father of four, said more faith-based operations such as the House of Hope are the answer.

The community betterment committee - LeJeune, Sovinski and Myron Buxton - ended the meeting by approving a motion declaring council's opposition to the proposal.