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Taking inventory of the county’s workspace

Subcommittee tours Human Services Building while discussing Ockawamick move

By John Mason

COLUMBIA COUNTY — The subcommittee charged with deciding which departments will pack up and move to the county’s recently-purchased Ockawamick School site in Claverack met Tuesday at the county Health & Human Services Building, 325 Columbia St., Hudson.

The county, which purchased the former school on Route 217 in Claverack for $1.5 million Oct. 31, plans to turn it into a 77,000-square-foot office building.

The meeting also included a tour of the departments currently located at 325 Columbia, as all four of them are “Tier One” candidates for relocation to Ockawamick.

In previous meetings, the subcommittee divided all county departments into three tiers. Tier One departments are those that could be moved outside of Hudson; Tier Two departments may be moved, but only within the city of Hudson; and Tier Three departments may not be moved.

As of the November meeting, 29 departments were listed as Tier One, five as Tier Two and 14 as Tier Three.

Subcommittee members will be meeting with department heads in the coming weeks to ascertain their need for space.

The situation is complicated by other factors, such as working relationships between certain departments.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, suggested creating a wall diagram and drawing lines between the departments that have strong relationships.

“There are a small number that can move, and they have relationships with other, smaller departments,” he said. “For instance, the Office for the Aging and Probation.”

Public Works Commissioner David Robinson noted that Ockawamick can work to the county’s benefit spacewise because people will be sharing hallways and other common areas. Committee member Lawrence Andrews, R-Ghent, said there are variables involved in calculating space needs that go beyond per-employee ratios; for instance, he said, the Health Department needs sinks.

Department heads will be required to read through a set of questions and prepare feedback, Robinson said. “We don’t want them to come in cold.”

Tier One departments will come in first, followed by Tier Two.

The first round of interviews will be conducted Jan. 6, starting at 9:30 a.m., at 610 State St., Hudson. On that day, the subcommittee plans to meet with the Health Care Consortium, the county historian, the Office for the Aging, Backup 911, the Probation Department and the Public Defender’s Office.

One department that seems a good bet to move is the Office for the Aging. Following Tuesday’s meeting, the subcommittee toured the Health and Human Services building.

“We’re on record endorsing a move,” said OFA Administrator Cary Jablonka. He said it makes sense for his department, since Ockawamick is just down the road from Philmont, where the county has a nutrition center. He said the move would make management of the agency more efficient.

Jablonka said he has 13 staff in Hudson and 19, full- and part-time, in Philmont.

Next, the subcommittee toured the offices of the Health Care Consortium, led by its deputy director, Gina Armstrong. She said the consortium has about 30 staff, a number of whom are drivers without office space. Eight are full-time at 325 Columbia.

“You’re a little cramped for space now, aren’t you?” asked Supervisor Lawrence Andrews Jr., R-Ghent.

Armstrong agreed, saying that when they hire staff, there’s a question of where to put them. Some of the consortium’s records are kept in storage units on Healy Boulevard.

Next, the subcommittee checked out the basement, which is used for records storage. Robinson said it has enough room for the county’s active records storage; however, most of the shelving still has to be obtained, as well as the funding to obtain it.

When the subcommittee went back upstairs to visit the Health Department, Director Nancy Winch guided members through such areas as the administrative offices, home care area, conference rooms, migrant worker health, maternal/child area, early intervention/preschool, and environmental health.

In environmental health were sinks and refrigerators and microscopes.

There is an immunization program in Communicable Diseases, where most of the energy is focused on Lyme Disease. There’s a fully equipped examination room, most frequently used for patients with sexually transmitted diseases.

“We’re six sections in one,” Winch said. “Not a single ABC.”

The final stop on the supervisors’ tour was the Mental Health Department.

Director Michael O’Leary said he’d love to be invited to speak with the subcommittee.

“You’ll have a whole period to be interviewed,” Baer assured him.

O’Leary began by showing them the administrative area.

“We worked with Dave [Robinson] on the flow plan in incredible detail,” he said. “Go to 71 N. Third St. [the department’s previous location] and contrast what we created here. Patients thanked us: It was seen as a statement in investing in people with disabilities.”

Here, he said, staff have private offices, and there are conference rooms where not-for-profits can meet. Asked if he would change anything, he said, “Probably not. Minor housekeeping stuff. We’re very comfortable here in the hub of things.” He added that he had moved billing downstairs so that all business functions could be centralized.

Clinical staff are organized into teams, and each team has a group room, O’Leary said. Two non-profits, Twin County Recovery Services and Parsons Waiver Services, have third-floor offices. The Child Psychiatry group room has a closed-circuit TV hookup with Columbia University psychologists.

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.

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