T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK The future of the Monroe County Care Center remains to be decided. While county commissioners had voted 2-1 to sell the center, a county resident has filed suit to stop the sale and has made a counter offer.

WOODSFIELD — The plan to sell the Monroe County Care Center to Bryan Casey, president of Alternative Living Solutions, for $500,000 is on hold and will be decided in court.

Meanwhile, the county resident opposing the sale has made his own offer of $600,000 to buy the facility.

The board of commissioners had voted 2-1 to close the center prior to the decision to sell, with Commissioners Carl Davis and Tim Price voting in favor and Commissioner Mick Schumacher voting against in both cases. The county has invested more than $6 million in recent years to subsidize and renovate the 166-year-old professional rehabilitation and nursing services provider. Much of the investment came after it lost its certification to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients in 2015. The center regained certification in 2017 and has earned a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

However, the center has not yet become self-sufficient and the commissioners have said the county likely would have to borrow money to keep it operating.

The debate about the future of the care center has touched many, with crowds of staff members, their family members and families of residents asking that the center remain open. They say the residents enjoy quality care at the facility and that its nearby location made visiting easier.

Carson McCurdy of Jerusalem filed for a Writ of Mandamus — an order for a government official to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion. He believes the commissioners should have placed the care center out to bid before agreeing to sell it.

McCurdy has said that his offer to buy the facility for $600,000 is contingent on seeing the actual records of profit and loss for the center and understanding the ability of the care center to generate income.

A court hearing at the common pleas level has yet to be set. Monroe County Common Pleas Judge Julie Selmon has recused herself from the proceedings on the grounds that McCurdy had been her client during her time as an attorney, and her husband’s business, Bellwood Drugs, has a business relationship with the care center. Judge Linton D. Lewis II has been assigned to the case.

“The civil action has been filed. It’s a question of law whether the board is required to put it out for bid or not,” Price said, adding that the county prosecutor, James Peters, had advised the commissioners that they were not required to do so. “That’s the matter before the court. Until they schedule a hearing … as far as the process of the sale is concerned, that’s all on hold at this point.”

Davis added that they have been in contact with Casey, who is also waiting on the results of the suit.

McCurdy visited the commissioners late Monday afternoon to offer $600,000 to purchase the center.

“After reviewing the letter of intent to purchase signed by two commissioners, I could find no safeguards for the care center employees or residents. Additionally, I saw no guarantees the facility would continue in its current use with Medicare and not go private pay or be converted to other use,” he states in a letter. He added that he believed the $500,000 price was too low, considering what has been invested in the site.

“I’m trying to provide some surety to the residents and the staff of the care center that they will have jobs and a place to live, and they will be able to continue. That’s my intent. I am not looking to make money on this deal, I am looking to try and help the taxpayers make money,” he said. “I would like to help the county commissioners and work with them to achieve the best possible price for the county care center and the best possible objective as far as keeping their jobs and maintaining the current status of the care center.”

The commissioners did not respond.

Afterward, the commissioners said those guarantees could have been addressed in the process of negotiating the transfer agreement and matters did not get that far before McCurdy filed his action.

The commissioners went into executive session with Peters for about one hour to discuss matters of litigation.

Jessica Price, administrator of the care center, said the center is continuing to accept residents. According to the commissioners, the population of the facility as of July 29 was 45. The capacity is about 60.

“As of right now, we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing,” Jessica Price said.