Date: Fri 04-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

xxx-FHH-Wasserman-oversight-

Full Text:

Mrs Wasserman Named To FHH Oversight Panel

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

State Rep Julia B. Wasserman has been appointed to a new committee that will

provide oversight and local influence on decisions on the future uses of

Fairfield Hills Hospital.

The appointment to the Fairfield Hills Implementation Oversight Committee by

House Minority Leader Robert M. Ward, R-Northford, was not unexpected. Rep

Wasserman, along with Rep John Stripp and Rep William Varese, co-sponsored the

legislation which created the oversight committee during the last legislative

session.

"This committee will continue the orderly process that we have established for

determining the most appropriate and best future uses of the Fairfield Hills

campus," Rep Wasserman said. "The decision to close Fairfield Hills as a major

psychiatric facility was a difficult but necessary one. However, this decision

has been made and we must focus on the future of this valuable resource."

The legislation also specifies that the speaker of the house, Democratic Rep

Thomas D. Ritter, D-Hartford, will appoint a representative of the town of

Newtown to the oversight committee. Rep Ritter has not yet announced an

appointment although it is expected that he will appoint First Selectman Bob

Cascella as the town's representative.

The oversight committee also will be composed of a representative from each of

the following: the State Office of Policy and Management, the Department of

Mental Health and Addicition Services, the Department of Economic Development,

the Department of Agriculture, and a representative of the regional planning

agency for the Housatonic Valley.

In appointing Mrs Wasserman, the house minority leader said he hoped that she

would find the task "challenging and satisfying."

"I know that the talents and expertise you bring to it will be of great value

and service to our state and its citizens," he said.

Several years ago Rep Wasserman, a Newtown Republican, initiated an informal

task force to study the future use of the Fairfield Hills campus as its use by

the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services decreased. She then

introduced legislation which, in August of 1993, established a formal Task

Force that spent more than a year considering proposals before producing a

written report and recommendations. Mr Cascella and, earlier, former first

selectman Zita McMahon, were members of the task force.

"We established the task force in recognition of the changes that were

occurring at Fairfield Hills and to insure that the needs and concerns of the

residents of Newtown and this region were taken into consideration as we

planned for the future," Rep Wasserman said.

"This same high degree of local involvement and local input is not only

necessary to insure a continued voice for the citizens of this process, but is

also critical to the success of this process," she said.

The General Assembly this year enacted legislation to close Fairfield Hills

Hospital and Norwich Hospital and to establish Connecticut Valley Hospital in

Middletown as the state's major psychiatric hospital. Gov John Rowland, who

proposed the closing in his first budget address last February, recommended

that the state pursue opportunities to sell or lease the state's holdings at

Fairfield Hills to generate revenue for the state.

The task force report recommended that the Department of Mental Health

transfer its open land at Fairfield Hills to the Department of Agriculture, a

transfer which was made possible through other legislation which Rep Wasserman

sponsored. The task force also recommended that buildings on the Fairfield

Hills campus be used for a variety of purposes, such as general administrative

office space, business, education, affordable housing and expanded housing for

the elderly.

"The oversight process that we are now embarking on is important not only to

Newtown as the site of the Fairfield Hills campus but (also) to our region as

a whole," Rep Wasserman said.

"This property is owned by all of the taxpayers of Connecticut and as such the

decisions we make about its future represent an investment on their behalf.

The property is a great resource that can be of great benefit to Newtown and

to the rest of our region," she said.

Rep Wasserman, who represents the 106th District areas of Newtown and Bethel,

is a member of the General Assembly's Public Health Committee, which is

responsible for legislation involving mental health issues.