PLANNED TREATMENT FACILITY NEAR BRENHAM RAISES CONCERNS
A new Residential Treatment Facility under construction on Highway 36 south of Brenham has a lot of people talking, including county and state officials. Foundation work has begun on a 7 acre tract of land on the west side of Highway 36, just past the entrance to the State Supported Living Center. County Judge John Brieden says he became aware of the facility Friday of last week. Brieden says the facility is being built by Randall Bryant, and will be similar to one he is connected with in Wallis, in Austin County. Brieden has set up a meeting for next Wednesday morning with Bryant to learn more about the facility:
Also invited to the meeting with Bryant are Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak, Brenham School Superintendent Walter Jackson, and State Senator Lois Kolkhorst.
Sheriff Hanak said that he is obviously concerned about the facility after the problems that the Austin County Sheriff’s Office has had with the Five Oaks Achievement Center in New Ulm. There have been numerous runaways from that facility in recent years and last week, a runaway is accused of burning down a nearby home. Judge Brieden said he has been told the facility planned for Brenham will house a different type of client than the Five Oaks Facility and would be more like the Miracle Farm operation near Independence.
State Senator Lois Kolkhorst said that she has meet with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and that no license application for the facility has been received. She said that the Commission will not even begin the licensing process until the facility is built. Kolkhorst said that public hearings would be required as part of the licensing in counties our size. She added that she does have concerns about the facility and its location:
Kolkhorst said that most of the troubled youth in Residential Treatment Facilities are placed there by Child Protective Services because of their inability to be an a family situation.
Senator Kolkorst talked with the Austin County Judge and Sheriff as well as the owner of the home that was burned last week. She says she is very concerned about the Five Oaks Facility:
Kolkhorst added that Residential Treatment Centers have traditionally been built in urban areas, but they are now moving to rural areas do to the price of land.
This seems outrageous. How can a building start construction
and no one at city hall knows about it. It would seem strange
the people building it would want it near such a facility so near
with vulnerable people living that near by.
We have a treatment center right in town!!! All male men!! Most or all with histories and records you could not believe. Everyone working in town at some menial job they could get to pay their rent to the treatment facility. Making them responsible for total profit. TEEN CHALLENGE. There is not one teen there and never has been. Only requirement to live there is to pay the rent, get a job and attend church. They do drugs and drink alcohol and then get kicked out or quit and they are on out the streets dealing drugs and taking advantage every chance they get! Old St Jude Hospital. Been there for years and have had previous owners that sold for profit and the same local people still own the property. The facility itself is run down and has minimal air and heat. Not up to codes but the property owner gets his money and TEEN CHALLENGE. gets theirs too. Something that everyone needs to look into. Its not a good program and no one there that is employed has any kind of License or education to do this sort of work in rehabilitating lives.
So….the facility on Hwy 36 is needed desperately and Im all for giving the support they need to help the children that were born in situations that have left them helpless on how to cope in our society and have a descent life. BSSSLC is one example of how this can work and be a great asset to our community. It needs our support and should have it.
This facility and its sister property (in New Ulm) are “for profit” corporations. The money that these facilities receive from Medicaid for each client/resident amounts to huge profits for that corporation. And these facilities are not under the same state and federal regulations and stern scrutiny that the State School (BSSLLC) is under.
At one point several years ago, the sheriff’s dept. was constantly being called to one of the three group homes (at the time) in Bluebonnet HIlls due to one particular resident in one of the homes who, on several occasions, ran away in the middle of the night with a penchant for peeping in residents’ windows. Other times, several young male teens from one of the other homes were seen walking the streets in the neighborhood well after 10 PM. To me, this is a huge concern for safety of both the group home residents and the neighborhoods. The state school has state and federal safeguards and regulations in place where I do not believe these private corporate facilities have.
What if scenario for being so close to BSSLC: A runaway makes it onto the SSLC’s property to one of the residential areas and creates pandemonium? The clients (residents) at the school are not equipped physically and emotionally to deal with disruptive situations. SSLC staff should not have to fear this as well. The families and guardians of SSLC clients have legal rights, too, for the care and safety of their loved ones.
It sounds to me with the history of the New Ulm facility, that many people are being put at risk there and may very well have that situation here in Brenham..
I want all private group homes and residential facilities in Texas under the same state regulations as the SSLC’s, for proper training & safety of their staff and proper care & safety for their clients/residents.
No private entity is going to let the govt regulate them if they are not state or federally funded like the SSLC is. The SSLC was doing fine until the Federal Govt. got involved and now all you see is top heavy positions that pay lots of money to push papers. The ones who actually do the grunt work are treated poorly and paid poorly. You can’t breath out here without filling out some kind of paperwork or taking some kind of training. Plus the state is reactive instead of proactive to situations….in other words……they wait for it to happen before they fix it. If this facility is run correctly, there should be little to no threat to the community but if the idea is to get as much money in their pockets and not back into the facility, then watch out! we are in for a disaster!
BSSLC was not doing fine until the federal government interceded. Services are better now. I also do not see excessive top-heavy positions you indicated.
This facility is not connected to Five Oaks in any way. Check ur facts out before u make comments.
I would feel better about such facilities if the owners/operators built them next to where THEY live.
If the right kind of people are put in the appropriate positions, then this probably could be beneficial for the community and individuals who will be served in the facility. I’m not going to go into details because this could take hours to communicate to everyone. From my experience with mental health too often you see unqualified people in the high positions who make the high dollar figures, but are not capable of doing the job appropriately. Most of them are being hired in the positions because of how they look in regards to their skin color or who they know….
Once again, the horse is out of the barn and our officials are in the dark. I am shocked that our City and County officials are not aware of all new developments in Washington County. Even if a permit is not required, why hasn’t the County Commissioners developed a notification process to at least keep them informed of what is happening around the County? It is likely that the developer purposely chose a site outside the city limits because permits are not required. If the public doesn’t know about it, they cannot voice their concerns before construction starts. Time for a new, professional approach to the way WC officials do business!
I am concerned about my mother that lives in Bluffview apartments. My daughter lives at the BSSLC. I don’t think Brenham is the place for this type if facility.
Concerned mother and daughter.
Brenda
While this new development is alarming, I can’t help but ask one question… why is Judge Brieden just now finding out about this? There had to be building permits, along with utility plans in order to build something of this magnitude – yet construction has already begun & no one knew about it?
This seems to be very similar to the proposed race tracks out here. County officials all claimed that they didn’t know anything about what was going on, until it was leaked to the public & citizens came together to try to stop the process. It seems that our County officials might want to be a little more on top of what’s going on out in Washington County, so that they can serve the community just a little better.
This would actually be a great thing. There is a real need for this in our county. Are there going to be kids that have problems or outbursts? Yes but that is because they have gone through trauma and abuse that no human should ever have to go through, let alone a child and that you and I could not even imagine. But that is why there is a need for places like this, places that can help begin the lifelong healing journey.
You mean like the trauma and abuse you would feel when they burned your house down?
Have you ever worked with foster kids or kids that have gone through trauma? Not all of them are bad and going to do things like burn down a house or sell drugs or commit crimes. A kid that’s been beaten all their life wants stability and to be safe.
Please investigate the Prairie Harbor Residential Treatment Facility Facebook page. There are nothing but pictures of employees taking screen shots of themselves and hashtagging dirty phrases. I am horrified that a place like this is sneaking in the back door of our county and we have had no notice whatsoever! People, you have got to contact your city and county officials to find out what we can do to stop this from happening. This local man does not seem to have anything but a degree from a junior college. Wake up and start protesting this in anyway possible. This is not the state school and our property values are going to nose dive!
For something that just came up on the radar a little more than a week ago, there seems to be a few people (informed citizen) who was in the loop way before anyone. Why is that? I understand that this is being built in the County and there are little to no rules about what can be built, but at least letting the citizens that live around the facility know, would have been the right and neighborly thing to do. If the facility can be built up to standard and they can keep the residents contained, it might be a good thing for our town. Hopefully they will pay the employees a decent salary….Lord knows the poor direct care staff at the SSLC get paid little to nothing……Am I glad it’s not in my backyard? Yes! but then again I have a “fema trailer” park not too far from my house with young kids speeding up and down the street all day……..
I’ve worked in those type of facilities and with it being that close to town will put people around the facility in danger and don’t know what type of kid your getting till they get there, until then it’s a guessing game
The facility must be built and inspected by the state before it can be licensed. Where would you have these children Go? Remember way back when the state school was being brought to our county and the opposition it faced. These facilities face tough regulations that must be met in order to be licensed. The citizens of Washington will be welcome to come and visit the facility once it up and running or schedule a visit to see it before it opens to see the safeguards that are being implemented. Keep in mind this will be a brand new and modern facility.
Many thanks to Judge Brieden and Senator Kolkhorst for getting all the facts. The public deserves to know more about this project! Our community must face this challenge with a steady hand.
Facts a little late. If our Judge & the Commissioners would drive around Wasington County & their respective precincts, none of this would be a surprise. Called: County Mismanagement! Election time soon!
Well that facility if it gets licensed will destroy property values in that area, and effectively stop future growth in that area once people get wind of it. They will be afraid for their children. State school clients are handicapped and pose little risk, these clients might be addicts or????
That is horrible to say that just because a person is handicapped that they will cause less risk than a child who is in a RTC. I don’t think you have any idea of what you are talking about. Most of these kids aren’t addicts but kids who have been abused, beaten, neglected along with many other horrible things that would blow your mind. Have you ever worked with foster kids? Have you ever worked with CPS kids? These comments are ignorant and selfish.
Funny, now many commenters here are against a development because they think it will inhibit other development. Yet many of the same commenters are against any other development; they want Brenham to stay as it is. A lot of folks here sure don’t seem very consistent, except that they’re always ‘against’ whatever the current subject is.
Titania, I agree with you 100%. Lots of small minded people still living in a world that has changed 20 years ago, But they stayed the same. great well said. .
No one has mentioned that these facilities are built for profit. And the taxpayer foots the bill. Would be nice if our local authorities revealed the corporation owners of these facilities. These owners feel very sure of getting licensed by the state if they complete building before application. Does this corporation make political campaign contributions, and to whom? The wards of these homes are the result of drug and alcohol abuse, and also neglected, abused and unwanted children. These people deserve treatment and care, but not at the welfare and safety of the citizens who pay for their care. Perhaps Senator Kolkhorst can provoke improving the provisions under which these facilities are licensed. Along the lines of effective containment would be a great start.
The new facility is being built by local people. The director will be a local person who has been raised and educated in Washington County. She possesses a Masters Degree in education. These folks are residents of Washington County so they have a vested interest in how this institute will be operated and represented. This will be a modern facility and have newer safeguards against some one leaving the facility. The kids are not criminals but victims. Just because there is one bad facility does not mean they are badly operated.
When you burn somebody’s house down, tat makes you a criminal.
My beauty shop, that I go to, down the highway flooded with the 2016 flood. With this concrete cover development on seven acres, and on same side of highway, will this create more flooding? Is the county or city engineer reviewing the plan to prevent the future flooding? Is this in the city limits? I would sure hate another inconvenience like we had in 2016 again.
Informed Citizen states being built by local people, but is it in their neighborhood nor did they make their fellow locals aware before starting/planning. Where is the city on this? Have they agreed to extend sewer & water out side the city or have they agreed to annex? Will the judge invite a city rep to meeting? Wasn’t there problems in past of local facilities and security?
yes yes…