Interim director: PDC is not closing

The possible closure of the Porterville Developmental Center, potential layoffs, the status of the secure treatment area and the center’s budget were the big topics of a town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon inside the facility’s Carl F. Broderick Auditorium.

PDC interim executive director Theresa Billeci spoke for about 15 minutes to roughly 150 staff members before she opened up the rest of the meeting for questions.

One staffer asked Billeci if PDC was on the brink of closure. The Recorder had received a phone call from an employee who was concerned about the possibility.

“I have not had a conversation about closure,” Billeci said. “I have not had a conversation about anything associated with closure.”

Billeci said she had not heard anything about layoffs, either. But she said staffers could follow certain steps — like keeping overtime hours at a minimum, not fictitiously calling in sick and not “wasting dollars” by keeping lights on in unoccupied rooms — to prevent layoffs from occurring down the road.

“Our overtime is a little on the high side,” Billeci said. “We’re going to be looking at that a little closer.”

Meanwhile, Billeci said steps are still being taken to whittle down the population at the center’s secure treatment area to 200 clients. The population is currently 219. The cap was 297 in July.

The secure treatment area houses individuals who are in the mild to moderate range of mental retardation, have come in contact with the legal system, have been determined to be a danger to themselves or others and/or are incompetent to stand trial.

Clients in the secure treatment area, the only one of its kind within the state’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS), are ordered there by a court. However, Billeci said the area is currently not admitting new court-ordered clients because of the cap.

The downsizing will be achieved via natural attrition of residents, who go through a training process to reach the necessary competency level required to go back to court.

Billeci said two programs — Responsible Relationships Development and Behavioral, Emotional and Social Development — within the secure treatment area have been eliminated, though.

The interim executive director also spoke about the center’s budget, which “is something that we believe we have control over,” she said.

“We will always meet our budget,” Billeci said. “To come in with a deficit is not an option.”

Billeci went on to say that PDC is “probably” showing a deficit currently, but she was quick to add that half of the fiscal year is yet to come.

The budget for the entire DC system, which includes four other DCs operated by DDS throughout California, was trimmed from $602 million to $577 million for fiscal year 2011-12.

Billeci refused to answer The Recorder’s questions after the meeting.