On Wednesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice, Kevin Bryant, issued a restraining order to halt the closure of the Sullivan County Adult Care Center at Sunset Lake.
The restraining order comes in response to a lawsuit filed by residents, family members and employees of the Care Center.
The Sullivan County Adult Care Center at Sunset Lake, in Liberty, was in the process of closing, the county announced in August. At the time, the County said the residents would be transferred out by the end of the year.
The restraining order says the respondents, including the New York State Department of Health, Sullivan County, and the County Manager Joshua Potosek, are “hereby temporarily restrained and enjoined from further implementing a closure plan for Sunset Lake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.” It says they should not transfer or relocate the residents or lay off any current staff.
The lawsuit focuses on Open Meeting Laws because the County Legislature failed to record that vote where they decided to close the care center.
In August, Sullivan County Legislator Cat Scott questioned that validity of the vote to close Sunset Lake, which the legislature said took place during a closed-door Executive Session in March.
The Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz said in August the vote to approve the closure had passed 5-4. In response to a legislator who said they did not remember how they voted, Rajz told WAMC, “We had enough people. That person just didn’t remember.”
Rajz did not respond to follow-up questions about the March Executive Session vote over email.
At the press conference Thursday, civil rights attorney Michael Sussman, who is representing the petitioners, said that they had filed a Freedom of Information Law request for the records of the March vote. Sussman said the county responded that there was no record of the vote.
Sussman added there are only about 30 long-term residents remaining at the Care Center, down from the 93 residents when the closure was first announced at the end of August.
One of the petitioners, Bonnie Lewis, said her sister, Janet Metnech, who was a residents at Sunset Lake and is also a petitioner, was moved out at “warp speed”.
Metnech is now a resident at Valley View Center in Goshen, about an hour from Liberty.
Lewis described the process that her sister went through: Staff went around to the resident and shared an alphabetical list of hundreds of nursing homes, and could choose a few options of where they would like to be transferred to.
The next hearing date will be Monday, September 21st at the Ulster County Courthouse.
