GOSHEN – The Orange County Legislature may have hired a law firm to consider suing County Executive Edward Diana over the closure of the Valley View nursing home, but Diana continues to place the blame for any potential closure on the lawmakers.
The legislature had two potential buyers for the Goshen facility, but never took action on either. Diana said had they done so, the operation could have been well on the way to a transfer.
“I am a firm believer of sale to privatization; I think that’s the way they are all going”, Diana said. “Certainly, I will take the steps I have to take the steps that are necessary; closure is one of them. I don’t like it, but if I have to take it, I will take it.”
Diana only put funding for the nursing home in the 2013 county budget for the month of January.
Right now, Ulster County is in the process of selling its nursing home to a local medical partnership. The county used a local development corporation as its mechanism for the sale. Rockland County, meanwhile, is about to begin looking to sell its nursing home, also by means of a local development corporation.