Officials backpeddle on plan to close Corbin welfare office

A state Family Support Office located in Corbin, in operation since the 1960s, could be closed if the recommendation of an efficiency study conducted by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services is followed, but local officials are now saying the plan will likely be scuttled.
Concerns over closure of the office, located on Roy Kidd Ave. next to the local state unemployment office, surfaced last week when workers say area managers announced the closure “had been approved” and could happen within weeks. The office provides primarily food stamp and medical benefits too the area’s poor, along with payments for kinship care and other services.
“It’s not a done deal, but it is being considered as a cost-saving measure,” said Anya Weber, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Based Services, a division of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. “For the past two and a half years, the cabinet has had an efficiency team to research opportunities for consolidating office space throughout the state to save the cabinet and the state money. This is something the team has looked at.”
Closing the office would save about $22,000 annually, Weber said.
An open records request submitted by the News Journal seeking a copy of the efficiency team’s report was denied. Weber said there is not a “formal” proposal to close the office. An attorney for the cabinet denied the request by saying preliminary recommendations are exempt from the Open Record Act.
Regardless, 82nd District State Representative Charles Siler, who represents all of Whitley County, opposes the idea and said closure of the office neither makes sense, nor will actually save the state money. If closed, local clients of the office would have to travel to Williamsburg.
“It has been there for a long time for a good reason,” Siler said. “Even before $3 a gallon gas, that’s a long trip for people who have no means. We are dealing with the least able to afford the expense.”
Workers from the office, who only agreed to be interviewed anonymously, said many of the people who utilize the office either walk or catch rides from friends or relatives. All nine workers in the office sent a signed letter to cabinet officials last week opposing the closure.
“Whoever made and approved this proposal was not taking the hardships our clients would suffer into consideration,” the workers wrote.
Currently, the office has 1,300 food stamp cases and 1,338 medical assistance cases.
Siler said claims of cost-savings by closing the office are bogus. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services leases the office space in Corbin from the Division for Unemployment … another state agency.
“I think our objection to this is valid. There’s not even a real savings,” Siler said. “It’s just one cabinet paying rent to another. It might help them a little bit, but it certainly won’t help the state any. The people it will hurt most is the people that need the services and we just don’t need to do that.”
In addition to Siler, the idea has gotten a very chilly reception locally. Corbin Mayor Amos Miller blasted the proposal as a further erosion of state services offered to city residents.
“This is another good example of the citizens of Corbin, who are residents of the biggest city in the tri-county area, seeing all of their state offices going to our county seat,” Miller said. “The population is more in our area than it is in theirs, but because we aren’t a county seat, we are losing our services and that’s not right … it’s not fair.”
In a media release sent to members of the press Friday, State Senate President David Williams, who represents Whitley County, said he is opposed to closure of the office.
“I am aware of the concerns around the potential closing of the welfare office in Corbin. Officials at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services have assured my staff that this is merely a proposal that no one has reviewed and no decision has been made. The Cabinet will continue to keep me informed of any developments. Out of an abundance of caution, I am writing a letter to Cabinet officials expressing the importance of keeping both the Corbin and Williamsburg offices open.”
Weber said Community Based Services officials welcome comment about the plan from the general public and political leaders, as well as office staff members.
“We want to know their opinions and feelings about it and their thoughts will be taken into consideration,” Weber said.
She added that Community Based Services Commission Tom Emberton, Jr. will make the final decision on the proposal.
Emberton could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Anyone who wishes to submit comments on the proposal may call Emberton’s office at 502-564-6907.