Cayuga County Legislature approves sale of former nursing home to ACH

Jun. 24--The site of the former Cayuga County nursing home will soon belong to Auburn Community Hospital.

The Cayuga County Legislature authorized the $50,000 sale during its Tuesday evening meeting, with one legislator absent and two votes in opposition to the resolution.

ACH began utilizing the formerly vacant nursing home at 7451 County House Road in the town of Sennett in late March in its efforts to fight COVID-19 in Cayuga County.

The location was first used as a testing site and, after it underwent repairs, ACH and the county's Health Department opened a clinic for people with respiratory issues in order to isolate potential coronavirus patients.

"I do think it's a great opportunity for our hospital. It's been part of their strategic planning discussions for a while now and it's clear how it fits into their longer-term financial plans for viability," said Legislator Tricia Kerr, NOP-Auburn.

Four legislators spoke in favor of the resolution before it was voted on Tuesday night and acknowledged that there was an earlier proposal to convert it into a homeless shelter.

"That problem hasn't gone away and I just want to reaffirm my commitment to be working on that," Kerr said.

She said the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee formed a workgroup for other strategies to address homelessness. Legislator Heidi Nightengale, D-Auburn, expressed support for helping ACH in financial struggles.

"I feel that we also have a very strong need in this community to have a local, strong hospital and the plans that have been explained with this sale makes this very clear to me that that's possible," Nightengale said.

Legislator Timothy Lattimore, R-Auburn, said he'd also be voting to approve the sale for the county's benefit. Another legislator, Andrew Dennison, R-Ira, felt more clarity was warranted on the need stemming from Cayuga County's homeless population.

Legislators Charlie Ripley, R-Summerhill, and Michael Didio, R-Auburn, voted in opposition.

The proposed sale was first brought to the attention of the Legislature last month, when they were slated to discuss and vote on the resolution during the legislative body's May 26 meeting. But a competing vote to end the meeting prevailed.

The resolution was then reintroduced last week at the Ways and Means Committee's meeting. The committee at that point unanimously recommended selling the building to ACH -- a month after they opted to delay a decision on their endorsement because the sale was put on the agenda at the last minute and couldn't be reviewed ahead of time.

Staff writer Mary Catalfamo can be reached at (315) 282-2244 or mary.catalfamo@lee.net. Find her on Twitter @mrycatalfamo.

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