Caroline Bier, the agency’s executive director, said she hates to shutter the Middletown office, located at 1500 Central Ave., Suite D, but it wouldn’t be right to leave the one-person satellite operation in the hands of an inexperienced staffer.
The seasoned employee who has manned the office for years retired in July, so they have been operating on a limited basis — the office was scheduled to be open nine days this month — since that time and will close it completely in October when the lease is up. Bier said they have lost three veteran service officers in a two month time frame, which leaves only two experienced service officers of the five on staff. There are a total of 11 on staff at the agency, including Bier, the service offers, benefits coordinators and office staff.
“If I had someone up there full time it was going to take away from the traffic here or it was going to be someone inexperienced that we can’t provide adequate support all the time in Middletown,” she said. “Yeah, if I just want to put a body up there, yeah I could do that, but we’d be taking away our effectiveness from supporting veterans by having someone that’s inexperienced up there.”
Since 2011, 17,680 veterans were served at the branch in Hamilton at the Government Services Center and 4,809 received help with benefits out of the Middletown location.
Bier said they will be providing bus passes for veterans from the northern part of the county so they can get to Hamilton if they don’t have transportation. If they “absolutely” can’t get to Hamilton, Bier said they will accommodate them. When Commissioner Ken Smith asked Bier if she expects a backlash from the closure, she said she expects so.
“I think we’re going to have some pretty negative feedback,” she said. “But my intent is once every couple weeks we can do something in the (MidPointe Middletown) library for people that absolutely cannot get down (to Hamilton).”
Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall, who also runs a specialty veterans court, said he was saddened to hear the office is closing, because he fears veterans from the northern part of the county will not travel to Hamilton and thus would be left out in the cold.
“I’m glad to hear they’re going to be having hours at the library, I think it’ll take care of it then,” he said. “It isn’t that far, but people just don’t, for some reason or another, they won’t go to Hamilton. And I know Hamilton won’t come here either. I just hated to see that, but they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do.”
The commissioners are mailing more than 24,000 postcards to veterans in the county to let them know the services they provide. Commissioner Bob Perry worried they won’t be able to handle the onslaught that might come from increased exposure, given their current staffing issues.
“Do we have a plan to overcome the surge if we get a surge?” he asked.
Bier said they could get “backed-up,” but officials don’t expect the postcards to hit mailboxes until later this fall so the rookies should be acclimated by then.
Commission President Tom Jeffers said closing the satellite office is absolutely the right thing to do.
“I think it’s important for everyone to know while we are leaving Middletown, we’re still offering services and we offer them transportation here,” Jeffers said. “But there is no reason to have an office there if we can’t man it correctly, to get the correct answers for (veterans), so I think it is the correct decision.”
The skeleton service officer staff that has experience is a little backed up as it is now, but Chief Veteran Service Officer Matt Jones said the three new staffers he is training are coming along nicely.
“They are doing alright, it’s still really early though…,” Jones said. “This is only their second week, they all seem to be catching on quite well.”
Bier said they will save $600 to $700 a month on rent but she has every intention of re-opening a satellite in Middletown down the road when staffing is at full-strength.
“This is like the last thing I wanted to do,” she said. “I don’t want to do it, but right now this is the only option we have until we get our new service officers trained to the level that I would feel comfortable having someone work independently in Middletown alone. I would say for at least the next year. Long term I want to get someone back up there full-time.”
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