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NEWS
City Council again delays vote on drug treatment center
HUNTINGTON -- For the second time in as many weeks, Huntington City Council has delayed voting on a resolution supporting the establishment of a residential drug treatment and recovery center.
The postponement Monday night came at the urging of Councilman Jim Ritter, who said he was confused about the proposed center and wanted more time to meet with officials pushing for it.
Addiction treatment and recovery specialists, state lawmakers and community members from across the region are proposing to build the Healing Place of Huntington, which would be modeled after a recovery center bearing the same name in Louisville.
The group has received $200,000 from the Legislature for planning purposes. It paid the Healing Place in Louisville $25,000 to use its center as a model, said Kim Miller, a full-time planner for the Healing Place of Huntington. The group has not decided where it will build the center, she said.
The Healing Place is a medication-free program that uses the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous as the root for its curriculum. Once clients graduate from the program, they stay at the Healing Place to mentor incoming clients.
The program costs $25 a day per person to operate, but many clients don't pay. Instead, they earn their keep by preparing meals, doing laundry and other chores at the center.
Thirty percent of the Louisville Healing Place's $2.6 million budget comes from government sources, while the rest comes from monetary contributions and donated goods and services. The program can serve up to 450 people at one time. The Healing Place has a success rate of 65 percent, which is about five times greater than traditional recovery centers, Miller said.
As a result, the Healing Place is being replicated at 10 additional sites in Kentucky and being used as a model in six other states.
Mayor David Felinton voiced his support for the center. He said too many families in the Tri-State have been affected by drug abuse, and his is no exception.
The mayor said he used drugs recreationally with friends when he was growing up in Maryland. Part of the reason he came to Huntington was to get away from that environment, he said. His brother wasn't as fortunate.
"I've seen my own brother in and out of the legal system and rehab," Felinton said. "He was clean for four years, but three or four months ago he told my family that he was back on (drugs.)"
Miller said she is planning a trip to the Healing Place in Louisville next week and invited council members to visit the facility.
Here is a look at other City Council actions from Monday's meeting:
TAX INCENTIVES: The council referred to its finance committee an ordinance granting business and occupation tax incentives to retail, manufacturing and service-based businesses, businesses with "back-office" operations and businesses that request to be annexed into the city.
Businesses would receive a 50 percent tax reduction on their B&O taxes for the first two years.
Councilman P.D. Adkins, the ordinance's sponsor, said the Huntington-Ironton Empowerment Zone helped draft the proposal. The Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce and Huntington Area Development Council also provided input, he said.
SECURITY CAMERAS: The council discussed the first reading of an ordinance purchasing 41 surveillance cameras for Harris Riverfront Park, the Big Sandy Superstore Arena and the municipal parking garage at 3rd Avenue and 8th Street.
The $158,800 contract would be awarded to McDaniel Electric of Huntington. The funds would come from CDBG, arena and Municipal Parking Board budgets.
Felinton said the camera system also will provide wireless Internet service.
CDBG BUDGET: The council unanimously approved the Community Development Block Grant budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The CDBG assists with services and purchases of equipment in low-income neighborhoods.
The $2.1 million budget includes $214,000 for housing demolition, $63,400 for two code enforcement officers and $313,000 for the operation of community centers. The city will get $87,000 less in CDBG funds than it received this year.
PARKING BOARD: The council referred to its parking committee an ordinance moving the Municipal Parking Board under the control of the director of administration and finance. The position of executive director, which is currently filled by Huntington Police Capt. Mike Wilson on an interim basis, would be eliminated.
