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REGULAR MEETING February 25, 2019
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Thank you for that clarification. Then my last question, I
<br /> believe. Why not build at your current property? That question has been presented to me,
<br /> repeatedly.
<br /> Mr. Adolf replied, You know, I've heard that question come up and I think our best answer for
<br /> that is not only the budget but the necessity of having a facility quickly. The time it would take to
<br /> survey, excavate, draw plans and actually put a facility together is quite time-consuming. The
<br /> reality is, we are trying to serve as many people as possible, and unfortunately, with the epidemic
<br /> we have, there are a lot of times Choices is at max capacity and we are turning patients away. A
<br /> lot of people are having to leave their community to seek sober living facilities like this. So, we
<br /> have something that will be, like I said, point three (0.3)miles down the road, it fits our needs and
<br /> it is ready to go.
<br /> Ms.Brown stated, I would like to add to that,as well.The need for the person graduating treatment,
<br /> that in itself is this glorious feeling to be done with treatment. You leave there, and you move on
<br /> to the next step. This is the next step to almost home. So, there is a little bit more leeway and a
<br /> little bit more freedom. It is freeing for the person in recovery. So,it's a great way to take that next
<br /> step before going home and living outside of that bubble that is being inside a treatment facility.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden then asked, So then what are the distinguishing elements with the
<br /> sober living facility? If the next step is home, right? What are the distinguishing elements? You
<br /> haven't included a kitchen, you know? I don't see a rec room and those types of things. But what
<br /> are the distinguishing elements? I'm sure it gets to programming and I'll let you take it away from
<br /> there.
<br /> Mr. Adolf replied, The biggest thing is having supervised living in a safe, positive and healthy
<br /> environment. For a lot of our patients,home is a hostile place.Whether they have a family member
<br /> or spouse that drinks or even a bad marriage, there are a number of things that trigger our patients
<br /> at home to use and there is no one(1)there to supervise them. Having somebody twenty-four(24)
<br /> hours a day, not only to hold you accountable but to support you. When they walk past an
<br /> individual and they can tell someone is being down, our staff reach out. They want to see how
<br /> they're doing, and they want to get them in to see their counselor if they are having a tough day.
<br /> So,to have those trained staff members there to supervise and support you,twenty-four(24)hours
<br /> a day, is really the main distinguisher between that and going home.
<br /> Ms. Brown stated, And I want to clarify, when we talk about supervision, we aren't talking about
<br /> a level of corrections supervision. We are talking supervision in terms of your mood. Depression
<br /> is very rampant among people with addiction and, right now, suicide is at an all time high. So,
<br /> when we talk about supervision, we are not talking about the corrections-level of supervision. The
<br /> gates are needed because of what's in there. The gates actually, at Choices, are to keep people out
<br /> and unhealthy people away from the people who are seeking and desiring change.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, That is a good distinction, I appreciate that point. So, thank
<br /> you very much.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, Thank you for what you do. I have a couple of questions. If
<br /> you want to write them down, then you can go for it. What lead you to this location, number one
<br /> (1)? Number two (2), did you look at other locations? And, if so, what were the key differences
<br /> with this current proposed versus the other locations.Number four(4),were there any other zoning
<br /> requirements at any of the other locations that would have come before the Council? Number five
<br /> (5), who are your other competitors that do similar work here in the City of South Bend or nearby?
<br /> I would like those kinds of things for that and what distinguishes you from your other competitors
<br /> from that standpoint.You said that people were going to be walking from one(1)place to the other
<br /> place for that, could you clarify that? That is my sixth(6th) and final question, at this present time.
<br /> Mr. Adolf replied, So, what led us to this current location was both me and our realtor looking for
<br /> a couple of months. We've looked at multiple different locations across the community. The only
<br /> thing we found that was a residential multi-family were very large apartment complexes, a lot of
<br /> them being close to $1 million. Frankly, that isn't even close to being in our budget. On the other
<br /> side of it, we found many small apartment complexes or small duplexes that could maybe house,
<br /> at max, eight (8) to ten (10) people. To try and get to the twenty (20) beds we would need, we
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