Task Force on Camarillo State Backs Cal State Plan

CAMARILLO —  Despite a last-minute plea to keep at least part of Camarillo State Hospital open, most members of a governor’s task force said for the first time Monday that they support converting the grounds to a public university.

The consensus came in the form of a show of hands conducted after more than three hours of discussion about what to do with the hospital property when the facility closes next June.

Consultants working for the panel concluded last month that a university would be the best use of the 750-acre property.

Meanwhile, family members of longtime patients pleaded with the task force to safeguard at least a portion of the sprawling hospital for treating mentally ill and retarded patients whose relatives live in the area.

But even though that idea received a warm reception, a majority of the task force members said they want to see the facility turned into the Cal State system’s 23rd campus. About 15 of the 20 task force members attended Monday’s meeting.

“For the long-term vision of this county, it was the university hands down,” said Marty de los Cobos, president of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn. and a member of the task force.

“I’m very optimistic in the direction we’re going,” he said.

Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn joined a handful of parents and mental health advocates in asking the task force to consider using the 66-bed children’s facility for treating patients with families in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The program would be administered by the county, but paid for through a combination of state and local funds, Flynn told the panel. Other details could be worked out through negotiations, he said.

“We would like to keep them here in Ventura County--close to their relatives, close to their loved ones and close to their mothers and fathers,” Flynn said.

Task force members, who must forward a recommendation on reuse options for the hospital to Gov. Pete Wilson by the end of the month, generally agreed that the idea has merit and should be explored.

“It could be a viable option, whether it’s on this property or somewhere else in the county,” said Bettina Chandler, who represents the Casa Pacifica abused children’s home on the task force.

But state mental health officials said the plan poses many hurdles.

“My concern would be the overhead costs of operating such a small facility,” said Robert Schladale, an assistant secretary of the California Health and Welfare Agency, which oversees the 60-year-old hospital.

“The overhead costs are literally eating us alive,” he said. “And we need to consolidate.”

In lining up behind plans to convert the hospital property to a state university, the task force veered away from a proposal to turn the facility and its 85 buildings into a juvenile prison.

If Cal State University officials cannot make good on their proposal, the California Youth Authority option is a viable backup plan, task force members said.

But university officials already are studying how to implement and pay for the conversion to a 21st century university campus.

Vice Chancellor Richard West said the prospect of opening a new university at Camarillo State would be cheaper and faster than building a college from scratch on another property owned by the Cal State system.

“There are some very large hills to climb,” he said. “But this allows things to happen much more quickly.”

Cal State would lease portions of the property to other agencies to help pay overhead costs while the student body climbs to 15,000 in the next 20 years.

Already, Ventura County Supt. of Schools Charles Weis and Ventura County Community College District Chancellor Philip Westin have expressed interest in leasing space from the university.

But university administrators also said they would need up to $40 million from Sacramento to pull off the conversion without taking away resources from current Cal State students.

“For us to move forward, we would need substantial help on the state side,” West said.

Not everyone on the 20-member task force raised their hand when asked to specify whether they supported the consultants’ plan to convert the hospital to a public university.

State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) urged the task force to back Flynn’s last-minute proposal as a means of maintaining the medical license at Camarillo State.

“That idea works well if it keeps the hospital open,” Wright said. “We can’t turn our backs on [mental health services], and this is the place to do it. We have to hold on to our license.”

Wright said the increasing numbers of mentally ill prisoners in the youth and adult prison systems make it imperative to provide treatment. Without such services, California will be forced to keep building prisons, she said.

“Everything is going to change with the way that corrections and juvenile justice [costs are] growing,” Wright said.

Brian Bowley, a task force member who represents about 600 unionized hospital technicians, said the task force should focus on the youth authority proposal so Ventura County could one day have both the new juvenile prison and a state university campus.

“I don’t see why we’re not pursuing that,” he said. “It would seem to make the most sense.”

Several parents said Monday that the task force show of hands to allow Cal State to annex the property, along with the panel’s interest in Flynn’s plan to lease the children’s center, was their best chance to keep their sons and daughters from moving to unfamiliar homes and hospitals.

“This is probably the first meeting I’ve walked away from with a smile on my face,” said John Chase, whose daughter lives at Camarillo State.

“I really get the feeling that they’re going to develop the data [on Flynn’s plan] and present it to the task force.”

Earlier this year, Wilson ordered the state hospital closed due to increasing costs and shrinking patient rolls. Under the closure plan, patients will be moved to group homes or other state institutions.

Two subcommittees will meet over the next 10 days before the task force meets Oct. 18 to vote on a draft report to the governor.