Residents Rail Against Proposed Mental Health Facility in Williston

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Residents of Williston threw out the unwelcome mat Tuesday evening for a mental health facility proposed for the site of the vacant Williston Middle School.

Oaktree Addiction & Recovery, LLC. Managing Director Ali Mirza was hoping to win community support for a facility that would be located at the 20-acre site of the former school.

Instead, residents denounced his proposed facility as a bad fit for their community and likely a safety hazard from their perspective for children of the community.

City Council members hosted a Town Hall event at City Hall to listen to the views of community members about the mental health facility. An overflow crowd of Williston of residents filled the council room. Many waited in a long line to speak to the board.

Police Chief Mike Rolls didn’t have anything good to say about the facility. He said it would place a burden on his department and could jeopardize the quality of services his department provides the community when officers are called out to deal with patients at the facility who have wandered away into the community.

Mirza said the scenario Rolls was describing would be rare. He said patients of the facility would have the right to terminate their services but not to wander into the community without permission from security officers and staff.

Rolls begged to differ. He said patients at the facility aren’t being detained and could leave the facility on their own. Once outside the facility, he said they could look left toward Ocala 30 miles away or they could look right at Williston a half mile away.

“Which way do you think they’re going?” Rolls said.

“We have a great community here and the citizens of Williston pay their taxes to have the quality of services they get from us now. Will your facility add strain to that, yes, it will. I’ve been in law enforcement for 30 years. I’ve dealt with facilities like yours and so has this gentleman here, the city manager (Terry Bovaird, former deputy chief of police). You can say it won’t happen, but it will happen.”

Mirza, an Oxford finance professional with 12 years of experience in London, Zurich, and New York, has filed a petition with the city to be voluntarily annexed into Williston. He has paid the filing fee. The city has made no decision on the annexation.

Council President Debra Jones said the council would meet at a future date to take a vote on the request for voluntary annexation.

“It is very different and it borders on some residential areas that are really close and we felt it was necessary to stop where we were and ask people how they felt,” Jones said.

Oaktree Addiction and Recovery LLC would provide services for substance abuse and mental health. Equine therapy, art, and music would be part of the treatment approach in a “retreat” atmosphere.

Mirza said his company would close down the gymnasium at the former school, which is currently used by youth groups in the community, but would make a $100,000 donation for a community park. The mental health facility would employ 100 people and would probably be worth in the neighborhood of $5 million when remodeled and working at full capacity.

The offer for a $100,000 donation to a community park in exchange for shutting down the school gymnasium drew ridicule from members of the community, including former Councilwoman Darfeness Hinds who lives just down the street from the former school.

“I think what can be said to you at this point is the citizens don’t want to be bought the way you’re trying to do it,” Hinds said. “Property values will decrease, crime will increase, and homelessness will increase. So, all this stuff that you say you are bringing to the table — for me, I don’t know about the rest of the citizens — but these benefits that you are talking about bringing to the table, are needed far less than the benefits that we have.”

Kellie Stevens, a private school principal and neighbor of the former school, said residents of her neighborhood know each other by first names and it’s a place where kids can play in their yards and at this time, parents don’t have to fear for their safety from a mental health facility next door. She found the offer of a $100,000 donation for a community park to be way off the mark.

“I don’t know about you all but I can’t build a shed for $100,000 today. I mean honestly, we can’t replace a gymnasium and something that benefits our children with $100,000,” she said.

She said the neighborhood is safe. She said it wouldn’t be safe with the mental health facility nearby. Stevens said she is a foster mom and has had to visit Meridian HeathCare in Gainesville with her foster children.

“If any of you have ever had the misfortune to visit that place, you will see what it is; I’m going to tell you, I don’t go over there without packin’,” she said.

Catherine Brown said she also lives in the area of the former school and doesn’t want a mental health facility as a next-door neighbor. She asked why Mirza hadn’t considered the former Williston Hospital as the site of its proposed mental health facility. Mirza said it’s too small to fit the programs they are offering and the hospital has legal problems.

“It’s cleared up at the moment,” said Jones, referring to the hospital’s legal issues.

Mirza said the company’s plan is to build a retreat facility. He said it needs more acreage than the hospital can provide.

“We are offering equine therapy. We need much more acreage in terms of space than what that site (the hospital) is offering.

Regarding school property, Mirza said, “Based on the therapies we offer, this particular site fits our bill because that is the sort of acreage we need,” he said.

Brown wasn’t buying Mirza’s argument.

“It might fit your bill but what would it do for our neighborhood and the taxes and everything. I’m just a street over and it concerns me that this type of facility would be put in our neighborhood. I have property just across the road, so how would that affect my values if I decided to do something with my property or my home? How would that affect my taxes?” Brown said.

Mirza said he doubted property values would drop. He believed values would rise with the rise in employment and the employees of the facility possibly looking for homes to rent or purchase.

Brown asked if Mirza has looked at other locations. Mirza said his business partner, Dr. Sayed Zaidi, a psychiatrist who specialized in treating military veterans, liked this site the best. If this doesn’t work out, Mirza said they will look elsewhere. One wing of the proposed facility would be devoted to caring for veterans.

Jones said the council isn’t pushing the issue of annexing the school property for the mental health facility. To the contrary, the town hall meeting was intended to gather input from citizens to help the council make a decision on the annexation. She said the city would have embraced the proposal from Mirza if they had asked to purchase the Williston Hospital.

“If he had come asking about the hospital property, we probably wouldn’t be here at all because we would probably be trying to help him do that,” Jones said.

Resident Norman James questioned Mirza about the requirements for patients leaving the facility.

“Are they going to be free to check out wherever they want to walk up and down the street and go wherever they like?” James said.

Mirza said the answer is no. If they wanted to terminate their treatment, he said staff would have discussions with the patient and arrange for their discharge as well as transport them back to their home county.

“What you’re saying is they can’t freely leave of their own will at this time,” James said.

“No, there would be security. There are processes. We’re not detaining them,” Mirza said.

“If they say they’re ready to leave ad they walk out of the door, how would you stop them?” James said.

Mirza said they could tell them not to leave.

“Telling them is not enough,” James responded.

“What you’re talking about is an extremely fringe case,” Mirza replied.

“Would you live next door to it?” James said.

“Yes, I would,” said Mirza.

“Would you leave to go to the grocery store and leave your kids in the yard, playing in the yard while you’re there?” James said.

“I think there’s a profound misunderstanding,” Mirza said.

“It’s not a misunderstanding,” James responded.