By Carrie Spencer
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft on Friday ordered the state to continue closing two centers for the mentally retarded and disabled over the next two years, with the condition that no residents should have to move more than once.

The Republican governor announced 11/2 years ago that he would close Springview Developmental Center in Springfield and Apple Creek Developmental Center near Wooster to help balance the state budget, but lawmakers delayed the process and created a commission to study those and future closings.

The panel last month recommended the closure, but two of its members representing state employees and family members of those served by the centers disagreed. Parents also made impassioned pleas that the centers were the only homes their loved ones knew and that could care for them properly. Taft then reviewed the panel's report.

"That has been our foremost concern since the announcement (last year): making sure people understand what is happening, are involved in the process and get to make choices about where their loved ones will go," said Robert Jennings, spokesman for the Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, which runs the centers.

The state has moved some residents who chose to leave. This week 46 people remained at Springview, down from 86 in early 2003, and 117 are at Apple Creek, down from about 180.

Those remaining should be granted either their first or second choices for a new home, Taft said, whether it's one of the remaining 10 state-run centers, a group home or an apartment with home health care. Taft ordered his original schedule to be followed, with Springview to close by the end of next June and the larger Apple Creek the following year.

The time allowed should make it possible to meet Taft's goal of no more than one move to minimize disruption, Jennings said. Some have lived at the centers for about 30 years.

"We still believe this is an overcrowded system. I don't think that's going to change," said Sally Meckling, spokeswoman for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing the workers.

Apple Creek now has about 300 employees, down from 380, and Springview has about 145, a loss of 34 positions. Workers transferred, resigned or retired, Jennings said.

"Where possible, they transferred with the folks they'd been caring for all these years," he said.

Of the 12 centers, Springview is the smallest, has the oldest buildings and highest cost to care for residents, averaging more than $371 daily. Apple Creek's daily costs are about $364 per resident. Both centers have at least one other state center within an hour's drive.

A Medicaid program that pays for home visits for disabled people living on their own costs about $120 daily. That doesn't include rent, food or medical care, Meckling said.

"It's just not a fair comparison," she said.

Also, those using the home-care option usually have mild retardation, Meckling said. "The average person at our facilities is severely retarded with serious medical needs."