DAYTON — The state will give ownership of Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare to the Dayton community and provide up to $4.5 million for a "crisis stabilization service" for the mentally ill after Twin Valley closes on June 30, officials said Thursday, June 5.

In a meeting Thursday between local and state officials, state leaders said they would give Dayton "first priority" for $2.5 million in capital funds and up to $2 million in start-up funds to operate the crisis service, said Joe Szoke, director of the Alcohol, Mental Health and Drug Addiction Services Board for Montgomery County.

"The state said they want to work with us to support whatever plans we could come up with that we think would help our community," said Szoke, who hosted the three-hour meeting.

Szoke said roughly 30 people from local government and hospitals, mental health groups, the governor's office and the state mental health department attended the meeting.

Keith Dailey, spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, confirmed the arrangement, saying Szoke's board would take over the Twin Valley property. He said the amount of start-up funding, $800,000 to $2 million, depended on the community's final plan for the crisis center. He said the funding would come from the Ohio Department of Health's $8 million capital budget and "safety net" funds.

"The administration will absolutely continue to talk in good faith with the community," Dailey said.

Twin Valley on Wayne Avenue contains several buildings on roughly 60 acres, Szoke said. The state has committed 45 acres to Dayton Public Schools for the new Belmont High School.

Szoke said preliminary plans call for the crisis service to be housed at Twin Valley until and unless a more appropriate site is found. It could contain at least 10 beds for temporary care until patients could transfer, if necessary, to Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati, where Twin Valley patients are already headed in preparation of the June 30 closing.

Strickland announced in January he was closing the 110-bed Twin Valley, formerly Dayton State Hospital, and a similar hospital in Cambridge to help avoid a $733 million budget deficit next year.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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