Earlier this year, the Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services (MHAS) notified the union that the department would permanently close Liberty Manor Community Support Network Group Home, resulting in the abolishment of 11 union Therapeutic Program Worker (TPW) positions effective June 30, 2025. The impacted employees are OCSEA members who provide essential care and services for Liberty Manor, a 16-bed residential group home in Cambridge, Ohio, that assists individuals with mental health difficulties through a supervised recovery-focused residential program.
Union officials have been working closely with MHAS and DAS on a resolution that will result in as little impact as possible on displaced staff and ensures that the OCSEA contract is being followed. The union is working on negotiating a Letter of Agreement (LOA) with MHAS and DAS that will help limit the impact of the closure.
As soon as the closure was announced, the union immediately made a demand for rationale around the group home closure and job abolishments. The union had concerns, not only that improvements had been made to the building and land since 2004, but that staff had been given promises that a new building was in the works.
"There are a lot of working parts here, we know, but we, as members were told that our work was important, vital and that the State wanted to build a state-of-the-art facility. But then the rug was pulled right out from underneath us," said Mental Health Chapter 3010 President Bruce Brannon. Bruce said it wasn't soon before the announcement that staff were sitting in on meetings and looking at plans about a possible new facility staffed by union members.
MHAS’s rationale for closure was filed with the Dept. of Administrative Services’ (DAS) Office of Collective Bargaining and received by the union on May 6, 2025. The agency indicated that the building was “not operationally efficient to invest in renovations to the building, when even with those renovations, there is no guarantee that the site would continue to provide the environment to support recovery now and in the future.”
Liberty Manor is supported jointly by Coshocton, Guernsey, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Belmont, Harrison, Monroe and Jefferson counties' Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health boards. The program is funded by ADAMH Boards, third-party billing, State General Revenue Funds and some federal funding. The building is not currently owned by MHAS; the building is owned by the Eastern Alliance Council of Governments (COG).
"It's all really been a punch to the gut, honestly. Our public union staff–from those with 20 plus years to those with 6 months on the job––are a cut above the rest. They have the experience, the training, the rapport with clients and the support of our community and county boards. This is going to be life-altering for so many," said Bruce.
The department has indicated that it will work directly with the union and DAS to find employment solutions for all 11 displaced union members. The union has been actively working with DAS, MHAS and other state agencies to ensure absolutely no union members are permanently displaced.
The Country Garden Manor Community Support Network Group Home, which also employees OCSEA members in Guernsey County, will remain open.