VA transfer may be next month

The former veterans center in Marlin will be renovated into a hospital for the Texas prison system. Democrat photo/David Stone

By David Stone, editor@marlindemocrat.com

The reopening of the vacated Thomas Connally Veterans Affairs facility as a prison hospital is expected to bring more than 100 jobs back to Marlin, but it may be several years before the first patients arrive.

The property was originally to be transferred from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice this past spring but was delayed because asbestos was found during an environmental study of the facility, according to VA spokesman Ozzie Garza.

Garza said the cleanup has been completed, and representatives from TDCJ and the company responsible for the cleanup inspected the facility Friday. Details of that walk-through were not available at press time.

A plan for removing the asbestos from the Marlin center was given to TDCJ for review in July, according to George L. Szwarcman, the VA's chief of property services.

"TDCJ had questions concerning the asbestos abatement procedures in various areas of the facility," Szwarcman said.

Szwarcman said VA officials conducted a teleconference Aug. 6 with the cleanup contractor and TDJC representatives to discuss the state prison agency's concerns about the removal process. They agreed to meet at the facility for Friday's walkthrough of the abated areas, he said.

"The parties will meet again to discuss cleanup issues and ensure they have been resolved," Szwarcman said. That meeting could come in early September.

Once the asbestos issue is resolved and the VA receives a "concurrence letter" from TDJC, Department of Veteran's Affairs Secretary James Peake can make the transfer official.

State Sen. Kip Averitt (R-Waco) said he expects the transfer to occur in late September.

Once the facility is in Texas Department of Criminal Justice hands, the $3.5 million renovation project will begin to ensure that the former VA center meets department specifications, according to Michelle Lyons, director of public information for TDCJ.

"(The facility) will require extensive work to convert it into a prison hospital," said Michelle Lyons, TDCJ's director of public information.

She said renovations should be completed by fiscal 2011, but the completion date depends on when funds are released. She said money could be released as early as 2009.

The original plan for the center called for a 200-bed hospital for inmates of women's prison units in Gatesville, but Lyons said that has changed.

"The hospital will primarily function as an inpatient mental-health facility," Lyons said. "It also will have some infirmary beds."

The hospital will serve both men and women incarcerated in Texas prisons, she said.

Congress gave its approval of the transfer last year in a measure that provided money for renovations and $10 million for operating expenses. The transfer was part of an Iraq War funding bill.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison added the property-transfer provision to the bill because she said it cost the federal government $265,000 a year to maintain the property.

Marlin Mayor Norman Erskine said the prison hospital will be "a shot in the arm to the economies of Marlin and Falls County."

"Revenue generated through city utilities, plus sales tax generated by employees and relatives of inmates who come to visit and spend money here will be a big boost," Erskine said.

"I would hope that some of the hospital's employees choose to live in Marlin," he said.