GODDARD OFFERS TO HOUSE JUVENILES
Goddard College is interested in turning the vacant half of its campus into group homes for juveniles or possibly a detention center for delinquent use, acting treasurer Frederick Randlet said Wednesday.
State Buildings Director Irving Bates and several Social and Rehabilitation Services Department officials have visited the Plainfield college to assess the property, which includes six empty 48 bed dormitories, he said.
Bates said he was asked to view the campus last month by Sen. Esther Sorrell, D-Chittenden, chairman of the special Juvenile Facilities Study Committee of the Legislature.
The Snelling administration's first choice for location of a juvenile detention center is Waterbury, which the Legislature rejected last year.
Recently the state said it would like to establish a 20 bed center with administrative offices at the state Police Academy site in Pittsford.
Mrs. Sorrell's committee is recommending a 35 bed jail and a 40 bed set of group homes or cottages for juveniles who did not need to be locked in at night.
Bates said Wednesday that Goddard campus would be adequate for the group home portion of the committee's plan, but it does not contain a fireproof and secure building that could be used as a lockup.
The contemplation of Goddard drew immediate fire from Sen. Mary Just Skinner, D-Washington, Administration Secretary William Gilbert and selectman in Plainfield and East Montpelier.
Goddard has been financially beleaguered in recent years and enrollment has shrunk drastically. Randlet said the college could staff a juvenile center "and provide a real high-quality environment. We might also be able to provide education opportunities for group home operators around the state."
Although both less attractive and less likely, a secure center for use might be considered by Goddard if the state suggested it, Randlet said.
"I don't think the college would be really excited about a lockup," he said. "However, a lockup has got to go somewhere."
East Montpelier Selectman John K. Butler said townspeople probably would react "with horror" to the presence of 60 to 80 troubled juveniles on the Goddard campus.
Some of the buildings under consideration are in East Montpelier, he said. Others are in Plainfield.
Albert Griggs, the Plainfield selectman, said, "I think people would be a little hostile."
Neither Griggs nor Butler had heard that Goddard is under consideration. That point angered Mrs. Skinner.
"My gut reaction is I'm not sure I would favor the building of a secure juvenile facility there at this time," she said.
Gilbert said the committee search for a site "is long overdue." The Snelling administration, however, prefers a site on state-owned land, preferably with buildings already in place, he said.
Searching for a site on private property, Gilbert said it is "turning your back on savings inherent in existing buildings." Building at Goddard would be "extremely more expensive" than at Pittsford, he said.
If Pittsford and Waterbury are rejected, Gilbert said, the administration probably would fall back on other state-owned sites before going to private land.
The administration opposes the establishment of the "cottages," or group homes for up to 40 juveniles, in the first place, Gilbert said.
"Basically they are just trying to re-create the Weeks School," Gilbert said.
