Levy aides try to revive nursing home sale

Aides to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy on Friday made a last-ditch plea to revive the defeated $36-million deal to sell the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank to private operator Kenneth Rozenberg.

Levy aides appeared at the majority Democratic legislative caucus in Hauppauge and the GOP minority caucus held at the office of Suffolk GOP chairman John Jay LaValle in Holtsville, making their case for a new vote on the sale as lawmakers prepared for their first regular 2011 meeting Tuesday in Hauppauge. To revive the sale, Levy needs 12 of 18 votes for approval. When the legislature last voted, only six lawmakers supported the sale; 11 opposed it.

The new push comes as the state Health Department last week approved the plan for closing the nursing home and the county union has distanced itself from efforts to keep the place open. But several residents and an employee have so far been able to block the shutdown - scheduled to be complete by March 31 - with temporary court orders from the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, claiming Levy failed to get approval from the county legislature as required by law.

"We favor sale over closure," said Deputy County Executive Ken Crannell. "And we know we have a very limited window to bring it up again." Crannell declined to say whether there was any specific deadline to complete a sale, or to go into detail about what went on in caucus. Crannell said a sale is a "better option" because it "provides continued work for the employee, ensures the current patients remain in their beds, and avoids layoffs of all 258 workers.

The sale contract with Rozenberg ended Dec. 31, but lawmakers who were at the caucuses said the way the contract is written, it remains in effect until the administration or Rozenberg moves to end it. The county still holds Rozenberg's $2-million binder, they added.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) said he does not know whether the renewed effort has changed any votes, but said that if the courts fail to block the shutdown, some lawmakers including himself may reconsider their positions because there may be "not much of a choice." However, Lindsay said he would not act until appeals are exhausted.