County-provided adult day care will cease at the end of the year as a result of a unanimous vote on the issue earlier this week. The Flagler County Commission on Monday voted not to continue the program due to high costs for relatively few participants.
Three proposals were submitted to the County Commission by organizations to assume the burden of running the adult day care. Flagler County Health and Human Services Director Joe Hegedus informed the commissioners that one application was incomplete, one applicant had no experience in adult day care, and the other raised its asking price after bidding concluded.
Due to the unsatisfactory field of applicants, the County Commission elected to close the David I. Siegel Adult Day Care Center at the end of the year. The facility is located at 1000 Belle Terre Blvd just south of SR-100.
As of the most recent numbers, 15 people are enrolled in the adult day care. The budget for its operation is around $400,000, with $150,000 coming from the county’s general fund.
On November 1, the county will send out notices to families of adult day care participants that the next two months will be a transition to other arrangements. December 31 will be the last day that the day care is in operation.
Still, the door isn’t entirely shut on Flagler County facilitating adult day care operations in the future. The David I. Seigel Adult Day Care Center will be set aside for a similar purpose in the future when the time is deemed to be right. The county can also put out another request for proposals in the future, at which point private operators could run the day care with their own licensure.
