Zeller workers ask lawmakers to keep center's doors open

April 3, 2002

By ADRIANA COLINDRES

of Copley News Service

SPRINGFIELD - About 20 people, most of them Zeller Mental Health Center employees, traveled to Springfield on Tuesday to lobby key lawmakers about preventing the planned closure of the Peoria facility.

"We're talking to the legislators, trying to convince them that we are important and that we should be included in the budget," said Jane Zakibe-Richards, president of Local 51 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The local represents about 150 Zeller employees.

Zakibe-Richards said the Zeller supporters targeted 56 lawmakers to lobby. Those lawmakers either represent part of Zeller's 23-county service territory or they are members of a legislative appropriations committee.

"It does seem like some of the legislators are listening. They are sympathetic to our needs," said Zakibe-Richards, an occupational therapist who has worked at Zeller since 1974. "They understand that mental illness is a persistent problem."

In February, when Gov. George Ryan unveiled his proposed state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, he also announced plans to close the 35-year-old public psychiatric hospital at 5407 N. University St. The move is intended to cut costs at a time when the state's finances are in shaky condition.

But Zeller supporters say it would be a mistake to close the facility, which treats people with serious mental illness. About 250 people work there.

Zakibe-Richards said lawmakers should consider raising more revenue, rather than cutting services through actions such as closing Zeller. Some possible options include raising taxes on cigarettes and on riverboat casinos, she said.

"I know it's going to be a tough battle, but I think now is the time. I mean, we are in trouble, the state's in trouble," she said. "And (lawmakers) have to look at creative solutions without cutting the services to the people that they're supposed to be representing."

Peoria-area lawmakers are hoping to meet with the governor this week to encourage him to keep Zeller open.