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During the Monday Rules, Ways and Means committee meeting of the County Commission, Commissioner Debra Riley said she will not be sending a letter of recommendation for The Spencer Recovery Center.

The residential mental health center is in its final stages of getting approval from the state board for hospitals. It will offer mental health and addiction recovery services for its residents, with a focus on veterans and first responders.

In order to become a mental health facility, the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency will have to approve the application and recommend that Governor Kay Ivey adjust the present state health plan to accommodate the proposal.

Riley said that the center is certainly needed in the area, however the issue is the location. Members of the public have reportedly reached out to Riley about the center being on Shawmut Circle. Some have expressed concern about the mental health facility and its proximity to Shawmut Elementary School.

“As elected officials when you got all [those] mamas with those five, six, seven year olds going, ‘I don’t want this here can’t you stop that,’” Riley said. 

The commissioner, as well as Probate Judge Paul Story, who serves on the state’s mental health board, said they were not comfortable sending the letter because of this reason.

During a meeting of the Valley Lions Club, the center’s director, W. Chase Cameron showed the group around the facility under renovation. Cameron hopes to get more community support through tours and engagement like this. Some of those in attendance said the security was extensive at the center.