Supervisors vote to end Linn's sheltered workshop

CEDAR RAPIDS — As they said last week, the Linn County supervisors on Monday unanimously approved a special task force's recommendations that will close the county-operated Options program's sheltered workshop for developmentally disabled adults by mid-2016 at the latest.

The Options program serves about 200 developmentally disabled adults during the workweek. About half of the adults use the program's 'day-habilitation' activity services and aren't able to participate in the sheltered workshop.

The county's plan is to continue to provide 'day-hab' services in a modified program that gets clients out into the community during part of their time at the program.

Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers, who was one of 16 people on the Options task force, said the changes at Options aren't happening immediately and family members and clients will have time to plan for the changes.

All sheltered workshops in Iowa and across the nation are being pushed to change because they isolate adults from the community rather than integrate adults into it, county officials have said.

The workshops also pay sub-minimum wages, which the federal government opposes.

A third challenge is unique to Options because its 51 employees are relatively highly paid public employees in an industry where every other provider in Iowa is a non-profit organization or private company with relatively less costly employees.

Federal and state reimbursement rates no longer will cover all of Options' program costs, county officials have said.

Options' workshop clients are expected to move into programs offered by private or non-profit providers or to shift to day-habilitation programs.