Vets hospital to move; clinic to close

BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

More than 23,000 military retirees will be seeking health care elsewhere in Monmouth County once the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital relocates outside of Fort Monmouth's gates.

As the Pentagon readies the 89-year-old U.S. Army base for mothballing under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the VA has agreed to serve its large and mostly aging clientele of patients at another location to be named later, according to Fort Monmouth Garrison Cmdr. Ricki L. Sullivan.

Speaking during Monday afternoon's meeting of the Fort Monmouth Reuse Committee (FMRC), which was the last official meeting of that multijurisdictional panel, Sullivan announced the VA's decision not to remain at the base, which is due to be shuttered by the Pentagon in September 2011.

"The veterans' hospital will close," Sullivan told those gathered at the FMRC meeting inside the council chambers at Eatontown Borough Hall.

"The Veterans' Administration has made a commitment to keep the hospital functioning somewhere else in Monmouth County to be announced later," Sullivan continued.

The Patterson Army Health Clinic, located at the VA hospital, will also close once the military vacates the installation, Sullivan added.

Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo confirmed Sullivan's statements.

"The VA has expressed no interest in maintaining a facility [at Fort Monmouth]," said Tarantolo, who co-chairs the FMRC.

Unlike the VA facility, the Patterson outpatient clinic will not relocate elsewhere once the BRAC process is carried out and military personnel leave the closing base, he said.

"Patterson will be closed no later than Sept. 15, 2001," Sullivan said. "We don't have a choice."

Sullivan could not give a specific timeline for when either the VA hospital or the Patterson clinic would close.

"As long as there are still soldiers here, [Patterson] will stay open," he said later. "It depends upon the phase-out time for the Army."

Under the Pentagon's BRAC process, most of Fort Monmouth's more than 400 military personnel and 5,000-plus civilian workers will be transferred to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground after the base shuts down.

The lease for the Patterson outpatient clinic is due to expire in 2010, according to information previously released by U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affair R. James Nicholson in October.

Nicholson presented that information in an Oct. 7 letter sent to several New Jersey legislators including U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-6) and Rush Holt (D-12), and U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine, himself then a U.S. Senator, also received a copy of Nicholson's letter at that time.

Despite the pending closing, two other federal agencies that currently operate local offices on the post have asked to stay put regardless of the Army's planned departure.

Both the FBI and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have contacted Joseph Whittaker, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Army about retaining their present sites, Tarantolo announced at the meeting.

The FBI would like to acquire another building in addition to the one that it currently operates out of on the base, said Tarantolo who referred to a copy of the letter to Whittaker that was received by both Sullivan and the FMRC.

"[The FBI] would like to double the size of their facility," Tarantolo said.

In their letter to Whittaker, the DHS has expressed interest in moving into Russell Hall, which is now used as the fort garrison's headquarters, Tarantolo said.

John Leigh, a program manager for the federal Defense Department's Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), who has been advising the FMRC on the BRAC process, said that the Army will more than likely honor the requests from the two agencies.

The caveat, however, is that the FBI and the DHS might have to pay fair market value for any property purchased from the Army, Leigh said.

The FMRC, which had originally aspired to morph into the official entity to oversee the base's redevelopment, will soon be replaced by the state-sanctioned Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority.

Corzine, who signed legislation on April 28 to create that authority has yet to name four appointees to the 10-member panel.

No time or place has been set yet for that entity to hold its first meeting.

With the state's support now in place, the authority will become the official local redevelopment authority (LRA) charged with deciding how Fort Monmouth's land and facilities will be used after the base closes.

In compliance with the BRAC process sanctioned by the federal government, the Army will provide the authority with a list of excess property at the base that will either be negotiated for sale or left behind once the military moves out, Sullivan said.

The requests by the FBI and the DHS will be forwarded to Corzine's office so that they can be reviewed by the new state authority, Tarantolo said.

As stated in the signed legislation, Tarantolo, in his capacity as Eatontown mayor, will serve on the new authority along with Tinton Falls Mayor Peter Maclearie and Oceanport Mayor Lucille Chaump.

New Jersey Secretary of Commerce Virginia S. Bauer, who co-chaired the FMRC with Tarantolo, will also serve on the new authority.

Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport all host portions of the 1,126-acre military installation, which first opened in 1917.