NORWICH – Ongoing administrative changes at Valley Ridge Center for Intensive Treatment, coupled with cutbacks in the number of staff and consumers, have left county lawmakers concerned about the maximum security institution’s future in Norwich.

Supervisors David C. Law, R-Norwich, and Ross P. Iannello, politically unaffiliated-New Berlin, recommended a letter to the region’s state legislators and to officials at the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities in protest of a rumored move.

“We hear rumors that they would like to pull it out of Norwich and into Broome County,” Law told members of two county committees last week. “That would be a huge blow, with $52,000 annual salaries on average up there.”

Valley Ridge CIT was built on Upper Ravine Road in Norwich in 2002. It originally served 60 developmentally disabled men who committed crimes against people and property. The treatment program includes clinical services ranging from basic living skills to intensive anger therapy and relapse prevention services.

In mid-2009, Valley Ridge came under the auspices of Broome Developmental Disabilities Services Organization, a program of the state’s OPWDD. Since then, directors and day-to-day operations managers have changed several times and a local monitoring group that used to meet in Norwich regularly has less oversight of the Chenango County facility. CIT Board of Visitors meetings are now being conducted at the Broome Developmental Center in Broome County.