Approval expected for veterans center funds

Supplemental funding for the Sallisaw Veterans Center is expected to be approved by the Oklahoma Senate as early as this week to allow construction crews to continue work on the 215,000-square-foot long-term care home being built on U.S. 59 south of I-40.

House Bill 2887, which the State House of Representatives approved last week, appropriates more than $10.8 million, which is half of the additional amount needed to complete the 175-bed center. The remaining amount would need to be appropriated next year in order to finish what had been a $77 million project.

The appropriations are necessitated after mistakes were discovered that would have violated fire codes. In addition, errors in the design of the complex, along with delays and increased materials costs, are expected to cost more than $21.7 million to fix.

The Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs and the Oklahoma Veterans Commission have engaged the Oklahoma City law firm Hayes, Magrini & Gatewood to pursue legal action for financial damages against Orcutt-Winslow of Phoenix, the project’s original architectural design company. The firm was terminated in early 2022, resulting in an eight-month shutdown from February to October as the ODVA regrouped and a new architectural firm was hired.

“Sallisaw did not issue any stop orders or contribute to the stoppage,” Sallisaw City Manager Keith Skelton said in March. “It is my understanding that ODVA found the issues.”

In addition, according to Keith Miller, Sallisaw building development director, the same contractor and subcontractors who began the project following the September 2020 groundbreaking are currently working at the 90-acre site.

On two different occasions — in October 2022 and February 2023 — the projected completion date for the new Sallisaw Veterans Center remained March 2024. Following a March 22 special meeting by the ODVA, the completion date was pushed back to October 2024. As of last week, the center is about 50% completed. Assuming the supplemental appropriations this year and next are funded, ODVA now projects the center will be completed by November 2024.

Less than two weeks after embattled ODVA executive director Joel Kintsel was fired and replaced by Greg Slavonic, a retired rear admiral and former U.S. Navy undersecretary, one of his first priorities was to resolve the “distressing situation” at the Sallisaw facility.

Architectural rendering of the portico for the Sallisaw Veterans Center being built on U.S. 59 south of I-40.

That’s when Slavonic convened the special meeting and requested the OVC approve an emergency declaration to prevent endangerment of public health and further damage to state property, as well as approve the $21.7 million increase for construction costs.

To fund the additional services, Slavonic requested the commission grant approval to seek supplemental funding from the Legislature in the amount of $10.85 million for the current fiscal year, which runs through June 30, and to amend the fiscal year 2024 budget to provide an additional $10.85 million to fund completion of the center.

“At long last, the Oklahoma Veterans Commission received the necessary information for requesting the supplemental funding for the Sallisaw Veterans Home,” Slavonic had said in March. “While the reasons for this delay are not yet clear to the agency, public or the veterans we hold ourselves accountable to, the fact remains that the construction progress has been impeded for many months, and costs have continued to increase daily at an alarming rate. The commission and ODVA are committed to working together, and will be transparent in this and all future projects, endeavoring to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ dollars.”

Ryan Martinez, vice chair for the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, said last week that be believed the Legislature was united in funding the additional amount to finish the project.

When completed, the Sallisaw veterans center will feature four buildings — three residential “neighborhoods” and a central community center. A neighborhood at the center is similar to a subdivision in a housing development. In two of the buildings currently under construction, a neighborhood consists of 72 residential rooms, with a third building comprised of 36 residences. The centralized community center will offer a reception area, dining room, a large room that can be used as a theater or a chapel, space for arts and crafts, barber shop, physical therapy room and pharmacy to serve medical needs of the residents.

“This is a state-of-the-art facility. It’s a home-like environment, and will be the premier facility of its kind in the U.S.,” Kintsel said at the October 2021 luncheon. At that chamber gathering, Kintsel said veterans with 70% disability or higher will not have to pay anything to stay in the facility.

When ODVA decided to move its eastern Oklahoma veterans home from Talihina, Sallisaw beat out finalists Poteau and Muskogee for the new eastern Oklahoma veterans center location. At the beginning of the selection process, there were six communities, which also included McAlester, Hugo and Holdenville.