The state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities says it doesn’t plan to lay off any staff at Sunmount Developmental Center in Tupper Lake over the next two years as it reduces the resident count by a third.

That’s according to OPWDD spokeswoman Jennifer O’Sullivan. She did not say, however, whether the agency might reduce the Sunmount workforce by not replacing staff members who leave.

Sunmount is currently home to 161 people with developmental disabilities or other psychological conditions that make it difficult for them to live in non-institutional settings. The main complex, based in a former veterans hospital, is a secure facility, largely a prison alternative for people who have committed sex offenses and other crimes and were seen as unfit to stand trial. The greater Sunmount Developmental Disabilities Services Office includes many group homes in neighborhoods throughout the Adirondacks for residents who don’t need a secure facility.

Last week it became clear that OPWDD intends to reduce the number of residents at Sunmount from 161 to 105 by 2017. The agency says this is part of a plan announced in July 2013, when it said it would close four institutions in Schenectady, Binghamton, Brooklyn and Queens. At the same time, the agency said it would house a combined 150 residents between the Sunmount and Valley Ridge developmental centers; however, the census numbers of those facilities at the time weren’t reported, making it difficult to tell that they would be reduced.

Susan Kent, president of the Public Employees Federation union, announced the resident reduction last Thursday, May 28, on a “Capitol Pressroom” radio show broadcast from Albany. The day before, OPWDD had responded wrongly to a question about the resident count. Asked by reporters, “What is the overall population of Sunmount now and how does OPWDD expect that to change in the future?” the agency wrote, “Sunmount’s census is expected to remain at approximately 105 individuals.” Reporters took that to mean that the current census is about 105 and would remain so, but Kent disputed that. When the Enterprise asked O’Sullivan about the discrepancy, she confirmed that Kent’s information was correct and that the agency’s previous answer was mistaken, due to human error.

Last Friday evening, May 29, the Enterprise asked O’Sullivan if OPWDD would change its staff numbers as it reduced its resident count, but she was unable to answer the question at the time because she had gone home from her office.

The Enterprise followed up on Wednesday, asking O’Sullivan by email, “Will Sunmount’s workforce change in numbers as the facility’s resident census is reduced to about 105 between now and 2017?” She responded minutes later, saying, “There are no layoffs planned in association with the reduction of census at Sunmount.”

Immediately afterward, the Enterprise asked O’Sullivan, “Could there be some attrition as staff members leave, or will they be replaced?” She had not responded as of press time today.

OPWDD is currently in the process of hiring about 44 staff members at Sunmount: half developmental disabilities secure care treatment aides for the main campus and half direct support assistants for the group homes. That hiring is to take care of the current census, O’Sullivan said.

Sunmount DDSO employed 1,600 people as of 2014, with between 500 and 1,000 working at the main campus. It is far and away the biggest employer in the town of Tupper Lake, which has a population of about 6,000, 4,000 of those within the village limits.