Chippewa County is exploring spinning off into independent status one of its more successful social programs.

Chippewa River Industries, famous for making such items as “touchdown towels” for bowl-game bound football teams, may soon become an independent non-profit organization trying to survive on its own.

The county board on Tuesday voted to authorize the CRI Advisory Board and county staff to explore such status for CRI, including disposition of its building in the Lake Wissota Industrial Park that was constructed in 2005.

According to County Administrator Bill Reynolds, some change is necessary, as CRI cannot remain viable under its current structure due to changes in long term care programs.

Chippewa River Industries is a county-owned business set up as a workplace for developmentally  disabled, handicapped, mentally ill, and other people who might otherwise have trouble finding suitable employment.

Workers do light assembly work on contract with private companies, and in many cases workers    “graduate” to better employment in a private sector business.

The highly successful program helps people become more productive citizens while lessening the cost to taxpayers of services for the Human Services clients who worked there.

The county financed construction of a new building to house the  program, at a cost of $1.6 million including the land, with proceeds from sale of products. State long-term care money was also used to pay the debt.

So why is the county ready to send the program to an uncertain future on its own?

“In a nutshell, the shift from ‘county’ model health care format to a ’regional’ model under long-term care reform will substantially impact CRI’s operations,” Reynolds said in an e-mail to county officials earlier this year.

“We really need to change in order to stay in business,” Dave Lemanski, director of CRI, told the county board Tuesday.

“There is a path to success for Chippewa River Industries, but it involves change,” said Dave Rynders, county human services director, at the board meeting.

The county agreed last year to join with the plan to regionalize long-term care services. Community Health Partnerships (CHP), not the county Department of Human Services, is now responsible for developmentally and physically disabled adults and elderly who have received services from the county in the past.

“This means approximately 74 percent of CRI’s funding will transfer to CHP. In other words, the county no longer controls the destiny of CRI. CHP will be the organization that determines where those services are located. If CHP is able to have a ’better’ contract with a regional provider, CHP could make that switch and leave CRI without the support needed to survive,” Reynolds explained.

Rynders explained to the board that currently CRI receives about 85 percent of its funding from the county.

To survive, CRI needs to become regional as well. Its connection to the county, once one of its assets, is now a detriment to CRI, Reynolds explained.

“This is critical, because we need to operate in this new open market,” Lemanski said.

If CRI does become independent and non-profit, it will have to pay off the debt the county owes on the building, and work out other separation issues as well.

“A part of that (transition) plan would cover the sale of the current CRI building and land to the non-profit CRI corporation if the county ultimately decides to separate. In the end, it would be financially beneficial to both organizations,” Reynolds said in his e-mail.

The resolution, which only starts the process of exploring an independent CRI, passed unanimously, with eight of the 29 board members absent. The passage was not without protest, however.

Supervisor Jerilyn Brost said in the past, the county board advocated for services for the needy served by CRI.

“Who is going to advocate for these people, who are very vulnerable, in this environment,” Brost said. “The answer to the state’s problem was to take vulnerable people and do things on the cheap. I’m very disgusted, but I’ll have to vote for this.“

Supervisor Larry Willkom said independence for such work centers was the norm, with few county-owned centers left.

“Non-profit status doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be providing these services,” Willkom said.