Fort Myers city officials say treatment center is open ‘illegally’

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 FORT MYERS, Fla.-The drama surrounding a residential treatment center is getting worse. Sovereign Health of Florida, located in a neighborhood off Palm Beach Boulevard is open for business; they even held an open house for neighbors but the city tells WINK News they’re open illegally.

“It has a bad reputation–the idea of drugs. And we’re thinking that this is going to be not helpful with drug rehabilitation so I came to see,” said Alice Applegate, a neighbor who attended the open house.

Many neighbors we spoke to said they aren’t opposed to the center, if it’s run correctly and that’s where they city says, lies the problem.

“We offer residential therapeutic treatment for people with disabilities,” said Jennifer Feriola, operations manager for Sovereign Health of Florida.

But neighbors ask, ‘what does that exactly mean’?

“Currently we’re operating with our DCF license which allows for substance abuse and we’re currently waiting for our OCA license which covers mental health so once we have the two, our operation will be full,” said Seth Zajac, general counsel of Sovereign Health.

According to the city, the center applied for a license as a residential care facility, not a drug or mental health rehab center. The city says there’s a huge difference. The center already has 12 patients living at the facility without a business tax receipt, something every business needs to have before opening its doors.

There will be a code board hearing on Thursday at 1PM. If the city finds them guilty of opening without the certificate they will likely be given a cease and desist letter.

Trust WINK News to let you know what happens.

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