ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONERS, SENATOR JACK BAILEY GUIDING PSYCHO URGENT CARE TO NEIGHBORHOOD IN CHARLOTTE HALL

ST. MARY’S COMMISSIONERS, SENATOR JACK BAILEY GUIDING PSYCHO URGENT CARE TO NEIGHBORHOOD IN CHARLOTTE HALL

BY KEN ROSSIGNOL
THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY

CHARLOTTE HALL, MD – Senator Jack Bailey (R, Calvert, St. Mary’s) is prominent among those lawmakers who have been aligned with the seemingly inevitable insertion of a mental health crisis center into a residential neighborhood located on Mount Wolf Road in Charlotte Hall. A hearing held on April 29, 2025, brought out a large crowd in opposition to the mental health crisis center being rammed through by inept politicians and placed in a stable residential community.

Del. Matt Morgan (R. District 29A) said he is opposed to the citing of the facility on Mount Wolf Road and pointed to other locations such as a business center or near the Veterans Administration Clinic on Rt. 5 as being suitable instead of next to homes.

“First, residents have started a petition in opposition. I have personally signed the petition; if you are a resident of St. Mary’s, I recommend signing as well,” said Morgan, who provided a link to THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY:  Please sign and share: https://chng.it/c2mjvbSdtT  As of Monday May 5, 2025 at 1:30 pm there were 1082 signatures on the petition started by James Scheufele on April 30, 2025.

PETITION GROWING AS OUTRAGE OVER DESTRUCTION OF STABLE NEIGHBORHOOD LOOMS

We the community of Mount Wolf Rd and the surrounding Charlotte Hall area strongly urge the St. Mary’s County Planning and Zoning Commission to deny the Pascal Crisis Service Center in its proposed location. Our community is a peaceful, strictly residential community, and this proposed facility – a 16-bed medical crisis center – would fundamentally disrupt the character, safety, and integrity of our community.   While we recognize and support the need for crisis and mental health facilities, we believe that the location of these facilities should be in a more appropriate area, with more supporting infrastructure.   Not in a residential community with no sidewalks, public water, or sewage systems.  

We believe approving this proposed facility would set a troubling president allowing medical and commercial facilities to encroach upon quite, family centered neighborhoods. 

We respectfully ask the Commission to preserve the quite nature of the Charlotte Hall  communities by denying this proposal.

Senator Bailey shepherded the allocation of two appropriations from the State of Maryland to Pascal House which is planning to build a center which its director describes as an urgent care psychiatric illness facility. House Bill 351 included a carve out from the State budget for the Pascal Center in St. Mary’s County. The bill language called the facility a Crisis Stabilization Center and the funds were for “acquisition, construction, planning, repair, expansion and capital equipment for the facility.

The health department grant for the Pascal House project is in the amount of $1.1 million. The St. Mary’s County Commissioners sit as the Board of Health for St. Mary’s County and are fully briefed on all activities of the Health Department by their hand-picked director, Dr. Meena Brewster.

The director of the Pascal Center which has locations in the former Maryland State Mental Hospital at Crownsville and in Crofton, Kathrine Bonincontri, and her husband Phillip, have invested in buying the land, two parcels of about forty acres in size, to build the proposed Psycho Urgent Care. The land is being initially used for the PSYCHO Urgent Care is about six acres with the balance planned for expansion. Bonincontris paid $275,000 for one parcel to Linda H. Reamy et al, the heirs of the deceased owners on April 30, 2024, and $100,000 to the owner of the second parcel on October 17, 2024, according to Maryland land records. 

On April 30, 2024, when acquiring ownership of the two parcels, Katherine and Phillip Bonincontri obtained a mortgage from Shore United Bank for $206,000.  Options lying ahead in the future for the property are for the Bonincontris to lease land to the government funded Pascal House, which has obtained funding from the St. Mary’s County Health Department with the consent of the St. Mayr’s County Commissioners. In any event, Katherine and Phillip Bonincontri have a very secure source of revenue for paying their mortgage on the property – the government, with a never-ending renewable resource of clientele – those in mental health crisis.

WALDEN FACILITY PROVIDES FREE TRANSPORATION FROM ANYWHERE IN MARYLAND TO CHARLOTTE HALL CRISIS CENTER – WILL THE PASCAL HOUSE MATCH THEM?

The Psycho Urgent Care facility is proposed for a portion of the parcels, close to nearby homes. A similar facility, Anchor of Walden, operated by the Walden Counseling Center, was implemented at the business park on Business Center Drive, just off of Golden Beach Drive, which frequently has ambulances and police making emergency calls at various times of the day and night.  

The website for Anchor of Waldon provides this information: Pyramid Healthcare in Charlotte Hall, Maryland, is a comprehensive residential addiction treatment center. They help adult men and women experiencing substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring mental health conditions. Formerly called Walden Treatment Center they’ve been helping clients in recovery for over 40 years.

Time and transportation are often two big obstacles for people who need help. Addiction doesn’t care what time it is, and once you decide you want help, it’s important to be able to get it quickly. Unlike many treatment centers, they’re available 24/7. What’s even better? They offer free transportation from anywhere in Maryland.

The Pascal Crisis Center is planned to operate twenty-four hours daily and seven days a week.
The St. Mary’s County health department operates a Health Hub on Great Mills Road in a former bank location at the intersection of Saratoga Drive and maintains the same hours that the PNC Bank branch did from 8:00 to 4:30 pm and is closed on weekends – forcing those who have mental health crisis to conform their mental health break downs to bankers’ hours.

The role of the St. Mary’s County Commissioners in approving the placement of the PSYCHO Urgent Care on Mount Wolf Road is best evidenced by a briefing to the Board in 2024, a weekly update on the status of the funding given to them each Friday during the General Assembly Session from the commissioner’s lobbyist, Bruce Bereano and emails to the commissioners.

Commissioner Mike Alderson Never Said a Peep at 2024 Briefing, Now Says He is Firmly Opposed

Dear residents of Northern St. Mary’s County,

In the past few days, many of you have contacted me expressing concerns about the proposed psychiatric urgent care facility planned for a residential neighborhood off Mount Wolf Road. I want to take this opportunity to address some of the circulating rumors and provide clarity.

The Commissioners of St. Mary’s were briefed on the proposed Pascal Health Crisis Center last spring. At the time, this was well before any property had been purchased, and it was assumed that the facility would be situated on commercial property. I want to emphasize that this briefing took place over a year ago.

Fast forward to last Tuesday afternoon. While commuting to work in Washington, D.C., I was informed by a resident that the developers and owners of the Pascal Center were hosting a meeting at the Charlotte Hall Library. Unfortunately, due to the extremely short notice, I was unable to attend. To my knowledge, neither I nor any other member of county government was notified about this meeting by the developers or owners, and I am still working to uncover why that was the case.

Let me be clear: I fully support the urgent need for a mental health crisis center in Southern Maryland. At present, our region’s largest mental health facility is tragically our detention center in Leonardtown, which is simply unacceptable.

However, I CANNOT support the placement of this facility on Mount Wolf Road in a residential area.

This situation feels eerily similar to what happened in 2022 when the state facilitated the establishment of a cannabis grow facility in the 7th District. As a private citizen, I strongly opposed that project, alongside my friends, family, and neighbors. Unfortunately, the state, with local support, prioritized cannabis production over preserving our rural and critical areas. The facility was conveniently granted an exemption from local zoning regulations, undermining the rules meant to protect our community. This current proposal for the Pascal Health Crisis Center mirrors that same disregard for local input and zoning laws. However, this time the citizens and residents have a chance to let their voices be heard, unlike we did in 2022.

These issues arise when certain industries are granted special treatment, and it infuriates me. The rules should apply equally to everyone. No community should be blindsided by decisions that impact their neighborhoods so profoundly.

I want to assure you that I strongly oppose any county funding for this project at its current location and will actively work to explore alternative solutions for relocating the proposed project.

The Commissioners of St. Mary’s will hold a public meeting on Tuesday night, May 6th, and I invite you to attend and share your thoughts. Your presence and input are vital in shaping the future of our community.

John O’Connor responds:
NORTH END UPDATE: Commissioners want you to show up on May 6th, 2025, to complain – You shouldn’t have to; you have already spoken. They say, “Please show up and waste more of your time because I didn’t do my job.”

Of course, we were right, but I had my money on Tuesday, May 6th, for the:

         “Commissioners will deny, deflect, and make counteraccusations.”

Commissioner Alderson, Independent, couldn’t wait until Tuesday and hastily released a statement about the proposed Pascal Health Crisis Center. It is disappointing because of what it says and what it reveals about the lack of leadership in protecting our communities.

Let’s be clear: Alderson was well aware of this project. The proposal didn’t come out of nowhere. It was discussed in multiple briefings and wasn’t a secret. The information was there for any commissioner who was paying attention. An entire community saw the post on Facebook earlier in the day. That’s how I found out.

And if he or they genuinely didn’t know? That’s negligence.

Being “unaware” of a project of this scale, especially in your district, with heavy health department and land use involvement, $500,000+ of investment, and multiple site tours for various plausible locations, is not an excuse. It’s an indictment of failed leadership.

But Hey! It was just a briefing a year ago, right ?! According to Alderson.

Commissioners are elected to do a job: to stay informed, protect their communities, and act before problems spiral out of control. In this case, that didn’t happen.

During the cannabis facility controversy in the 7th District, Alderson talked like he was the community’s voice. He wasn’t. Let’s be honest: I saw him speak once, maybe twice. Kimmie Gibson was the real face and voice of that movement, the one who organized, fought, and rallied the community. She led that charge when others were silent. She didn’t need a title; she had courage, conviction, and consistency.

As for the facts about the Cannabis Grow, no local exemptions were granted to that facility. It was treated as agriculture. The Board I served on didn’t pass zoning to restrict it, and we owned that. I admitted it was a mistake and took responsibility. More importantly, we quickly passed local legislation to halt further expansion to the extent the County was legally allowed.  At the previous board’s request, Senator Jack Bailey introduced and passed legislation to stop further growth at the site.

Alderson, by contrast, ran on promises to address that issue as well. But once elected? Silence. No action. No follow-through. And now, with the crisis center project, we’re watching the same thing happen again: he either wasn’t paying attention or chose to stay quiet.

We lose 22 veterans a day to suicide in this country. And here in St. Mary’s County, with our substantial veteran population, we feel that pain more than most. We need services like a mental health crisis center. We need trained professionals and urgent care options for people in crisis. We need to stop treating mental health like a luxury and start treating it like a life-or-death priority.

But instead, we see tens of millions being dumped into a YMCA, a Pet Project of Mike Hewitt, with its own funding pipeline and grant access, while veterans, teens, and struggling families are told there’s no money for mental health? That’s not leadership. That’s bad budgeting and worse priorities.

We absolutely need this service. No one’s arguing that. But what people are saying, rightly so, is don’t put it in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Find a location that works. Use the zoning process properly. Do it the right way, with complete transparency and real community.

People want leadership that can walk and chew gum at the same time. Unfortunately, he’s just got it all wrong.

It gets better. Instead of stepping up, he tells residents to “show up” at meetings. With all due respect, they already did. The people have already made their voices heard. Just take action.

And let’s stop pretending this is the staff’s fault. It’s not. The buck stops with the Commissioners.

Let’s not try to rewrite history after the damage is done. There is nothing to uncover—except being asleep at the wheel.

KATHERINE BONINCONTRI IS THE FORCE

Katherine Bonincontri describes herself in a biography for the Pascal Center as formerly operating the Anne Arundel County Crisis Response System until 2013 when she joined the Pascal Crisis Center as the director.
Bonincontri wrote this about herself: “Through her leadership, she aims to make the Pascal Crisis Stabilization Center the foremost provider of crisis and outpatient behavioral health services in Maryland.”

Katherine Bonincontri donated $5,000 to the campaigns of State Senator Ed Reilly since 2021 and it all went to nothing as Republican Big Ed Reilly decided not to run again in 2022, resulting in the election of Democrat Dawn Giles in State Senate District 33 in Crofton.

SENATOR JACK BAILEY GUIDED ONE MILLION IN STATE FUNDS TO THE PASCAL HOUSE CHARLOTTE HALL LOCATION
– WHO IS DONATING TO SENATOR JACK BAILEY?

Now that the neighbors of the planned PSYCHO URGENT CARE on Mount Wolf Road have been given the first alert in a typically sleazy and sneaky St. Mary’s County Government Two Step such as resulting in the Pot Factory being stuck into a residential neighborhood in the critical area of Abell, St. Mary’s Commissioner Mike Alderson (R. Golden Beach, Avenue, Abell, Mechanicsville) is pleading ignorance. Alderson was briefed on the project and the location a year ago.

Katherine and Phillip Bonincontri, residents of Anne Arundel County, know where their bread is buttered and bank accounts are fattened after Sen. Bailey guided a bond bill in 2024 to the Pascal Center in the amount of $500,000.  On August 6, 2024, Katherine Bonincontri donated $1,500 to the Friends of Jack Bailey campaign on a credit card.  Maryland Campaign Finance records show that on November 1, 2024, Phillip Bonincontri wrote a check to the Bailey campaign for $1,000. Both contributions listed Pascal Crisis Services Inc. and Pascal Health Care in connection with the generous donations.

One of those who donated $500 on August 1, 2023, to the campaign of Sen. Jack Bailey is Ivan V. Lanier. Lanier is listed on the campaign finance report as “retired” and living in Milford, Delaware.
 His LinkedIn profile tells a different story. Lanier is listed as Greenwill Consulting Group’s owner, representing “Energy and non-profit industries before the Maryland General Assembly. Government Relations is located in Annapolis, Maryland. Over 15 years representing Energy and non-profit firms in DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania on legislative and budget requests. Specialties: Energy, Budget and legislative issues.

Senator Jack Bailey could have listed Ivan Lanier as a lobbyist, but he didn’t.

Ivan Lanier is listed with the Maryland State Ethics Commission as a lobbyist with Greenwill Consulting Group LLC with an address at 92 Franklin Street, Suite 202, Annapolis, MD. Lanier told the Ethics Commission that he complied with the mandatory training requirements of the Public Ethics Law and the date of his most recent training was on Dec. 7, 2023, just three months after he was listed as being “retired” when making a $500 campaign donation to Senator Jack Bailey.

Lanier is listed with the Maryland Ethics Commission as a lobbyist for High Roller Technologies, of Las Vegas, Nevada.  Lanier listed the dates of the opening of the 2025 Maryland General Assembly from January 17, 2025, through October 31, 2025, for the subject matter of “Gaming”, specifically “igaming”.

HIGH ROLLER describes their company in this way on their website: High Roller Technologies, Inc. is a leading innovator in the global online gaming industry, renowned for its award-winning casino brands, High Roller and Fruta. We offer a compelling real money online casino experience driven by our cutting-edge platform. Our platform seamlessly integrates our proprietary technical IP, commercial partnerships, and operational expertise featuring an in-house developed domain customizable frontend and content management system (CMS) that optimizes performance with enhanced search engine visibility, direct API integrations, faster load times, and unparalleled scalability.

Lanier is a very busy lobbyist. In addition to being a paid promoter for HIGH ROLLER, Lanier also reported to the Ethics Commission that he represents Golden Entertainment, Inc, T/A Evitts Resort, Rocky Gap Resort. Lanier also is a lobbyist in Annapolis for Riverboat on the Potomac, which operates in Maryland waters on piers that are attached to Colonial Beach in Virginia. The Riverboat on The Potomac offers GAMING partnered with Fanatics Sportbook, special events and dining and cocktails.

The ”retired” Lanier is also the lobbyist for several dozen other entities, ranging from small town governments to large corporations.

RETIRED CONTRIBUTORS TO SEN. JACK BAILEY DIGS DEEP IN THEIR POCKETS

Lanier is one of ten “retired” persons who donated to Senator Bailey’s campaign between August 1, 2023, and January 9, 2024.

The other “retired” contributors and the amounts they contributed are:

Barry Smith, of Hollywood, Md., $500.

Nancy Ruyle Dodge, Cremona Farm, Mechanicsville, Md., $1,500.

Mary Anne Harms, Lusby, Md., $1,500. On August 8, 2024, Harms put in another $3,000 in the campaign coffers of Sen. Bailey, still listed as “retired”.

Morgan Garner, Avenue, Md., $500.

Frances Eagan, Avenue, Md., $250. On July 29, 2024, Eagan contributed $910 to Senator Bailey instead of taking a cruise, and still was listed as “retired”.

Paul Choporis, Valley Lee, Md. $500.

Theodore Harwood, Hollywood, Md. $500.

Gary Mangum, Stevensville, Md. $1,000.

There were no contributions from either clergy or media in the most recent round of campaign donations, the 2024 Annual, reported by Bailey.  There were zero retired people on the campaign disclosure for this reporting period other than the ones listed above.