CLEARFIELD TWP — While the owner of a personal care home/boarding house now has an occupancy permit, she still is fighting the state over her business.

Kimberly Fair, 32, whose business is at 135 Harris Road, said the state Department of Public Welfare’s visits on Thursday and Friday should not have occurred.

“There’s no court order,” Fair said. “There’s no just cause.”

She stressed her business is only serving as a boarding home until her legal issues with the state are resolved.

Ronald Melusky, director of the welfare department’s Bureau of Human Service Licensing, confirmed Fair was not given any documents during the last visit.

“We made a preliminary determination she was operating illegally,” Melusky said.

Only one of six people was relocated Friday.

Melusky said unlike the June 21 visit, this last one was not an emergency evacuation of residents.

“There was no evidence of an imminent threat,” he said.

Melusky said state workers offered all the people Fair is calling boarders the opportunity to leave.

Only one woman obliged. Melusky said she was taken to a licensed personal care home.

“If they say they don’t want to leave, we can’t force them out,” he said.

Melusky said in general terms, people living in unlicensed personal care homes don’t realize conditions are better in licensed facilities.

“It may look good compared to what they had,” he said.

Melusky said people typically don’t return to an unlicensed care home after being exposed to a licensed one.

“We’ve had no one say I want to go back to an unlicensed home,” he said.

One of the five boarders who remained at Fair’s home said he complained about the conditions there while being treated at Butler Memorial Hospital for an unspecified ailment.

Fair said the man is a problem boarder.

Melusky declined to comment on whether the boarder registered the complaint.

“I can’t confirm or deny that,” he said.

Fair said the state won’t give her any reason, either.

“They won’t talk to me,” she said about the workers who were on site.

Despite lodging the complaint, the boarder refused to leave once state workers arrived.

Before state workers left the site Friday, a new boarder arrived about 12:15 p.m. He appeared to be wearing a prosthetic on his leg.

Melusky said he couldn’t comment on that boarder.

Jeff Richardson of Richardson Inspection of Volant confirmed Fair was issued an occupancy permit Aug. 2.

“(She) met all the requirements of the Uniform Construction Code,” he said.

Richardson said the only proviso is all the boarders must be able to leave the building without assistance in the event of an emergency.

Fair said she addressed all of Richardson’s concerns, such as ensuring exit signs are lit. She also placed new smoke detectors in the home.

Melusky said the state is not concerned with the occupancy permit, only the home’s operations.

He pointed out this is the third offense for Fair.

The welfare department in February conducted an emergency evacuation of a personal care home in Gibsonia, where Fair was operating the business for the owner of that business. The state shut down that operation for lacking a license.

Fair appealed that decision. There is a state Commonwealth Court hearing on that case set for Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

According to Fair, the state made numerous errors in handling her cases.

Along with mistakenly categorizing the Gibsonia and Harris Road businesses as the same one, she said the state cannot pursue new charges against her while previous ones are being pursued in court.

Melusky said Fair’s assessment is wrong.

“That’s not really accurate,” he said.

Fair fought the June 21 charge of operating without a license under the argument a personal care home cannot exceed the ratio of three residents per caregiver.

She previously said there were eight people taking care of the 15 residents who were there June 21.

Fair said any new charges of operating a personal care home without a license are unfounded since she only uses the building as a boarding home.

Barb Miller, whose mother, Opal Genovisi, 86, lives in the home, arrived Friday to see what state workers were doing at the home.

Miller maintains the state has a grudge against Fair for standing up to them in February.

“They have something against Kim,” Miller said.

“It’s another witch hunt,” Miller said. “They won’t tell us why. It just does not make any sense.”

She was looking into whether a restraining order against the state could be obtained, so her mother would be left alone.

Miller accused welfare workers of questioning her mother on Thursday without permission.

“I was two hours away,” Miller said.

Melusky said people living in homes monitored by the state have the right to grant or reject interviews.

“They are human beings,” he said. “A person certainly has the right to refuse an interview.”

Miller said she wouldn’t place her mother in Fair’s care if there were any problems.

“Kim has a gift working with the elderly,” Miller said.

Fair characterized the state’s treatment of her and her boarders as harassment.

She accused the state of being upset due to her not immediately accepting a proposal to drop all fines if she would not pursue legal action against the state.

Melusky said once a court injunction to shut down a personal care home is granted, the operator would be in contempt of court by remaining open.

He said the state encounters a variety of people who operate unlicensed personal care homes, some of whom do make the honest mistake of not knowing they need a license.

“It’s a mix,” Melusky said.