Two former Butler County commissioners this morning urged the current commissioners to not sell the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Former Commissioner Jim Lokhaiser said commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton, who support a sale, should change their stance.

“Mr. McCarrier, where’s your compassion for the people of Butler County?” Lokhaiser asked during the commissioners meeting.

Lokhaiser also asked if former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, who works with health care companies, is interested in buying Sunnyview.

Pinkerton, who appointed Roddey several years ago to serve on a volunteer committee to evaluate Sunnyview, said Roddey never inquired about buying the nursing home.

“All he did was help us,” Pinkerton said, referring to Roddey’s volunteer work on the committee.

Former Commissioner Joan Chew also objected to selling Sunnyview.

Chew made an emotional plea, recalling how the nursing home tended to her late husband.

She told Pinkerton and McCarrier their legacy would not be the construction of proposed new office building.

“You will be known as the board that sold Sunnyview,” Chew said.

Commissioner Jim Eckstein, who opposes a Sunnyview sale, said the same effort that kept Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler is needed now.

“Community action is needed to stop the sale,” Eckstein said.

County officials say keeping Sunnyview is impractical due to its annual deficit.

The 200-bed nursing home is projected to have a more than $1 million deficit for 2014, but $205,000 of that total is listed as building depreciation.