A local assisted living facility is facing a $7,500 fine after a permitting problem.
Lady Lake Senior Living was back before a special magistrate Thursday morning at Lady Lake Town Hall.
An anonymous complaint earlier this year led to an inspector’s visit to the facility at 930 County Road 466 where an emergency exit was found boarded over from the inside. In a hearing in October, an inspector who uncovered the problem testified it was particularly worrisome because the blocked emergency exit created a “dead end” in the memory care unit. Expansion work a the facility had been launched without a proper permit.
Lady Lake Senior Living had been ordered to hire a contractor to complete the work that had been started without a permit. The former administrator at Lady Lake Senior Living is gone and another administrator for the facility was named this week. She said a contractor has been hired, but the work cannot begin until after the holidays. She asked that the daily fines be stopped “for now.”
Special Magistrate Joshua Bills noted the fines have reached $7,500 and continue to accrue.
“I don’t want to take the pressure off this issue,” Bills said.
The fines will continue, and the $7,500 in fines already assessed must be paid by Feb. 8.
Care at Lady Lake Senior Living reportedly begins at $2,795 per month.