ALBANY – The future of the existing New York State Veterans’ Home building in Oxford will be on the agenda this weekend when the 150,000-member American Legion, Department of New York, meets to hammer out its program and elect officers for the coming year.

The 242-bed facility was erected in the late 1970s to house the original State Veterans’ Home, replacing an 80-year-old structure on the same site. A new Vets’ Home is scheduled to open next fall, and there is a tentative plan to demolish the current building, noting that it no longer meets code for a nursing home.

The state American Legion has been working to save the existing structure for at least 18 months, citing numerous uses for which the current Vets’ Home is suitable. Preserving the structure was a major element in the American Legion legislative program last year, initiated by Lt. Warren Eaton Post 189 of Norwich, and endorsed by the Chenango County American Legion.

A reaffirmation of the 2007 policy position is being brought to this year’s convention again by Post 189 and Chenango County.