Board Of Supervisors Discusses Mental Health Options
By Eduardo Zamarripa, CRI Weekly News
Oskaloosa, Iowa – On Monday morning, the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors discussed two separate mental health 28E agreements: one regarding tri-county mental health regionalization and one regarding tri-county case management.
Mahaska County is looking to regionalize with Marion and Poweshiek County. The mental health services that are provided do not change. What changes is the system is now administered under one umbrella, instead of three different counties.
Supervisor Greg Gordy said County Attorney Charles Stream had “three pages” of concerns regarding the regionalization 28E agreement. Specifically, Gordy said he had concerns with each county only having one representative to the Tri-County Behavioral Health Region Board. Gordy said this might be a problem if the other two counties agreed on something that did not benefit Mahaska County and the county wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, Supervisor Mark Doland had concerns with the vagueness of the document. Doland said drafting bylaws and other organizational documents would be useful for the board before approving the 28E agreement.
“It’s so vague, I definitely will not vote for something like this,” Doland said.
Supervisor Mike Vander Molen noted that a lot of time and effort has been put into this regionalization proposal and asked the supervisors to explain what needs to happen to come to an agreement. Otherwise, Vander Molen suggested letting Marion and Poweshiek County know that Mahaska County was not going to be part of this regionalization.
The board, along with Central Point Coordinator and Community Services Director Julie Bak, went through the regionalization 28E agreement and modified the document using the concerns presented by Stream. With the updated version of the agreement, the board will now submit that to Stream before it approves the mental health regionalization 28E agreement.
However, the board did add that it’s “fair to say” the mental health regionalization 28E agreement will eventually be approved.
The other 28E agreement regarding mental health has to do with case management. Currently, Mahaska County provides its own case management (this refers to an individual that is appointed to manage the case of an individual with a mental illness). The 28E agreement would create tri-county case management if approved.
Bak discussed three different options regarding case management: continue providing case management through Mahaska County case management, join tri-county case management, or go through the Department of Human Services for case management. The board asked questions about the structure and financial implications of the three options. For the time being, the board elected to stay with the current system (Mahaska County case management) by choosing not to take action on the agenda item.
After two hours of discussion, the board decided not to take any action on the three items of the agenda regarding mental health:
- A resolution approving a 28E agreement regarding tri-county case management
- A resolution approving a 28E agreement regarding tri-county mental health regionalization
- Appointing a representative to the Tri-County Behavioral Health Region Board
The board also received a sanitarian report and unanimously approved a Living Roadway Trust Fund Grant resolution. In addition to that, the board awarded two bids: one for a mowing tractor, and one for a semi-tractor. County engineer Jerry Nusbaum recommended purchasing the mowing tractor from Titan Machinery for $68,388, and the semi-tractor from GATR Truck Center for $107,600. The board unanimously approved his recommendations.
The next Board of Supervisors meeting is on Nov. 4 at 9 a.m.
