Supervisors hear update on the status of Iowa's mental health system

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, October 31, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with CPC Jan Heikes, who presented the recommendations of the Legislative Interim Committee regarding a redesign of Iowa’s Mental Health and Developmental Disability system. Heikes explained that the Committee recommends changing the current county-based system to a region-based system, with regions comprised of no fewer than three counties and a population range of 200,000 to 700,000 people. “Something is going to change,” Heikes said. “If we don’t get on the regional bandwagon, they’re going to move towards a state system.”
Heikes said that she has been working with CPCs in eight counties in northeast Iowa with the objective to keep rural counties together to avoid being “taken over” by urban areas. She added that Dubuque County is “not doing anything as far as planning” for the change to a regional system and that as a result, Dubuque County may need to join the eight counties that would already have a framework in place. She added that the population of the eight counties she has been working with falls a bit short of the 200,000 minimum proposed, but that the Committee does not want to draw regional boundaries, preferring that counties come together to form “natural” regions. Heikes encouraged the Board to attend a meeting December 8 in West Union with CPCs from those eight counties to discuss the proposed changes.
The Board also met with Conservation Board Director Jim Janett, who asked the Board to accept the donation of approximately .75 acres along the Upper Iowa River for a canoe landing. Janett explained that Rose Zoll offered to donate the land in memory of her late husband, Ray, and that “Ray’s Landing” would likely include a picnic shelter and a pit latrine. The Board approved the donation.
The Board also met in closed session with attorney Mary Jane White to discuss ongoing litigation regarding the Schaumberg property in the Harpers Highlands subdivision. Returning to open session, the Board voted to agree to pay two-thirds of the cost of mediation in the case and to meet in both closed and open sessions all day Tuesday, November 8 at the courthouse museum to participate in the mediation process (for more details, see the official notice at left on this same page).
In other business, the Board signed a proclamation presented by Megan McWilliams of Helping Services of Northeast Iowa declaring November 13-19 Tobacco Awareness Week in Allamakee County. The Board also approved a road maintenance agreement with the City of Waukon and the Iowa Department of Transportation and reappointed Supervisor Lennie Burke to the Upper Exporerland Regional Housing Authority Board.