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Resident urges Platte County commissioners to protect funding for children’s mental-health services
Summary
During public comment, a Platte City resident urged commissioners to support the child-focused sales tax and local mental-health resources, saying the county should prioritize services for youth amid reports of child suicides and delays in counseling access.
At the March 17 public-comment period, Julia Powell of 1309 Riverrun Drive, Platte City, urged the Platte County Commission to reconsider recent statements and actions she characterized as undermining a voter-approved child-focused sales tax and to protect funding for children's mental-health services.
Powell said the county's youth face mounting mental-health pressures and that, in her experience, access to counseling can take months. "If you've had children within the Platte City School District or Platte County School District the last 5 years, you would have gotten an email about children and suicide," Powell said, adding that her own 12-year-old child had required counseling.
She told the commission she and many acquaintances across party lines voted for the sales tax because it supports children and services, and she objected to a prior remark she read as describing the measure as driven by "the radical left." "That is not the case," Powell said.
Powell identified herself as a Sunday school teacher, PTA member and youth coach and asked the commission to "do what's best for the kids." She told the record she attends Beacon Health meetings and wants county leaders to focus on preventing substance abuse and improving youth services.
Ending: Powell's remarks were the sole public comment recorded at the March 17 meeting; commissioners made no substantive response on the record before adjourning the regular session.
