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Jackson County votes to terminate Eastern Iowa mental-health region and joins 28E court-advocate agreement with neighboring counties
Summary
The board approved a resolution to terminate the Eastern Iowa Mental Health Regional Governing Board agreement and approved a 28E intercounty agreement to continue court-advocacy services regionally with Cedar, Clinton, Muscatine and Scott Counties; the contract depends in part on ASO funding of costs.
Jackson County supervisors on June 24 approved termination of the Eastern Iowa Mental Health regional governing agreement and approved a 28E intercounty agreement to continue court-advocacy services with neighboring counties.
The board voted to approve resolution 11-35 to terminate the Eastern Iowa Mental Health Regional Governing Board of Directors agreement, a step supervisors said was necessary after the state moved from regional governance to a different structure. The motion to approve termination was made by Nin and seconded by Mike Stennis; the board approved the resolution by voice vote.
County staff then presented resolution 11-36 approving a 28E agreement to provide mental-health advocacy services shared among Cedar, Clinton, Jackson, Muscatine and Scott Counties. Lynette Birkin, coordinator of disability services, explained the 28E will make Greg (identified in the packet as the current Scott County court advocate) the shared court advocate. The agreement is effective July 1. Birkin noted an administrative-services-organizational (ASO) entity has said it would pay “any reasonable costs” for the court advocate but that counties could be responsible for any portion the ASO does not cover; counties would pay their share based on percentages tied to court-committal counts (Birkin said county shares historically run about 3–6%). Birkin cautioned the term “reasonable” may be interpreted differently by parties.
The board approved both the resolution to terminate the regional governing agreement and the 28E agreement for mental-health advocacy services by voice vote. Supervisors asked staff to return with updates as the ASO transition and staffing become clearer.
No fiscal figures for county cost shares were finalized during the meeting; staff said any county obligation will depend on what the ASO pays and that the counties will pick up any unpaid share pro rata.
