Committee forwards two letters of support to County Board for housing and medical-clearance funding

The Marathon County Public Safety Committee voted to forward two separate requests for letters of support to the County Board on March 7.

First, the committee agreed to forward a recommendation that county administration draft a letter of support for Attic Correctional Services’ effort to reinstitute a housing-help program. County staff described Attic’s prior 2022 grant that helped 12 clients obtain and retain housing; the letter would be used by Attic in applications to state or other grant funders. A motion to direct county administration to draft the letter was made and seconded; the committee chair called the question and members answered “Aye.” The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the public transcript; staff said the item would proceed to the County Board for consideration.

Second, the committee voted to forward a letter of support to state officials for funding to locate a medical-clearance function at North Central Healthcare. County staff and representatives from North Central Healthcare said locating medical-clearance resources on-site would reduce transports to emergency departments and speed connection to mental-health services. The Sheriff’s Office had drafted a letter of support from law enforcement perspective; North Central Healthcare said it is preparing a dollar amount for legislative requests. A motion to forward a letter to the state was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

What the committee recorded about each item: - Attic Correctional Services: staff said Attic had a 2022 grant that helped 12 clients obtain housing and that the program had shown success. The committee directed county administration to draft a letter of support to accompany Attic’s grant applications and forwarded the recommendation to the County Board. - North Central Healthcare: staff described medical clearance as an administrative step before inpatient psychiatric admission and said locating medical clearance at North Central Healthcare could reduce wait times in emergency departments and relieve law-enforcement resource burdens. Committee members voted to forward a letter of support to the County Board that would be used to request state funding.

No dollar amounts or specific state-funding program identifiers were specified in the public transcript; staff said North Central Healthcare is assembling a dollar request for legislators. Both motions were forwarded to the County Board; the County Board will consider drafting and sending the letters, per the committee’s direction.