County official says transitional housing may need some study

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Sarah Berndt, county coordinator of disability services/general assistance director, disclosed one of her ?wishes? Thursday to the Henry County Board of Supervisors.

Berndt, distributed a copy of an Aug. 1 article in The Mt. Pleasant News reporting on a new transitional house in Wayland and said the county may have to mull transitional housing.

?I think we have a need (in the county) for transitional housing,? Berndt said. ?Typically, transitional housing is funded by Medicaid, but I know in Washington County, a transitional house is also funded by HACAP (Hawkeye Area Community Action Program) and churches.?

New Life Housing, in Wayland, which opened in late July, is a refuge for single women who need a new beginning. Tamara Gill, of Wayland, works as the house advocate and resides there full-time.

?The purpose of this house is to provide a place in the community for women to live for a time who might benefit from interacting and living alongside other people who would encourage them to see the positive potential they have to be the impactful woman God created them to be,? Gill said in the Aug. 1 article.

New Life Housing can accommodate five single women. Women can live in the house for six months to a year, with the goal of getting women to a stable job and living situation within that time frame.

Supervisors asked Berndt the criteria for qualification to live in transitional housing, and Berndt said the county would have to draft some criteria.

?I just want to make you aware of it (transitional housing), in case we get a request,? she said. Berndt did not say she had received any requests for transitional housing.

Berndt also gave a six-month report of general assistance inquiries in the county. She said she has had 79 contacts, 35 of whom were ineligible for one reason or another.

?If we would have modified the income guidelines, we could have helped four more households,? she noted. ?Our income guidelines are 50 to 75 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. Sometimes, we have people who are just $50 to $100 over the income guidelines, and then we have people significantly over (the income) guidelines.?

The general assistance director has told the supervisors in previous monthly reports that consideration should be given to adjusting the guidelines.

Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss also gave his weekly report. Supervisors approved the hiring of retired secondary roads employee, Roger Asby, as a part-time grader operator in November. Hotchkiss said one of the secondary road workers is having surgery and Asby will fill in for that employee.

?We will use him (Asby) for the snow removal operation,? Hotchkiss explained. ?The value for us is that he has worked in the department before.?

He also said rock crushing operations have commenced at the county quarry. ?We are letting area residents know when we are going to crush. The company is fairly quick getting in and out. They aren?t around there long.?

In miscellaneous and construction news, work is completed on the Ash Avenue bridge replacement and the road is now open to traffic, Hotchkiss said. The culvert placement on Hickory Avenue is also nearly complete. He said culvert work will begin on 140th Street early.

The city and county are continuing to work on a 28E agreement for the 220th Street (Winfield Avenue) project, scheduled for next summer, the engineer said.

Road maintenance work last week included hauling resurfacing rock to Tippacanoe and Trenton townships; removing a downed tree on 253rd Street; preparing for a patching project north of Mt. Union; installing tile at the new territory shed on Oasis Avenue; and installing a couple of entrances.

Supervisors meet again in regular session Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 9 a.m. at the courthouse.