Iowa Pharmaceutical Board puts brakes on Winfield Telepharmacy

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? There won?t be a Telepharmacy in Winfield; at least not until state law can be implemented.

That?s what Mayor Chris Finnell told the Winfield City Council Monday night during the council?s regular monthly meeting. The city had hoped to have the new brand of pharmacy up and running by January 2016, but have hit a roadblock.

Finnell and other city representatives, along with representatives from several other Iowa towns, met with the Iowa Pharmaceutical Board last week and were told by the board that no other communities will be allowed in the pilot program until the Iowa Legislature passes a law, permitting Telepharmacies.

The Iowa Senate already has passed such a law but the House hasn?t. If the two chambers pass the law and Gov. Terry Branstad signs the measure, the earliest the law could become effective is July 1, 2016. However, the pharmaceutical board told Winfield representatives that if the law were passed it would need a minimum of four months to establish rules and regulations governing Telepharmacies.

Five Iowa communities currently are in a Telepharmacy pilot program.

?It was not received well,? reflected Finnell. ?I think the board was blind-sided. They knew the Telepharmacy people were coming but not the communities, too.?

Finnell continued, ?Hopefully, we can get the law changed this next session. The governor has supported the initial pilot program.?

However, Finnell said, as much as he hated to admit it, it would probably take another year to get the Telepharmacy in Winfeld going.

Councilman Ryan Kinneberg, who also attended the meeting in Des Moines, said he sensed that most of the board favors the program ?but they want to wait and do it right.?

Finnell said he has talked to State Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mt. Pleasant, and Heaton pledged his support for the Telepharmacy.

Winfield already has paid a $50,000 sum to the firm implementing the Telepharmacy and was told that its money would be refunded.

?We had such good momentum going,? Finnell commented. ?I was hoping that it would kick in. I don?t view it as a failure, but a setback.?

Also during the meeting, the council members continued their efforts to abate a nuisance property at 108 N. Olive Street. According to a report from a structural engineer, the roof on the home leaks profusely and must be replaced, the turret on the northeast corner of the house needs repairing and both porches should be removed.

Richard Hughes, owner and occupant of the property, appeared before the council and said his nephew is coming toward the end of this week to remove both porches. ?I am going to contact a contractor about the roof and turret,? Hughes said. ?You need to get some bids and a timeline has to be established for the contractors to get this going,? Finnell told Hughes.

Later in the meeting, the mayor brought up the subject of possibly adding more city staff.

?Do we want to make changes to our personnel structure?? he asked the council.

Finnell pointed out the city does not currently have a Winfield advocate and he could see the benefit of having an employee working solely on exploring grant and other betterment opportunities for the city.

The council agreed to set up a task force to explore the possibility of staff additions.

In old business, Jeff Maeder, Winfield-Mt. Union superintendent, appeared before the council with price estimates for improvements at the city/school softball diamond.

At the October council meeting, Maeder told the council that fence repair is needed and the outfield fence must be moved inside the light poles. He also said tiling and grading is needed for better drainage. At that meeting, the city said it would pay for 50 percent of the work.

Maeder said he has received bids and the improvements would cost around $10,000. The city, again, reiterated its promise to pay for half the cost of repairs.

Finnell also reported on the recent ?Madness in the Machine Shed,? a haunted house, which was open Oct. 23-24 and Oct. 30-31. Finnell said around 600 people went through the house and the project broke even.

?We had about $4,500 in upfront costs, some of which we won?t have next year. I heard a lot of good things about it. It was a good event and a good fundraiser,? the mayor assessed. The Winfield Betterment Group sponsored the event.

Winfield council members will meet again in regular session on Monday, Dec. 14, at 5 p.m., at Winfield City Hall.