Supervisors report on sub-committee meetings

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

With no business items to tackle, Thursday?s regular meeting of the Henry County supervisors was relegated to reports of subcommittee meetings recently attended by the supervisors.

Supervisor Gary See reported on the recent meeting of the District Department of Correctional Services board meeting. See said the district department is realigning staff and will now have two assistants ? one specializing in prisons and the other with corrections.

?Our director (of the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Institute) thought this was a good idea,? See commented. ?He feels that now there will be someone available to go to bat for him.?

See also informed his peers about a recent complaint filed in Ft. Madison with OSHA where the tenant was cited instead of the landlord. He said this action should serve as a heads-up to the county since it leases space in buildings and has tenants in buildings it owns.

?You?re on the hook even if you are the tenant,? See said. ?They don?t always come down on the landlord.?

Supervisor Marc Lindeen updated supervisors on his recent meeting with Hillcrest Family Services and the Henry County Health Center. Lindeen said Hillcrest, which now is open Monday-Friday, hopes to go 24/7 in the future.

A contract for the jail diversion program with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission has been approved. Henry, Louisa and Washington counties are joining Lee and Des Moines counties in the venture. The contract was approved during a recent meeting of the Southeast Iowa Link.

?We hope it will be in place by the first of the year,? Lindeen said.

The program is a case management program for inmates with mental health problems, providing those inmates with an exit plan from jail and also working with them on their mental health issues.

Supervisor Greg Moeller briefed the board on the Sept. 9 meeting of the Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS) Board of Directors.

Moeller told the board that a recent RUSS vs. City of Mt. Union court case over past-due bills from residents went in RUSS? favor because no one representing Mt. Union appeared in court. Mt. Union was given 10 days to respond and filed a quash petition.

He also updated the supervisors on damage to a county-owned building at the intersection of Jackson and Madison streets in Mt. Pleasant. Last weekend, a vehicle backed into the building, breaking two large panes, 77 and 96 inches, of glass.

The supervisor contacted Mt. Pleasant Glass for a quote on replacement glass and was told that all three panes of glass on the north side of the building should be replaced. The glass company estimated replacement cost at $6,100.

?We might consider doing something different there,? Moeller said, ?such as adding some block and using smaller windows.?

Supervisors agreed the glass had to be replaced or the north side of the building as quickly as possible.

The board meets again in regular session on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 9 a.m. in the Henry County Courthouse.