The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met for a special session Monday morning at the Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa. The discussion again was based around the issue involving the behavioral health region.

This meeting came on the heels of last Wednesday’s decision to appeal to the Iowa Department of Human Services regarding their decision to disband the Mid-Iowa Behavioral Health Region, which consists of Marion and Mahaska Counties. Every other behavioral health region in the state is made up of at least three counties.

The decision to appeal last week was a surprising one, as Supervisor Mike VanderMolen decided to change his mind about appealing once it was made clear that both Chair Mark Doland and Vice-Chair Willie VanWeelden supported moving into the South Central Behavioral Health Region, which consists of Wapello, Davis, and Appanoose Counties. VanderMolen preferred to move into the Central Iowa Community Services Region to the north, including Jasper and Poweshiek Counties.

The Monday morning meeting was called because Chuck Palmer, the Director of the Iowa Department of Human Services, stated that it is necessary for the county to have a contingency plan in place in case the appeal fails. With this being said, the Board of Supervisors needed to rework the appeal letter to explain their plan.

Supervisor Mike VanderMolen was unavailable to attend the meeting, so his voice was unable to be heard on the plan, but the other two members were in support of joining the South Central Behavioral Health Region, so they amended the letter to state that intention. This passed on a 2-0 vote.

The pair of attending supervisors also voted to send Chair Mark Doland to a meeting in Bloomfield of the governing board for the topic in that region.

The next regular meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for next Monday, August 3rd, in the Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa. The meeting will be called to order at 9 AM.