County will be part of mental health pilot project
June 28th, 2007Sibley County will be part of an 11-county pilot project working with children’s mental health.
Vicki Stock, County Human Services director, told the board last week that the 11-county group was awarded a $500,000 grant for working with children’s mental health. Priorities for the grant, she said, are to provide flexible funding for the program and to help children transition into the adult mental health program.
“Many details need to be worked out,” Stock said. The project will start July 1.
The 11-county group initially requested $925,000. Counties involved in the group are the nine counties of Region Nine, along with Freeborn and Rice Counties.
In other business, the Human Services Board:
• Renewed family facilitator contracts with Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and Sibley East School Districts, effective July 1 through June 30, 2008. Family facilitators help in a variety of ways at home and school to help students “at-risk.”
• Approved variance request in the transportation per diem for the Sibley County DAC. Under the variance, the DAC will be paid $7.14/day per client for transportation, up from $4.39/day. The net county cost will be just under $10,000, according to Stock. The DAC’s transportation has operated at a $38,000 loss from 2002-2006, Stock reported.
• Hired Ignacio Manjarrez, limited term position as a Spanish language translator for Sibley County Human Services and Public Health Departments.
• Approved a request for $2,000 to cover partial costs of the Summer Day Treatment Program for Sioux Trails Mental Health Center. The Department of Human Services requires that the program be offered the entire year, but it was not in the budget for 2007. Each county – Nicollet, Brown, Sibley and Watonwan – are being asked to contribute $2,000.
