Pike County supervisors said Monday that their decision to provide financial assistance to Southwest Mental Health depends on the agency providing a long-term plan and whether other counties are also willing to support the agency.
Supervisors agreed to send a letter to Southwest Mental Health and the nine counties it serves to see if the counties would be willing to increase their level of support by at least a third for this year only.
Supervisors are also requesting that Southwest Mental Health provide a long-term plan by their first meeting in June.
“If we’re going to do something, I think we should specify in the letter (to counties and Southwest Mental Health) that Mental Health needs to have a report back to all governing authorities involved by June 1,” board president Chuck Lambert said. “I think that’s ample time and that also puts us in the middle of the planning for next year’s budget.”
The mental health agency, which leases several offices throughout its nine-county territory and has a location in McComb, asked for more funding earlier in March.
Lambert said supervisors asked the agency to send a list of its short-term plans to assess their immediate needs, but haven’t received any long-term plans.
“The chancery clerk’s office and the court system use Southwest Mental Health a good bit,” he said. “We’ve got some folks in the county who also just need the service, so there may be some other alternatives, but if it shuts down, I don’t know what would happen to the people they serve. But they’ve got to do something as far as their long-term plans.”
Supervisor Gary Honea agreed that the agency provides a lot of services for the county, and supervisor Faye Hodges noted that the county needs the agency for its crisis intervention team.
County Administrator Tami Dangerfield asked Lambert if the county would provide additional allocation if other counties didn’t participate.
“Before we make the final decision, we want to see what the other counties are willing to do and we want to see if Southwest Mental Health will have a long-term plan in our hands by the first meeting in June,” Lambert said.
In other news, the board:
• Approved a rental application for a wedding at the Pike County Multi-Purpose Complex.
• Allowed a fireworks display by the Junior Auxiliary of McComb during an evening program for Camp Sunshine campers.
• Hired Lucy Lowery as a temporary worker at the tax assessor’s office.
