By Mari Radtke
Shari Kastein, C.E.O. of Family Crisis Center (FCC) presented to the O’Brien County Supervisors on Tuesday January 18 via Zoom. A brief overview of the year’s activities was given and an in-depth description of the newly developed visitation center. The visitation center developed in the former “Interstates Building” in Sheldon. The visitation center serves multiple purposes. It has a growing use by the Department of Human Services (DHS) for, among other things, court required visitation when the visitation must be supervised, or when children are going from one parent to the other and its best the parents stay separated. Kitchens have been built to assist DHS with parenting skills evaluation and other services.
FCC plans to submit an application to O’Brien County for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds to further develop the heavily accessed facility. The request will be for furnishings and other items to create an appropriate environment and to develop a team for the improvement of families in crisis. ARPA applications by county institutions were required by March 15. That date could be extended. External applications will be accepted once the costs of all county requests are known.
Supervisors had a lengthy discussion regarding space issues facing the county for some departments. Currently public health is having significant difficulty with space and privacy. The County Attorney is housed in Sheldon. The board agreed to hear bids to hire space study services. They have interviewed 3 firms, but will accept presentations from 2 and make a decision. They are expecting professional services to determine remodeling, construction or other choices to meet the demands for space.
Jared Johnson, Emergency Management Director submitted his budget request for the coming fiscal year. He has increased his request from $100,000 to $120,000.
He explained the 9-1-1 service is about to get an update. The shared service program is an alternative to the replacement option. It carries less cost. Johnson said O’Brien Alert is upgrading and becoming Alert Iowa. Although uch will remain the same, some enhanced coveneiences will be part of the Alert Iowa. He requested users of O’Brien Alert to re-sign up for Alert Iowa. This will be the county wide emergency notification system.