Chief Executive Officer of the Rolling Hills Mental Health Region, Dawn Mentzer, spoke to the Carroll County Board of Supervisors Monday morning about the region’s plans to restructure the Carroll County Advocate position in the very near future. She explains how the duties are shared between Carroll and the other six counties that make up Rolling Hills.
In 2005, legislation was passed that required advocates to be employees of the county. At that time Brett Michael became a part-time employee of Carroll County, and Sandy Sweeney a part-time employee of Calhoun County, but she still served the other six through 28E agreements. An increase in daily reporting requirements, Mentzer says, is putting Sweeney at closer to 1,800 hours per year, more than her part-time limit of 1,500.
Mentzer adds that she wants to be clear to the supervisors that the Governance Board making this recommendation has nothing to do with Michael’s performance.
Rolling Hills would, at this time, continue to pay for Michael’s work if they elect to retain him as the Carroll County Advocate. However, Mentzer told them, this change would save the region money, and in turn, benefit all members. The supervisors all received one correspondence that was in favor of retaining Michael for the Carroll County Advocate position, and they all requested more time to speak with that individual directly and to ensure that all supervisors were in attendance for the discussion and vote on this request. They have tabled the decision until Monday, June 25. In addition to Carroll and Calhoun, Rolling Hills serves Buena Vista, Cherokee, Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties.
