Macon County Mental Health Task Force
April 11, 2008


Members present - Ronnie Beale, Jim Bruckner, Rhonda Cox, Robert Holland, 
Tammy Keezer, Jane Kimsey, Paula Ledford, Mike Neidig, Don Sandoval and 
Andy Shields

Welcome and Invited Guest - Ronnie Beale welcomed everyone to today’s 
meeting and thanked them for attending.  Mr. Beale introduced Commissioner
Jim Davis to today’s meeting and especially thanked him for attending this
meeting.  Mr. Beale also thanked the media for attending these meetings and
thanked them for the excellent coverage they have provided.

Approval of Minutes - Paula Ledford made a motion to approve the minutes.  
Jim Bruckner 2nd the motion, with a unanimous vote for approval.


Action Items:
Jane Kimsey announced that the minutes are now posted online on the county
website.  At the next meeting, this task force will need to decide where to
place the link to Smoky Mountain Center.

Jane Kimsey and Jim Bruckner reported they have completed 3 consumer 
interviews.  Ms. Kimsey said two more are scheduled today.  Ms. Kimsey 
stated they should have all interviews completed and be ready to report on
the results at the next meeting.  Mr. Bruckner said the questionnaire contains
fifteen questions and each interview session is averaging an hour in length.

Rhonda Cox and Tammy Keezer reported they had talked with Tom McDevitt.  
Mr. McDevitt has suggested that Judy Kuehn will continue attending each 
meeting.  Ms. Cox and Ms. Keezer will attend as many meetings as possible.
Mr. McDevitt also decided the Smoky Mountain Center representative will have
no vote on the task force.

Paula Ledford next passed out a handout on the Jackson County Schools Mental
Health Model.  Ms. Ledford said she had talked with Raymond Turpin and he had
prepared a summary for the task force to review.  The summary explains the 
set-up of this model at each school in Jackson County.  The summary also 
covered the following topics:
* Everything is free to every student
* Provide a team in every school - At least one therapist, case manager, 
  community support personnel.
* Referrals typically come from guidance counselors and social workers
* Barriers/Problems

Ronnie Beale next asked Sheriff Holland and Jim Bruckner to update the task 
force members on the Jail Program.  Mr. Bruckner said that Sheriff Holland and
he will present the proposal to start the Substance Abuse Education Component
of the jail program to the Board of Commissioners Monday night.  Mr. Bruckner
said he is also working on setting up another meeting to further discuss the
second part of this program.

Ronnie Beale told the task force members about the Underage Drinking Forum he
had attended on April 5th at Macon Middle School.  Mr. Beale stated he was very
impressed with the students involved with this forum.  Mr. Beale said he will 
ask the Board of Commissioners to fund a trip to the Tennessee Teen Institute
for these students.

Rhonda Cox and Tammy Keezer next passed out a handout for the task force 
members to review.  Ms. Cox and Ms. Keezer briefly discussed questions 3 and
4.  Question 3 covered what the average cost per day is for psychiatric care
and detox care at Balsam Center.  This question also covered the number of 
Macon County clients admitted to Balsam Center that are self-pay.  Question 4
covered what is the cost per session with a psychiatrist for mental health 
services.  Ms. Cox and Ms. Keezer will cover the question on emergency service
at the next meeting.

The task force members next worked on the timeline for the upcoming meetings.  
After a group discussion, the following dates and topics were suggested:
> April 24th - Review and discuss the consumer interviews
> May 2nd - Develop a draft to present to the Board of Commissioners
> May 9th - Finalize what is being sent to the Board of Commissioners

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 24th.  The meeting will start
at 8:30 AM in Meeting Rooms A/B at the Health and Human Services Building.

Minutes recorded by Rhonda Blanton