Macon County Mental Health Task Force
July 17, 2009

Members present - Ronnie Beale, Jim Bottomley, Jim Bruckner, Rhonda Cox, Jane
Kimsey, Paula Ledford, Kathy McGaha, Mike Neidig, Andy Shields and Martin 
Wadewitz

Guests - Shelly Foreman and Don Suggs

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


Action Items:

Jim Bruckner welcomed the task force members to today’s meeting.  Mr. Bruckner
asked everyone to introduce themselves and tell what organization they 
represented.  Ronnie Beale thanked Don Suggs, the interim director of Smoky 
Mountain Center for Mental Health, for attending today’s meeting.

Shelly Foreman updated the task force members on the current status of the 160A
option.  Ms. Foreman stated that Bill Gibson has met with county commissioners
from the 7 western counties.  Ms. Foreman said that a consultant, Randy 
Billings, has also been hired.  Mr. Billings is in the process of developing
an organizational structure, budget and revenue projections, pay and salary 
plans, and other items needed for this process.

Andy Shields next shared statistical trends on the number of involuntary mental
health commitments and stated they are continuing to rise.  One example, he 
gave was in 2006 there were 109 mental health transports with an average 
process time of 11 hours and 41 minutes.  Next using the current rate, he 
projected that there will be 154 mental health transports for this year with an
estimate of 19 hours and 27 minutes average transport time.

Shelly Foreman asked Mr. Shields if he knew if the Sheriff’s Departments in the
other 6 western counties kept any data on their transports.  Mr. Shields said
he was not aware of any data from the other counties.  Ms. Foreman offered to
send out an email inquiry to ask if the other counties kept this type of data.
Ms. Foreman said this type of data would be very beneficial to have.

Mike Neidig inquired if the reopening of the Haywood Adult Recovery Unit and
use of the Mobile Crisis Team in Macon County had had any impact on the 
transport numbers.  Mr. Shields said that actually the number of hours to 
process a commitment had increased during that timeframe.

Jim Bottomley stated that recently while assisting with a local mental health
situation, he had called the 1-800 number for assistance.  Mr. Bottomley said
after many transfers and a long period time, he was told to contact their 
office again on the following Monday.  Paula Ledford next gave an example of
a similar situation that had occurred in the school system.  Rhonda Cox and 
Shelly Foreman stated if anyone experienced a problem to contact Customer 
Service at (888) 757-5726 or if it relates to an emergency service issue to
contact Molly Richardson at (828) 586-5501 x2806.

Ronnie Beale next updated the task force members on the County Budget.  Mr. 
Beale stated that funding for mental health services in Macon County had 
basically stayed intact.  He stated that no new mental health services were
added, but funding for services and programs already in place stayed the same.
Mr. Beale did express a concern about the current number of mental health 
transports and if more funding would eventually be needed for that service.

Don Suggs next updated the task force members on the status of the State 
Budget.  Mr. Suggs explained that there is no current state budget yet.  He
explained that the state is operating on an interim budget (funding state 
government operations at 84% of the 2008-2009 budget and these numbers could
change).  Mr. Suggs stated that some mental health services would be affected.

Don Suggs stated that some mental health services would be affected over time
if the current budget was adopted.  Mr. Suggs reviewed some areas that might
potentially be cut or reduced with the current budget proposal:

1) Group Homes - Mr. Suggs said these funds could be severely cut.  These homes
deal with kids who have serious behavioral problems.  He stated that these kids
would be redistributed to a new kind of mental health service.

2) Case Management - Mr. Suggs explained presently there are all kinds of case 
managers for different departments like Health Centers, Department of Social 
Services, Mental Health, etc.  Mr. Suggs there is now talk of consolidating 
this system, so that each person will only have one case manager to handle 
everything.

3) Community Support - Mr. Suggs stated that this Medicaid mental health 
service could lose up to $65 million if the present budget proposal passes.
Mr. Suggs commented that this particular budget item would have the biggest
impact on the providers.

Don Suggs stated that Smoky Mountain Center stands to lose more than 9% over
the next two years from the state budget cuts.  Mr. Suggs said a reduction of
4.2% for the first year and a reduction of 5% for the next fiscal year is
proposed.

The next meeting will be held on Friday, September 4th, 2009.  The meeting will
be held from 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM in Meeting Rooms A/B at the Health and Human
Services Building.

Minutes recorded by Rhonda Blanton