Our Voice: County leaders reach across the river
Communication. Collaboration. Cooperation
During the past year, there has been little opportunity to use those three words in describing the working relationship among Benton and Franklin county commissioners, despite their partnership in several important community agencies.
But that could be changing.
Commissioners on both sides of the river, and a few other elected officials and civil servants, deserve some praise for making progress in a cooperative, collaborative nature. That’s happening in large part because communication is improving.
Legislation was passed allowing the commissioners from the two counties to meet and make decisions. Until last week, that happened just once since the law took effect in July.
Letters sent by Benton County last spring about a need to revisit joint operations appeared to be ignored, emails apparently got lost in spam folders and Benton County moved forward unilaterally in ways that could have been detrimental to Franklin county residents.
But in February, the situation thawed a bit and the two commissions met twice in one week.
The issue that brought them together was behavioral health services — one of the most pressing needs for a community struggling to provide adequate and accessible mental health care.
The reason for their meetings was to be proactive in dealing with state-mandated changes on how behavioral health services are provided and paid for. A shift from county-managed agencies to private contracting appears inevitable by 2020.
Benton-Franklin Human Services is one of a half-dozen county-level agencies still providing direct mental health care for those in crisis. Other counties already have made the switch to the private model — a method for delivering care that should bring with it better services for those in need, as well as cost savings and less liability for the counties.
The action taken at the meetings was not nearly as monumental as the fact that the commissioners met together.
But an improving attitude came with great relief as the two groups agreed to hire a consultant to weave together a system using existing providers into a behavioral health body that privately managed organizations will want to contract with for services.
It is a necessary first step toward a long-term solution for mental health care and one that was important enough for commissioners to overcome their petty antics.
Another positive step in cross-river cooperation came when Franklin County and Pasco formally asked to start negotiations to possibly join in a long-discussed, consolidated 911 dispatch center.
The goal, ultimately, is to save lives through better service, fewer dropped calls, improved safety for first responders and more rapid response for those in peril.
It’s amazing the progress that can made on issues that have gone stale for lack of cooperation when everyone puts aside the past and makes decisions for the health of our community with an eye toward the future.
This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Our Voice: County leaders reach across the river."