The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met for their regularly scheduled meeting Monday morning in the Mahaska County Courthouse, and although it was a brisk meeting, there were several key points of discussion.

First and foremost, the Board approved a letter of application to the South Central Behavioral Health Region. This caps months of decision making and discussion, as the Iowa Department of Human Services stated that Marion and Mahaska County could no longer operate as a two-county region in mental health.

Supervisor Mike VanderMolen was skeptical to join the southern region, but stated he supports the application to show a united front. The South Central Behavioral Health Region is currently made up of Wapello, Davis, and Appanoose Counties.

In other business, the Board received a bid from Groenendyk Farms to acquire the property of the Country Life Health Care facility that was closed earlier this year. The bid was not for the entire parcel of land, and instead was just for the front. VanderMolen and Vice-Chair Willie VanWeelden said they were looking to keep the entire property together, even if that meant that they should tear down the building and fill in the lagoons themselves, rather than selling the property as is. With that, they unanimously rejected the proposal, and VanderMolen will gather a rough idea of the cost that the demolition and other adjustments would be.

Also, the Board announced that they will have their Local Option Sales Tax Hearing on October 1st, at 6:30 PM at the Third Floor Conference room at the Mahaska County Courthouse. This issue is a huge decision for the county. One of the main candidates to receive funding through the Local Option Sales Tax is the proposed recreation and childcare facility. The Oskaloosa City Council has already backed this with their sales tax. Again, the public hearing for the Local Option Sales Tax of the county is October 1st at 6:30 PM at the Mahaska County Courthouse.

Finally, the Board again discussed the household hazardous materials site. They learned that the Mahaska County Landfill was unable to house the site with any state funding because they currently are having some compliance issues. According to Chair Mark Doland, the landfill is not sure exactly where the violations are occurring. He stated he felt that the Board should see what kind of need the county has before further pursuing building a permanent site or getting a satellite site from the Iowa DNR. VanderMolen reiterated that there needs to be some sort of site in the county, as Mahaska is one of only six counties in Iowa without a current site to collect household hazardous materials. After a lengthy discussion, the Board will look into setting a joint meeting with city officials and the landfill board to figure out the issue.

The next scheduled meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is set for October 5th at the Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa. The meeting will be called to order at 9 AM.