DOUGLAS COUNTY CSB IN DANGER OF BEING DEFUNDED--READER POLL
”If we want to fund this, we can. But it’s going to cost us. It’s going to be on the backs of the taxpayers here in Douglas County...”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell
Several citizens and nonprofit organizations spoke during public comment at this morning’s Douglas County Board of Commissioners meeting. They asked the Board of Commissioners to put a motion forward to save the CSB.
The Douglas County Community Services Board offers a plethora of services—outpatient services, intellectual/developmental disabilities, residential support services, substance use disorder, veterans services, and IPS supported employment.
https://www.onechs.org/
BOC Chair Romona Jackson Jones stated she would “take the matter under advisement.”
BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III stated at the end of the meeting that the Douglas County CSB was probably going to go away.
”With elections, there are consequences.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III stated that when he was gone, the “board before me allowed” the CSB to be defunded down to $200,000. The CSB had been getting an estimated $1.2 million before his “hiatus”.
”If we want to fund this, we can. But it’s going to cost us. It’s going to be on the backs of the taxpayers here in Douglas County by our millage rate to try and do that.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
”It’ll take about $5 million to even just graze the surface. I don’t think we got that in our budget unless we can kinda get Dominque to find those funds…if he’s got something hidden under a mattress somewhere or something we can come across those funds.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
”If I had the flying money tree I could pull and pluck from, I’ll be there plucking dollars and cents for an organization as CSB.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
”I think we might be a little too late to the dance.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
According to BOC Commissioner Whitney Kenner Jones, another 12 CSBs will be defunded.
BOC Commissioners Whitney Kenner Jones and Henry Mitchell III encouraged citizens to call their local representatives and the President to tell them to keep the CSB funded.
”We’re in trouble, and we gotta take a hard look this year at our budget but I think CSB will probably, more than likely, go away.”—BOC Commissioner Henry Mitchell III
”I’m trusting in God. I don’t know about you.”—BOC Chair Romona Jackson Jones
”Our citizens have entrusted us to do the right thing.”—BOC Chair Romona Jackson Jones
You can watch the meeting at
