(Radio Iowa) – Iowa appears to have bucked a national trend of rising suicide rates in recent years. While more people across the country took their own lives in 2021 compared to 2020, a report from a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization finds suicide rates dropped during that period in Iowa. Brandon Reavis is the senior government relations manager at Trust for America’s Health. “We saw a three-percent drop in Iowa for overall suicide rates,” Reavis says, “and the overall increase in rates for the national level was four-percent.” Reavis says it’s hard to specify why Iowa’s suicide rate fell while most other states saw an increase.

“It’s difficult to draw conclusions about larger trends based on the rates for single years,” Reavis says, “but those variations can sometimes be the result of increased social services or mental health services in schools, also the changing rates of addiction on the state level.” The group’s report shows a dramatic 71-percent increase in the youth suicide rate between 2010 and 2021 nationwide, and did not offer specifics for Iowa for that time frame. Reavis says that increase can be due to all sorts of factors, including housing instability, job losses for parents, and grief, especially during the pandemic.

“The use of social media can have an impact on youth mental health,” Reavis says. “Just this week, the surgeon general released an advisory cautioning about the profound risks to mental health that social media use can pose. We also know that young people are struggling with a lot of the same issues that adults are struggling with, including climate change and racial injustice.”

The report shows 549 Iowans died by suicide in 2021, which is a drop of three-percent from the year before. It also shows there were 608 alcohol-induced deaths in Iowa that same year, an increase of 14-percent, while there were 475 drug overdoses statewide, an increase of seven-percent. “In the report, we stress the need to implement policies and programs to prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences,” Reavis says, “which we know can have a profound impact on the long-term risk of children developing addiction issues and other mental health conditions later on.”

The report also calls for an increase in funding of mental health services in schools. See the full “Pain in the Nation 2023” report at tfah.org.

(Radio Iowa) The Fort Dodge Fire Department will have the first “baby box” installed in Iowa. Last November, after a man and woman from Fort Dodge were charged in the death of their newborn, people in the community started working to get a “Safe Haven Baby Box” in Fort Dodge. Iowa’s Safe Haven law lets parents leave a baby at a health care facility, without fear of being prosecuted for abandonment, but the legislature this spring voted to expand it — so babies may be left at places like a fire station that are staffed around the clock with first responders.

Representative Ann Meyer of Fort Dodge says getting things to this point took the support of the entire community. “Complete team effort. That’s probably why it went so smoothly and so quickly because so many people were working on it,” Meyer says. “No one wants to see what happened, happen again.”

The Fort Dodge Fire Department. (FDFD photo)

Investigators say a woman who gave birth in a Fort Dodge apartment used meth to ease the pain of childbirth, but she and the baby’s father drowned the baby in a bathtub out of fears the child’s cries would prompt neighbors to call police, who’d discover the meth. Both have pleaded not guilty to first degree murder.

The baby box that will be installed in July in Fort Dodge is climate controlled and designed as a safe place to abandon a baby. At least 134 Safe Haven Baby Boxes are currently installed in six other states.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A petition being circulated in Cass County asks for the County Board of Supervisors to call a special election, for the purpose of selecting one of three proposed supervisor representation plans. The proposed plans are as follows:

Plan One: Election at large, and without district residence requirements for the members.
Plan Two: Election at large, but with equal-population district residence requirements for the members. If the county changes to Plan Two, the supervisor must live in the district they represent, but will be voted upon by the entire county.
Plan Three: Election from single-member, equal-population districts in which the electors of each district shall elect one member who must reside in that district.

Cass County Auditor Kathy Somers confirms Plan Three is the format the County currently uses, and has used for years. Plan Three requires the supervisor to live in the district they represent, and only residents of that district are allowed to vote for their supervisor. If the county would change to Plan One, all five supervisors may be elected by the entire county and live in any part of the county.

Somers says Cass County citizens may file a petition if they would like to hold a special election to change the Board of Supervisors’ representation plan under the Code of Iowa. The petition will require 532 signatures of eligible electors, and must be filed with the county auditor’s office by June first, 2023.

If a petition is filed, the special election will take place Tuesday, August first. Voters will be asked to select one of three plans allowed by the state for their county supervisor representation. The plan with the most votes will be adopted.

If Plan One or Plan Two is adopted, the November, 2024 general election will elect supervisors under the new representation plan and the current supervisors’ terms will expire January 1, 2025 unless they are re-elected under the new plan. A new plan must remain in effect for at least six years once it is adopted at a special election.

(Harlan, Iowa) – Shelby County Auditor Mark Maxwell reports the Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a special session Tuesday morning, during which they held the first of three hearings required in the process to place the county funded EMS on the ballots this fall, to replace the private business that now provides the service to Shelby County. The private ambulance service has notified County officials it will be stopping service in the upcoming years. The public is encouraged to comment with written comment or in person about the intent and EMS resolutions regarding the intentions of the Board of Supervisors.

The Supervisors received comments from Shelby County EMA Coordinator Alex Londo. Londo thanked all of those who were involved in the last year and a half of preparation and planning for the countywide emergency medical services to be put in-place by the voters. The current private provider is retiring, and 24/7 staffed services will be provided countywide if all prerequisite proceedings are accomplished and a vote on a public measure passes with a more than 60% voter approval. Local volunteer EMS services will also be funded by the proposed ballot measure. Londo mentioned many relevant documents are and others will be available on the Shelby County Website.

Tim Plumb of the Irwin Volunteer EMS and EMS Advisory Council said that years ago they had 18 trained volunteers, that number has dropped to 4 in that organization. Working outside of town and training requirements were mention as a few reasons for the drop in volunteers. Plumb mentioned that this is not just a local, but a nationwide problem in rural areas. Plumb said Cooperation with neighboring counties is important and does happen with the rural volunteer organizations. Larry Madson, a Trustee for Monroe Township, had questions about one county having Countywide EMS and one County not providing the service and how would these situations be solved. Those present said cooperation between volunteer organizations is and has been happening for years, it was implied that the same cooperation would happen with a countywide EMS service.

Having no more apparent comments for the hearing, Schaben made a motion to close the hearing and approved a Resolution, Declaring Emergency Medical Services (EMS) an Essential Service in Shelby County, and setting forth a funding mechanism for said services, and recognizes the need for the appointment of a Shelby County EMS System Advisory Council to provide guidance, research, and direction of EMS in Shelby County for the Board of Supervisors. Upon adoption of a resolution declaring emergency medical services to be an essential County service…a county board of supervisors may offer for voter approval the authorization to impose any of the following taxes or a combination of the following taxes: Local option income surtax not to exceed 1%. An ad valorem property tax (proportionate to the estimated value of the goods or transaction concerned) not to exceed seventy-five cents per one thousand dollars of taxable value on all taxable property within the county.

The resolution will be considered and voted on for approval at two meetings by the board prior to the third and final meeting at which the resolution is to be finally approved by the majority of the board and notice of the first meeting of the board at which the resolution was considered and voted on was published not less than sixty days prior to the date of the meeting in one or more newspapers. The Resolution states “There shall be placed on the ballot to be voted on at the general election to be held on November 7, 2023, a proposal to fund Shelby County Emergency Medical Services by the imposition of the following taxes or combination thereof:

• A local option surtax not to exceed one percent (1%);
• An Ad Valorem property tax not to exceed seventy-five cents ($.75) per one thousand dollars ($1000.00) of taxable value on all taxable property within the County.

The Supervisors then discussed and approved a Shelby County Fair Boards request of consideration to enter into a lease agreement for the purpose of having a tractor available at the Shelby County Fairgrounds this coming summer. The Shelby County Fair Board will receive a substantial discount if the Supervisors approve this lease agreement and contribute $1.00 towards the lease. The Shelby County Fair Board will pay the insurance costs and liability and any other costs associated with this agreement. The tractor will be stored at the fairgrounds and available for use during the races at the Shelby County Speedway.

Resolution 2023-31 was then discussed for an amendment to the 2023 budget. Auditor Mark Maxwell explained that the Medical Examiner Department is required to pay for State Medical Examiner Autopsies for Shelby County residents and the amount this year has exceeded $12,000 over the largest amount ever spent for autopsies in a years’ time in Shelby County.  If an autopsy is ordered for a case that involves an out of county, Iowa resident, that home county is charged back for the Shelby County expenses. The expenses, Maxwell says, have outpaced receipts received by other Counties by under $1,000, none the less the extra expenditures must be amended.  Last year $17,000 spent, the year before $12,000 was spent. In 2023, year-to-date expenditures are $36,000, with $12,000.00 occurring in May alone.

A payment in July of 2022 that was accrued to fiscal year 2022 was one factor that put the Risk Management Department over budget by about $6,700.  Property Insurance premiums paid in the same department in December of 2022 had over normal increases that used up reserve spending in that department also. That department is less than $12,000 over budget in spending including the accrued payment in July.  Auditor Maxwell is awaiting an answer from the Counties Auditing firm to see if this amendment would be needed if it happens again.  A few departments have had excess revenues over budgeted amounts those have been included in the proposed amendment. The IT department had spent more than budgeted in Capital and the recent hiring of an IT Director has made it necessary to amend the IT budget. The needed Capital will come from Capital reserves in the IT budget.

The Board of Supervisors in Shelby County, passed a resolution fixing June 20, 2023 at 9-a.m. as the date and time for a public hearing on a budget amendment. The hearing will be held in the Supervisor’s Chambers in the Courthouse in Shelby County, Iowa. The proposed expenditure service areas amended are as follows: Physical health and Legal Services $7,000, Administration $25,000. Revenues Local option Sales tax $6,000, Rents, $20,000 and Miscellaneous Receipts $23,000.