INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Board of County Commissioners just before the holidays approved more than $100,000 to launch a Mental Health Court in Indian River County, and at the time they asked if all the needed resources had been included in the plan.
The first add-on expense came before the Board on Tuesday, as the court administrator requested an additional case worker to help serve the increased caseload of all the new offenders that would be funneled through the Mental Health Court and other “problem-solving courts.”
The position costs $53,000, which is to be spread among the counties in the 19th Judicial Circuit. Indian River County’s part is $12,000.
Commissioners voted to approve the expense and take funds out of a court innovations fund, with the caveat that the County would most likely not be willing to fund this position as a recurring expense out of the general fund.
Thomas Genung, trial court administrator for the 19th Circuit, addressed Commissioners about the request.
“The idea is to rehabilitate them,” Genung said of the people diverted into these special courts. “It requires intense work on behalf of the judges and of the participants.”
Genung acknowledged that it was not usual procedure to present a mid-year funding request, but he said he first found out about the need in October, which was past the time period when agencies would normally submit their budget needs in May.
County staff and commissioners noted that the additional case manager position should have been brought to the Board with the proposal presented by Judge Cynthia Cox. That proposal was backed by all the local law enforcement agencies, and made use of some surplus funds returned to the general fund by Sheriff Deryl Loar’s agency.