Prior to the City Council meeting on Thursday night, Melissa Schwan of Vinton Unlimited, met with the council to discuss a proposed project as part of the City of Vinton General Government, Community and Economic Development Committee Meeting, otherwise known in short as the General Government meeting.

She presented a proposed Business Improvement Grant program that would use the income from the Hotel/Motel tax that could assist area businesses in making improvements to their business.

The project is in early discussion and the council will be working with Schwan to iron out the wrinkles in the wording of the grant. This discussion can be seen here.

These documents ARE NOT FINAL, this is a draft of the proposed plan.

The Council Meeting followed and can be seen here.

The council was called to order and approved the "Consent Agenda." The Consent Agenda was composed of receiving and filing the council minutes from September 26, September revenue & expenditure reports, Airport Commission minutes from September 18, Parks & Rec Board meeting minutes, and the Library board meeting minutes from September 11. It also included the approval of invoices and a partial splash pad contribution refund to the Kiwanis Club.

Judy Rea and Lindsay Upah of the Benton County Rural Access Center presented to the board discussing the collaborative approach to improve access to mental health services.

Vinton's center is the first in the state of its kind with an eye to expanding these services across the state. Linn County and Johnson County are building their own centers now but won't have them available for quite some time.

The center is a non-threatening place for people in need to be able to relax and be able to be helped. Because of the rural location, there are a lot of partners working together to bring help to those in need. Included is Foundation 2 Mobile Crisis, Department of Corrections, Benton County Social Services, the food pantry and more.

The goal is to be able to make the center accessible to officers in the county 24/7 allowing them to get help for individuals in need, walking the resident through the various forms of help and giving them a "warm" hand off to more resources for help the next morning as needed.

Rather than taking someone with a mental health need to the jail or hospital, the officers will be able to take the person in need directly to the access center where they can be assessed better and fitted into programs that will better help them.

Foundation 2 and Mobile Crisis helps to de-escalate situations in the midst of a crisis.

The center will hold an open house for the public to come in and see the different services available on November 13th from 2-5:30 p.m.

Agencies available in the center include:

Benton County Law Enforcement

East Central Region for Mental Health and Disability Services

Foundation 2

The Department of Correctional Services

Benton County Social Services

Plugged in Iowa

Veteran Affairs of Benton County

Abbe Center for Mental Health

Area Substance Abuse Council

The council also approved the plat and dedication of land for Anderson Creek Estates First Addition and approved a resolution to fix the date of meeting proposing to approve a development agreement with John Ketchen including annual appropriations tax increment payments in an amount not to exceed $1,275,000.






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