(Glenwood) — Plans for a revised version of a new county ordinance on “adult dependent facilities” in Mills County crossed the first major hurdle this week.
At its regular meeting earlier this week, the Mills County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing and unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance creating Chapter 20 of the county ordinances, entitled “Adult Dependent Facilities.” The board had passed the first reading of an earlier version of the ordinance in May, before additional changes were made. Assistant County Attorney John Pfeifer says the ordinance primarily pertains to staffing at such facilities, as the sheriff’s office has recently received several calls about clients leaving residential living facilities without supervision. He says the regulation would allow penalties to be imposed to help recoup some of the sheriff’s office’s costs for the call.
“If there are operational deficiencies that could be remedied, that continually create situations where (Sheriff Greg Schultz) and the Sheriff’s Department have to respond to preventable operational deficiencies,” he said,” first, it provides them an opportunity to correct those and provide the county with a plan on how it’s been corrected. If it continues to happen and it’s not remedied, then there are penalties we can impose.”…