NEW ULM — Brown County Commissioners will consider approval of the 2021 Brown County Evaluation Center (detox) contract at their meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

The county board meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Law Enforcement Center Training Room until further notice. WebEx access is available by calling Brown County Administration at 507-23-6600.

The daily rate would remain at $443 a day. For uninsured clients, the bill is sent directly to the county of financial responsibility and the agency will receive a discount of $88 a day if paid in full within 30 days.

Brown County is the host county for the evaluation center used by many surrounding counties. There are only a few such detox facilities in Minnesota.

Amanda Schuknecht took over at evaluation center executive director in August of 2019. She will share information on changes that have occurred in the past year and how the facility is being utilized.

Commissioners will also consider:

• A South Country Health Alliance annual report from CEO Leota Lind and CFO Scott Schufman. Both people will give program updates and share information via WebEx on the current status of the managed care organization.

• Approval of the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services County Grant Contract – Community Support Program in the amount of $78,988 for 2021 and 2022 calendar years.

The grant supports community support services mentally ill adults in Brown County. The grant contract amount has not changed for many years.

• Approval of a 2021 contract for Sioux Trails Mental Health Center to provide required clinical supervision to three children’s mental health case managers and six adult mental health case managers. The rate remains at $160 an hour.

• Approval of the 2021 Keep Me Safe Contract with CADA (Committee Against Domestic Abuse) at $30 an hour for supervised visitation and exchange services between parents sharing custody via court agreement.

This is in addition to supervised visits provided by family-based workers employed by Brown County. There have been no contract changes since the contract began in 2017.

• The total cost to Brown County in calendar year 2019 was $6,540. So far in 2020, it has been $6,712.40. In March and April, the program was closed due to COVID-19. Any required supervised visits were done by human services staff.

Generally, family-based workers are used for supervised visits when parenting skills are being taught at the same time or if CADA staff is not available when a visit is needed.

(Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).