The Gray County Commissioners Court met on Monday morning for a regularly-scheduled meeting.
The Commissioners re-visited a discussion concerning the addition of mental health to the County employee insurance plan.
“There was some concern that we would have knowledge if someone was having mental health issues,” County Judge Chris Porter said. “We, the Commissioners Court, would not have that knowledge. It would go into our IMS (Integrated Medical System) files and is protected by HIPA (Health Insurance Privacy Act). It’s just like if someone has diabetes, we can’t go find that out. It’s in their medical records. Same thing for mental health.”
The concern was also that the County would be liable for actions caused from a mental health issue with an employee. Again, unless it was brought forward by the employee, it’s protected by HIPA.
The Commissioners were presented with two options, up to three visits or up to five visits, and they chose the option of up to three visits.
“My opinion on this is we start with the lesser, then change to the greater if we need to,” Porter said. “I don’t know how much will be used. But I think with the pandemic, we will be having more mental health concerns than what we have.”
The plan is for $4,988.89 for up to three sessions plus a $500 annual IMS account and was approved unanimously.
The Commissioners also discussed, at length, regulations for game rooms located inside the County.
The regulations proposed to the Court are patterned after Jefferson County’s regulations.
The proposed regulations are still very fluid and could be altered by Commissioners suggestions, but include regulations on hours of operation, signs/appearance and transparency in regards to book-keeping.
There was no action taken as this was solely a discussion item and is in its early stages of the process.
The Commissioners also approved the following:
• Minutes of the previous meeting.
• County Treasurer’s Report
• County Clerk’s Report
• Constable Precinct 1 & 3 Racial Profiling Report
• AWOS upgrade for Perry Lefors Airport. This item is to upgrade the modem for communications and lighting at the airport. It was figured into the airport’s budget for the year and will cost $625.
• Replacing Full Time Employee for County Attorney’s Office.
• Accept Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott Annual Report.
