[Editor's Note: The article including the comments made in this meeting, which are referred to here, will be written in the coming days.]

Letter to the Editor,

I watch most of the Grant County Commission meetings, from my home out here in San Lorenzo. It’s a great way to keep informed and learn some of what provides the basis for our elected officials to make decisions for us. At today’s County Commission meeting, there was no public comment as is often the case unless there is an issue for someone or a particular group.  I have had the opportunity to speak and present to this body a number of times over a number of years and always encourage those I know to do the same. The commissioners and county staff work for us.

County reports are always a feature of work sessions and provide insight into what our county departments are working on for us. A recent addition to the county administration’s structure is the Health and Human Services Coordinator position working under the Planning Department, using available ARPA funds to cover that employee’s cost. For over ten years I and a number of others familiar with what these kinds of positions and departments can do in other counties have advocated for the position's existence. It was filled in February by a newcomer to this county and community. In the course of assignments from administrations, past and current, she assumed a number of appropriate responsibilities. While I am sure she has worthwhile intentions, her basis for today’s report was lacking accurate information that needs to be addressed.

I served Grant County as a requested contractor under the previous administration of County Manager  Charlene Webb and different commissioners for over eight years in various community- based programs and was proud to do so. Regarding this employee’s depiction of the Stepping Up Initiative and its work for the last four and a half years, she completely misses the forest for one tree. That would be data. At the direction of County Manager Webb, we set out to build this sorely needed relationship building to create more successful partnerships toward this model’s end result over four years ago. Many entities and individuals were not even able to converse without finger pointing and arguing about just about anything. Many hours were spent on working to encourage system partners to listen to each other, trust enough to even begin to work on the positive changes that did occur and agree that we can and will work together as a local community system.

And then came COVID. That two-year really hard window isn’t even acknowledged. Even with that serious restriction, I worked with the county to do Zoom meetings and presentations and, they partners kept coming. They did so because the connections they had built were important to them. You can ask many of the large steering committee we created why and that’s what they will tell you. Doors were opened, relationships built and hope offered that the post COVID future will lend itself to building upon what work was done to get to some more conclusive information and yes, even data. As was stated, she hopes to “capture the data the resolution requested.” It was only a part of the equation. 

Small towns and people populating systems being who they are as things change, like this example, we can only hope she will learn to listen and learn this is about them and take the necessary time to build more than surface relationships. Before COVID, this county’s Stepping Up effort was one of nine in the state and looked to as a model of collaboration built over time at that level. Let’s also hope those partners essential for her success in this role will help establish its importance not just in the Stepping Up effort but the other serious issues of public health that demand more attention. Whoever occupies that position should be a servant leader recognizing and working with those who have been here a long time and know their community well.

Respectfully,

Chris DeBolt. MA