The Marion County Board of Commissioners meets Wednesday to consider hiring additional medical staff for the county’s Health and Human Services Department who would provide mental health counseling and medication management.
Commissioners will consider a $500,000 contract with Gibraltar Medical Staffing, a Tennessee nursing agency, which would span through January 2028.
The agency would provide a psychiatrist or advanced practice nurse practitioner for services related to mental health, intellectual disabilities and substance abuse, according to the board’s agenda report.
The board will also consider a $715,000 contract with Salem-based Helion Software Inc. to find and maintain a new system for the Marion County Clerk’s Office to manage land records.
They will consider spending $165,500 to hire temporary staff through Robert Half International, a California employment agency, for the county’s Finance Department through June. The agenda did not elaborate on what positions the county would be filling.
There will be a public hearing over a county proposal to use a construction management general contractor for developing sewer systems in the Santiam Canyon. State and county contracting rules require that the board find there is a public benefit to using an “alternative contracting method” besides such steps as bidding, the agenda item said.
Commissioners will then consider granting that exemption from contracting provisions to “allow for flexibility in both proposal evaluation and contract negotiation,” according to the agenda.
The sewer work is estimated to cost $50 million.
The board will also appoint Jeff Crowther to the Marion Water Quality Advisory Committee for a term ending in June 2027. Formed in 2010, the committee consists of six at-large positions and five positions with community stakeholders from Marion Soil and Water Conservation District, a local homebuilders association, the agriculture industry, land development and a local watershed council.
They will also approve a proclamation designating March as Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in Marion County.
Meeting details: The commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Senator Hearing Room at 555 Court St. N.E. Anyone can sign up to comment at the meeting. The meeting is streamed live on YouTube.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
