By Beth Mechum, Staff Writer
Members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen say they’re worried about the future of Club Nova and other local programs, in light of the crisis in the state’s mental health system.
Club Nova, a clubhouse designed to promote rehabilitation and reintegration into the community for individuals living with mental illness, is located on Main Street in Carrboro and recently has been reported to be facing financial troubles.
At its meeting Tuesday night at Town Hall, the board heard from Natalie Ammarell, chair of former Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy’s Mental Health Task Force. Ammarell spoke about the short-falls of the mental health system in Orange County – the most prominent and pressing being a shrinking resource base.
Ammarell said the 2010 North Carolina budget includes an approximate $75 million cut to mental health services. That means funding to Orange, Chatham and Person counties is to be reduced next year by more than $2 million.
Ammarell reported on the task force’s recommendations, which include the placement of more UNC School of Social Work students in local mental health agencies with paid supervision; improved awareness of mental health issues among local law enforcement and safety personnel; and stronger leadership within the community on mental health, developmental disability and substance-abuse issues.
Ammarell stressed making mental health a local issue, suggesting that local governments work together to find both long- and short-term solutions.
“We need ways to promote collaboration, working together to try to overcome stigma,†she said.
Alderman Jacquie Gist voiced interest in a standing inter-governmental group that advocates for mental health service agencies.
Gist said she wanted to find a way to keep Club Nova open, and requested other board members join her in the effort.
“Nova is such a positive model,†Alderman Randee Haven-O’Donnell said. “So if we can look further into it, that’d be great.â€
Board members agreed the facts are sobering.
“To see it all pulled together in one place is really depressing and really scary, like we’re losing ground,†Gist said. “These are discussions that we had back in the ’50s, then again in the ’70s.â€
The board also received with the results of a water survey conducted last summer in the Rogers Road community by community leader Robert Campbell and students from UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. The study showed contamination in the Rogers Road community drinking water.
Board members had questions about the cause of the contamination and the objective of the study
Gist, in particular, said that though the inference of the study seemed to be the landfill was causing contamination, she didn’t think the facts really supported that.
The board moved to accept the report.
In other action the board:
• set a public hearing for Jan. 26 on a land-use ordinance text amendment modifying a street-separation requirement;
• approved an addendum to the inter-local agreement between Orange County and Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough with regard to tax and revenue collection;
• amended the town code with regard to parking along East Carr Street and within municipal parking lots, stipulating a two-hour limit between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.;
• set a public hearing for Jan. 26 on a draft ordinance amending the land-use ordinance to revise stream buffer and associated provisions in regards to the Jordan Water Supply Nutrient Stategy;
• rejected the bids received for the Bus Shelter Installation project;
• and appointed Robin Michler as the Transportation Advisory Board’s representative on the Greenways Commission.
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