Communicare gave their annual report to the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors outlining the services they provide for drug and alcohol treatment.

Dr. Sandy Rodgers presented to the board figures during the last six months of 2016. Lafayette County contributes $84,000 to Commuicare’s budget annually. Communicare’s budget a year ago was $9.4 million and this year has risen to more than $13 million, mainly due to federal grants.

Communicare has served more than a thousand clients during that six month period, of those 670 were adults and 405 were children. Rodgers said that 487 of them came to the facility for psychiatric help and to receive medicine for their mental illness. Case Management Services, which keeps patients engaged in their treatment, had 411 adults and 376 children participate in the program.

Haven House, which Rodgers described as “the most crucial right now,” is a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that currently has 48 beds and a waiting list of more than three dozen. The use of the facility has steadily been rising. According to Rodgers, Haven House discharged 279 individuals in 2015; 376 in 2016 and 170 so far in 2017 are undergoing treatment.

Communicare works closely with Lafayette County Chancery Clerk Sherry Wall and Chancery Court, which deals with drug and alcohol offenses.

“When you have a waiting list like this, it gets harder and harder every day to make sure the Lafayette County commitments go to the top of the list,” Rodgers said. “Thirty-eight individuals is a lot to have beds for those individuals needing crucial treatment.”

“She does a great job of getting our local people in first,” Wall told the Supervisors.

Rodgers added that Haven House is undergoing a roof replacement and they are attempting to “control the decay” of the building, which also has air conditioning and ventilation issues.

Rodgers said Communicare is “busting at the seams” and encouraged Supervisors to take a tour of the facility.

According to Rodgers, Communicare employs nearly 200 people with 121 employees in Lafayette County facilities.

In other matters

Supervisors accepted the sale of the Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi property to the University of Mississippi and waived the right of first refusal to purchase the hospital site.

Old Oaks of Oxford, which had been denied approval as a development out of safety concerns due to traffic, received Board approval after making changes to traffic issues with the addition of stop signs on Campground Road. Supervisor David Rikard voted against the measure.

Supervisors tabled both the Pebble Creek and Taylor Greene subdivision developments as they await DEQ approval.

Fieldstone Farms did receive approval for their commercial plat change as they reduced the number of units in their development.

Supervisor Chad McLarty requested and was granted tabling the request from TCV Management for a preliminary and final commercial plat. The existing business on CR 238 received a recommendation from the county planning commission to refurbish and rehab mobile homes. McLarty said he talked to a couple of landowners in the area who were not aware of the proposal.

“I’d like to get a better concept of what he is proposing,” McLarty told his fellow supervisors.

The Board recessed until Monday at 8 a.m., when they will hold a work session regarding a zoning ordinance.