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The Houghton City Council welcomed Portage Health Foundation’s Kevin Store to present at Wednesday’s meeting. He talked about mental health and the abilities of local organizations to meet the challenges it creates. There had been some discussion in recent months as to whether Houghton should form a subcommittee on the subject, an idea that had split the body. Mayor Bob Backon says he isn’t sure it has a well-defined purpose. Backon said he didn’t know who the subcommittee would work with, as most are set up as a joint effort between council members and the city manager.
Store says that mental health is a subject that has gotten buy-in at the municipal level already.
Store says the largest problem is provider availability.
He talked about Dial Help, Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly, Copper Country Mental Health, and others. The segments of the population helped by each are well served, but current reimbursement rates for professional psychiatric treatment are around 31 cents on the dollar, too low to attract people into the field, even though facilities exist in Marquette at the new UP Health System campus and elsewhere. Store says funding is the key problem and there is little that can be done at the municipal level to address that, given its scope and the resources required.
Member Brian Irizarry rescinded his motion to consider the formation of a mental health subcommittee, but asked that the topic remain a priority at future sessions.
The two special land use permits recommended by the planning commission earlier in the week were accepted by the council, 4-0. One concerned a boardwalk at the Keweenaw Waters Resort, a proposed development near Coles Creek. The other was for Tranquility Fields, a marijuana retailer that will be located on Ridge Road. Mike Needham and Jan Cole were absent.
