Northwest Iowa — The organization that provides alcohol and drug abuse treatment and prevention in northwest Iowa — is shutting down on Monday, and it seems to have been a surprise to its board of directors from member county boards of supervisors.
According to the chairman of the board of Compass Pointe, Clay County Supervisor Barry Anderson, it’s a private organization with close ties to government entities. He tells us what happened.
He says that was really the crux of the problem — a change in the way they were funded. He says the delay in funding made it difficult for the organization to keep its head above water.
We asked Anderson where we go from here. He says the main priority is the clients.
According to Anderson, if you are a client, they want you to keep in contact with your counselor, who will help you transition to other services with other entities.
Anderson says that they are having to make hard decisions about closing the service and how to minimize the impact on their employees. He says the good news is all the clients will continue to need help, so there should be ample opportunities for employees to help them through other agencies. He says they are letting the state call most of the shots going forward.
We asked Anderson if anything could have been done that would have prevented this outcome. He told us there may have been some minor things, but when they talked to the CEO of another company that might be taking over some of the clients, he told them that with the way the grant is written and the reimbursement rates, he wasn’t sure that it was sustainable for any company providing these services. Anderson says change needs to come from state and federal lawmakers to make things work as they should.
According to Anderson, he wants to thank their board and employees for their patience and work both in the past and going forward.
Compass Pointe will be closing their offices in Spencer, Estherville, Spirit Lake, Sheldon, Sibley, Storm Lake, Hull, Rock Rapids, Emmetsburg, and Orange City. A possible audit of the situation is under discussion.
