Editor:
“Be careful what you wish for, you might get it” is an ancient warning that was ignored by the leadership of the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors. Now it’s doubly true. In November, the board resigned from the Eastern Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services Region and sought to join the South East Iowa Link, (SEIL) only to be twice rejected by that group.
Muscatine then tried to rescind its resignation only to have Eastern Iowa’s board reject that request on March 31. Muscatine’s board got its wish — it’s out of Eastern Iowa. Then it got its wish again — to be back in Eastern Iowa when the state ordered Eastern Iowa to take Muscatine back.
It’s not clear what our county board wants, to be in Eastern Iowa or not. One thing is clear: they’ve put the region, county residents who need these services, their families and providers through six months of chaos.
Budgets will have to be changed again at the last minute. And Muscatine still winds up in a region that doesn’t want or trust it. That is not something Muscatine County should be proud of. Nor should our county board be proud of the fact that it took the state to come in and fix this self-inflicted injury.
The leadership of Muscatine County’s board has embarrassed the county and put its most vulnerable citizens, their caregivers and providers in a no-win situation. We can only hope that the Eastern Iowa Region’s board can be gracious and move on and that the Muscatine County board will show some sensible behavior in the future.
Henry Marquard
Edward Askew
Candidates for the Muscatine
County Board of Supervisors