The Macon County Board of Commissioners wishes to create a mental health task force. Commissioner Ronnie Beale said his encounters with the mental health system (from a provider’s standpoint and not a consumer’s, using the vernacular PC) were the most frustrating thing he has ever encountered. Beale attempted to learn how to access services that were supposedly provided, but nobody appeared to be able to give him the information he requested.

One of the charges of the task force will be to learn how much Macon County government spends on mental health. According to the Franklin Times, “The county does not currently know what it is spending either directly or indirectly on mental health. One of the roles of the committee would be to come up with some numbers. Such a committee would be the first of its kind.”