WINONA, Minn. – The director of Hiawatha Valley Mental Health expressed disappointment that the City Council is yanking money for police reform from the 2022 municipal budget. The year after, maybe, just maybe the reform program can come back, said Erik Sievers. His company held a $185,000 contract to train social workers to be first-responders on emergency calls. But in a budget tentatively approved last week for 2022, City Council is backing out of the contract, claiming financial exigency. The so-called ART reform, short for Advance Response Team, had been authorized 5-1 by the City Council a year ago.
A meanwhile option
Erik Sievers, executive director of Hiawatha Valley Mental Health, likes to think of it as “a pause” that the City Council chose to cut social workers as a police option for certain emergency responses. Sievers blamed “various factors” in the Council decision. In the meantime, he said, his HVMHC company will continue to train uniformed police officers through a separate contract on responding themselves to mental health crises. Also, Sievers said, the Southeast Minnesota Crisis Response has mental health professionals available to citizens who forego the police and first call a crisis line.
Sievers. Heads Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center.