Johnson County Commission Reviews VOA Contracts

Johnson County’s Commissioners reviewed their contracts for their programs run by Volunteers of America, approving two contracts and extending another for a short time.

The contracts approved were for the 48-hour Juvenile Hold Program for 15 bed days for a contracted amount of $1,500; and the Drug Court Supervised Treatment Program for just under $39,000.

The third contract is for the county’s Diversion Program, which was discussed at length during the recent commission meeting.

County Attorney Tucker Ruby and the commissioners discussed the possibility of his office taking over the probation/diversion program from VOA, believing there may be a possibility of running the program in-house for less money.

Ruby said he didn’t like the idea of taking the program from VOA, and that if the county had money it might be something that wouldn’t even be considered.

With the current financial state of the county, he said it bears looking into.

After some discussion, the commission voted to approve the first two contracts and extend the probation/diversion contract for 60 days, to give Ruby’s office time to look into the possibility of taking the program over.