Wythe County declines to reinstate funding for community services board

After hearing about an hour of public comment in support of Mount Rogers Community Services and its CEO, Sandy Bryant, the Wythe County Board of Supervisors on Friday held firm on its decision to strip county funding from the public mental health agency.

Over the past several months, some supervisors have publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the agency’s leadership, and the board decided to withdraw the county’s typical $165,000 annual contribution to its $92 million budget.

During a budget committee meeting Tuesday, board Chairman Brian Vaught had asked for Bryant’s resignation in return for his vote to reinstate funding. Bryant did not resign.

But that does not necessarily mean the end of the funding conversation. In the coming weeks, supervisors plan to seek a dialogue with the community services board to resolve some of the current issues, Deputy County Administrator Matthew Hankins said in a phone interview after the meeting.

Mount Rogers Community Services board member Jo Viars, a Wytheville resident, was one of the people who spoke up for Bryant during the meeting.

She listed several programs that have come about during Bryant’s six-year tenure, including round-the-clock geriatric services and crisis services for children. “The current CEO has successfully expanded services and developed additional specialty services that years ago, we dreamed of,” she said.

Bryant also successfully obtained “numerous grants” that have allowed the agency to provide specialty services for people with serious mental illness, Viars said.

Following the public comments, supervisor Ryan Lawson made a motion to reinstate about $135,000 in funding to the behavioral health agency. There was no second, and the motion failed.

Later in the meeting, after most members of the audience had left, Vice Chair Rolland Cook asked for clarification regarding the agency’s funding. He and other supervisors are not a part of the budget committee and hadn’t been privy to that group’s discussions, Hankins said.

Supervisors decided to extend the funding conversation by setting up a meeting with members of the community services board. Hankins said the details were not fleshed out during the meeting but he expects it will be handled within the next few weeks.

He said that although the budget is approved for the fiscal year that starts Monday, “it does change frequently based on circumstances.”

The county’s $118 million fiscal year 2025 budget was approved during the board’s June 11 meeting, when the line item for Mount Rogers Community Services funding, which was already less than half of the state-required local match, was cut completely pending further discussion.

Following the Friday meeting, the agency posted a statement in response to the board’s decision to its Facebook page.

“Mount Rogers Community Services remains focused on our mission of providing the highest quality, most accessible behavioral health services to the people we serve. While we are disappointed with the decision of the Wythe County Board of Supervisors to remove local funding for behavioral health services, we want to assure our community that the provision of services in Wythe County will not be interrupted in any way. Our community and their needs remains our focus.”

Mount Rogers Community Services covers Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth and Wythe counties and the city of Galax. It provides assistance to people with developmental disabilities, mental health needs and substance use disorders.

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