State Rep. Jim Grego
By Rep. Jim Grego
Last week, I attended an Oklahoma Policy Institute town hall-type meeting in McAlester where they discussed their legislative priorities for next year. While I don’t agree with a lot of their policies, there are some areas where I found common ground: inflation and affordability. I shared my views that if we continue lowering income and property taxes, people will having more buying power using their own money versus letting the government decide how these funds get spent. The group is not in favor of this, but it was still a good meeting. Always good to hear a different point of view.
This week, I and 10 other representatives met with Josh Anderson, the director of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Our main question was how the department is treating employees who might be affected by the privatization of community mental health facilities. In our area, this includes Carl Albert in McAlester, which has 220 employees serving 10 counties.
Anderson said the goal is to get 90% of employees picked up by the private companies taking over these centers. Across the state, there might be 600 employees affected. That would mean about 60 might go through the reduction in force process. Anderson said those not retained will be offered the opportunity to work with state agencies like the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System or the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to find other state employment.
CREOKS, which is taking over the McAlester facility, said they will interview all affected employees, but this meeting with Anderson gave me more hope that these employees will be taken care of. Of course, the overall goal is to save money. Anderson said this move to privatize will save the state about $5 million a month.
I’m on my way now to the State Chamber Research Foundation Literacy Forum. Two McAlester elementary schools have been selected to participate in this forum. Then I’ll be having lunch with John White, former state superintendent of Louisiana, now the CEO of Great Minds. Next week, I’ll be able to report what I learned.
As always, thank you for allowing me to serve. If I can help you in any way, I can be reached at (405) 557-7381 or by email at jim.grego@okhouse.gov.
Jim Grego serves District 17 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Latimer County and part and Pittsburg County.
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