WATERLOO — The Seneca County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a contract with Blue Line Wellness to provide support to public safety professionals.
The cost of the program, not to exceed $30,000, will be funded by the incarcerated individual phone revenue account at the Seneca County Jail with no cost to taxpayers for a one-year pilot program.
“This phone revenue account has historically been used by sheriffs for new initiatives, and I feel that this is an acceptable use of the funds,” Seneca County Sheriff Tim Thompson said.
He met Blue Line Wellness founder Dr. Kim Butler at a conference and was impressed with her approach to providing support to public safety professionals. The sheriff said the partnership with Blue Line assists in his goal of expanding the wellness program.
Among other services, Blue Line, which is based in Rochester, offers 45-60 minute one-on-one sessions, focuses on coping with life and work stressors, teaching additional healthy coping methods, and offers the opportunity to build a rapport with a clinician before a crisis occurs.
According to Blue Line’s website, names are not shared with the sheriff’s department for followup visits. The company also offers critical incident debriefing, psychoeducation (normal responses to traumatic incidents), and crisis management
Blue Line develops and implements programs promoting overall well-being, including physical, emotional, and social health.
“I believe that Blue Line Wellness provides many of the resources that we need. I am also familiar with their success at the Ontario County Sheriff’s Office,” Thompson said.
“In recent years, there has been an increased focus on providing law enforcement officers with the wellness resources that they need,” he continued. “These types of careers are challenging and can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and a host of other issues. As a law enforcement leader, it is my responsibility to provide our members with every wellness resource that I possibly can.”
The department’s current wellness program includes a chaplaincy program, peer support program, employee assistance program, and a wellness app.
“I see Blue Line Wellness as another resource for our members to utilize if they wish to,” the sheriff said. “Wellness is not a one-size fits all solution, and our resources must be diverse to meet the unique needs of our members.”
In other action on Tuesday the Board of Supervisors:
Adopted a county strategy that aims to increase the number of new middle-income housing opportunities in Seneca County, although a funding source for the program, set to dedicate $1 million a year for the next decade, has not been identified. Lodi Supervisor Lucas Latini was the only dissenting vote, saying that a jobs strategy must also accompany a housing strategy to make it more lucrative and attractive for middle and higher income earners to live in the county.
Approved a Pomeroy historic marker for the Scythe Tree Farm on Routes 5&20 in Waterloo at no cost to the county. The Pomeroy Foundation’s NYS historical marker program commemorates significant people, places, and events in New York State. Since 2006, it has funded more than 1,150 of these markers in all 62 counties.
Agreed to put out a request for proposals for transportation bids for preschool special education. Traditionally one of the most expensive social services mandates outside of Medicaid, transporting children to special education programming puts a significant impact on county spending. Scott King, public health director whose department is in charge of the program, estimates it cost $700,000 in 2025 to transport the children to programs, mostly outside of Seneca County.
