photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., is pictured on Sept. 23, 2021.

Douglas County officials say design adjustments and increases in material and other costs are driving up the price tag of the county’s mental health crisis center, necessitating an increase in the project’s budget.

As part of its meeting Wednesday, the Douglas County Commission will consider approving an additional $250,000 in funding for the Treatment & Recovery Center, bringing the total project budget to about $10.68 million.

Douglas County residents voted in 2018 to approve a quarter-cent sales tax to support the creation of a behavioral health campus. The 20,000-square-foot center is the largest piece of the county’s new campus focused on behavioral health housing and treatment, located at 1000 W. Second St. The campus also includes transitional and supportive housing.

In a memo to the commission, Jay Zimmerschied, director of capital projects, stated that the project has encountered multiple unforeseen conditions and unanticipated adjustments, which have affected the design of the project and increased costs. Zimmerschied also said costs are trending higher than originally planned, in part because of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and general supply and demand for materials and products.

The memo includes a summary of some of the most significant operational and design adjustments. They include expanding the kitchen area from a “warming” kitchen to more of a commercial kitchen; additional site grading to improve drainage; and a complete redesign of a street extension because the remains of an 1864 brewery were discovered underground at the site.

Zimmerschied stated that having the additional funding available is critical to help ensure that the procurement of needed materials and supplies can continue uninterrupted and supply chain delivery issues can be avoided. He stated that he hoped that not all the additional dollars would be needed, and that any remaining dollars would be returned to the behavioral health sales tax fund.

The Douglas County Commission will convene at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. Residents can participate in the meeting in person, virtually or via phone, and more information about those options is available at douglascountyks.org/commission/meetings.