photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

The Douglas County Commission listens to a presentation during its Wednesday, June 14, 2023 meeting.

Without much fanfare, Douglas County leaders on Wednesday approved a $1.2 million reimbursement request from the nonprofit that previously hoped to operate the county’s new behavioral health crisis center.

The request came from Behavioral Health Partners Inc., the nonprofit formed by LMH Health and Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center with the intent of operating the Treatment and Recovery Center of Douglas County. But that never happened, and Bert Nash was eventually selected as the facility’s sole operator instead.

Nevertheless, the two partners in BHP still incurred nearly $2 million in start-up and development costs in 2022 before county leaders decided who would lead the TRC, according to a memo included with this week’s commission meeting agenda.

Part of the reason there wasn’t much deliberation among commissioners about the reimbursement request Wednesday could be that they met in an executive session with the county’s legal counsel immediately before the vote. That executive session also included Douglas County Administrator Sarah Plinsky and Bob Tryanski, the county’s director of behavioral health projects.

Plinsky told commissioners Wednesday that Bert Nash offset a majority of its 2022 expenses with revenues generated due to its status as a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, leaving it with a reimbursement request of roughly $118,000. The remaining $1.1 million in reimbursements approved Wednesday will go to LMH Health.

Where all that money is coming from could be another reason for the relatively straightforward approval, as it doesn’t seem like it’ll come directly out of the county’s coffers. Plinsky said the county plans to facilitate the payment by seeking reimbursements of its own from grant funds already provided to the TRC through the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.

“There’s no pre-funding agreement in place on those expenses that are presented to the commission,” Plinsky said. “… Because of the county’s arranged agreement with KDADS, these funds will be submitted to KDADS and the county will be reimbursed under that model inside this current state fiscal year, which ends at the end of June.”

In other business, commissioners:

• Proclaimed June 17 as “Douglas County Juneteenth Celebration” day, coinciding with a number of events taking place the same day in Lawrence in honor of the holiday.

• Heard an update from Central Grazing Company about a feasibility study and recommendations report for a potential meat processing facility in Douglas County. The company was one of more than a dozen county agencies that received funding for projects from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds last year.

• Heard an end-of-year report from Consolidated Fire District No. 1. The fire district was established in 2021 and covers 228 square miles of rural Douglas County.

• Restored $50,000 in community partner funding for O’Connell Children’s Shelter and increased community partner funding for the Center for Supportive Communities by $50,000. The two agencies had funding withheld during last year’s county budget process as they worked to develop their truancy prevention programming.

• Approved a site plan for 316 East 900 Road west of Baldwin City, a vacant building which was previously Marion Springs Elementary School and the Marion Springs Event Center.

• Discussed two text amendments to the county’s Zoning and Land Use Regulations, one correcting some minor errors or omissions and the other allowing for the use of salvage yards across more types of zoning districts. Commissioners approved the first amendment and deferred taking any action on the amendment regarding salvage yards until a future meeting.