photo by: Journal-World Graphic

The Douglas County Commission meets in the historic courtroom on the second floor of the county courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

The Douglas County Commission on Wednesday will consider a proposal that would add three new psychiatrists to the county health system in 2019.

The proposal would have the county subsidize the cost of hiring three new psychiatrists at a cost of $350,000, said Bob Tryanski, county director of behavioral health projects. The positions would be funded from the $1.9 million the County Commission allocated in the 2019 budget for behavioral health initiatives.

The proposal is a modification of a $900,000 line item that County Commissioners approved for the 2018 budget, which was to have added four new positions through the hiring of a psychiatrist and behavioral health nurse practitioner at both Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and at Heartland Community Health Center. That goal was not realized because of the difficulty in recruiting and retaining the professionals, Tryanski said.

However, in 2018, Lawrence Memorial Hospital successfully recruited for its internal needs two psychiatrists who are not part of the county subsidy plan, Tryanski said. LMH also identified three more psychiatrists interested in starting practices in the county that include working with community mental health agencies, he said.

The proposal before the commission would hire two new psychiatrists who would split their time evenly between Bert Nash and Heartland, Tryanski said. Moreover, Bert Nash has hired a third psychiatrist who will start in 2019, he said.

The county subsidy represents 60 percent of the three psychiatrists’ salary and benefits for 2019, Tryanski said. The subsidy is meant to help the psychiatrists with startup costs and support as they build their practices, Tryanski wrote in a memo to commissioners. He proposed the subsidy be reduced to 50 percent in 2020 and 40 percent in 2021.

Douglas County Commission Chair Nancy Thellman said the news of the successful recruitment of three psychiatrists shows that professionals are viewing opportunities in the county differently.

“This is incredibly good news for a community that for the longest time has been told it couldn’t recruit more psychiatric positions,” she said. “Now, we have multiple professionals who want to come here to be part of the work we’ve started.”

In other business, the County Commission will:

• Get an update from Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical officials on the history of the county and City of Lawrence’s joint funding of emergency services and how the delivery of those services has changed over time. Thellman said the presentation is to give commissioners background as the city and county prepare to renegotiate the joint service agreement for the department.

• Consider a request from Kanwaka Township to vacate a utility easement in the township’s yard about 3 miles south of Lecompton. The township board is making the request because it wants to erect a building on the easement.

The Douglas County Commission meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. To view the County Commission’s complete agenda, visit douglascountyks.org.