photo by: Matt Resnick | Journal World

Stephen O'Neill, Bert Nash chief operating officer, discusses financial requests related to the organization's 2024 budget proposal. At right: Bert Nash President/CEO Patrick Schmitz also fielded questions from Douglas County commissioners on the final day of hearings on Friday, July 7, 2023.

Looking to upgrade its recently purchased facility on 23rd Street, the Salvation Army of Douglas County is asking county commissioners for $1 million in new money for an estimated $6.5 million remodeling project.

Salvation Army official Landon McClintock made the pitch to commissioners on Friday morning, the final day of Douglas County’s 2024 budget hearings.

The Salvation Army moved into the new building, which is located at 1202 E. 23rd St., last fall. McClintock said a primary reason for its funding request was the need for a commercial kitchen and dining hall, which would be used by members of the community and other agencies.

The kitchen would provide meals five days a week, while also furnishing meals for the organization’s mobile food truck. McClintock added that the facility would offer case coordination and could be used as an entry point into the city’s homeless programs. A chapel area is another feature of the planned renovation.

According to a memo in the budget proposal, upgrades would also include a new gymnasium, which will be available for community events and after-school summer activities, as well as other amenities.

Commissioner Karen Willey asked McClintock about other funding sources that were being considered. A feasibility study determined that the organization should be able to raise $3.7 million from donations, McClintock said. But he said it was too early to name potential organizations or individuals that might be donors.

McClintock told commissioners the organization was readying to embark on a capital campaign that could stretch into 2025.

Willey asked why the one-time request was budgeted for 2024 if fundraising was expected to last longer than that. McClintock said the project could get started once the organization had raised 75% of the expected total cost. McClintock acknowledged that the initial phase of the fundraising campaign had not yet commenced, and that the county was the only entity that the Salvation Army had approached for funding so far.

Commissioners did not make any final decisions during Friday’s meeting, but will reconvene at 9 a.m. on Monday for deliberations.

Also on Friday, commissioners heard from local behavioral health entities.

Between what’s already in the budget and its supplemental requests, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center is seeking more than $10 million in funding. The nonprofit organization — which operates the new Treatment & Recovery Center of Douglas County and oversees an array of other behavioral health programs — made six supplemental requests, which would be new money on top of its proposed budget of approximately $7.1 million.

The largest of the requests would set aside $2 million for its supportive and rehabilitative permanent housing project. Another request would add money to its WRAP program (Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities), a school-based initiative that provides mental health professionals and other related resources to local schools.

Stephen O’Neill, chief operations officer for Bert Nash, said WRAP’s service areas are Lawrence, Perry-Lecompton, Baldwin City and Eudora public schools and Bishop Seabury Academy.

Willey asked O’Neill to shed further light on a $136,000 supplemental request for new money to be directed to WRAP.

“That is just a result of the cost of the service increasing,” O’Neill said, adding that personnel costs have “risen significantly” as therapists have gotten “long overdue” raises.

O’Neill reiterated that WRAP currently does not have the personnel capacity to fully service each of its district buildings.