photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Community Health Facility, 200 Maine St. is pictured Tuesday, February 25, 2025.

The Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center is asking Douglas County commissioners for $1 million to help fund its Treatment & Recovery Center in 2026.

The funding request county commissioners will consider on Wednesday is to support TRC’s ongoing costs, including staffing, program operations, and the financial shortfalls that have resulted from lower-than-expected revenue from Medicaid and other funding sources.

Bert Nash has been undergoing financial challenges since the beginning of this year, and its former CEO Patrick Schmitz resigned in June, as the Journal-World reported. Bert Nash submitted a funding request of $1,600,000 for the TRC based on a projected revenue gap of $986,600.

And according to a presentation in the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, Bert Nash’s overall budget shortfall for 2025 is $1,186,692.

While the county commissioners only approved $600,000 of the original request for the TRC due to financial uncertainties at Bert Nash and the lack of a 2025 or 2026 TRC budget that had been approved by the Bert Nash Board of Directors, they reserved $1 million for crisis system contingency funding in 2026.

“We are coming back with a better understanding of our finances and why that full amount is important to continue operating the TRC at its full capacity,” Interim CEO Kirsten Watkins told the Journal-World via email. ” … the TRC serves a higher level of under and uninsured clientele than anticipated, meaning that TRC (fee for service) revenue is lower than budgeted. This ultimately results in the overall revenue shortfall. (Bert Nash) has been allocating (fee for service) revenue to cover the ‘gap’ experienced but cannot do so at the same rate going forward.”

But county staff are recommending commissioners to delay action on the request until an external financial and operational review of the TRC is completed. County staff would like to review the findings with Bert Nash and consider implementation of the findings and recommendations of that report.

County staff identified a consultant in August and shared a proposed scope and timeline with Bert Nash in September. The scope included a three-day November site visit and a preliminary report due in December, however, Bert Nash has not yet adopted the consultant to complete the review of the TRC.

“We’ve been in ongoing discussions with County Administration for several months to share our concerns about the scope, cost, and staffing resources required for this consultant engagement,” Watkins said.

The original funding sources for the TRC relied on a mix of funding from Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic payments – a type of funding provided to clinics in the U.S. that meet federal standards for delivering comprehensive mental health and substance use disorder services, private insurance, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and Douglas County support, expecting that 60% of new crisis and support services would be covered by CCBHC visits and Medicaid payments – but this revenue has been inconsistent.

“The 2024 average for the entire (Bert Nash) agency for Medicaid was 53%,” Watkins said. ”But, there were months when that number dipped to 49% and each percentage point has a significant impact on our revenue. In addition, the TRC is showing an average Medicaid percentage of approximately 26% for 2025. That is much lower than we anticipated and is an important piece to understanding the financial picture of the TRC.”

Bert Nash is presenting a revised 2026 funding model to commissioners on Wednesday, with 48% of TRC revenue coming from the agency itself, 31% from Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and 21% from the county.

Commissioners will also be considering a memorandum of understanding with Bert Nash for a specific project assisting with solvency issues at the organization. The MOU outlines assistance with financial operations from SSC Advisors, an accounting and advisory firm, to help Bert Nash stabilize the organization’s finances.

SSC Advisors began working with Bert Nash in June with finance staff to ensure core financial tracking and reporting functions are operating effectively and producing necessary deliverables. SSC is supporting Bert Nash financial staff with budgeting, audit preparation, financial statement reporting and other key tasks. The firm will also provide recommendations for revenue cycle management and help integrate those into the organization’s operations.

In addition to the agreement with SSC Advisors, the county initially sought to include the external operational review of the Treatment and Recovery Center as well as the search for an executive director for the TRC. However, the memo said, there is “not support at Bert Nash for the review of the TRC or the search for an executive director at this time,” the memo said.

To date, Bert Nash has spent about $35,000 for over 130 hours of work from SS&C, the memo said. The engagement includes ongoing financial reporting support through 2025 and into 2026. County staff recommends setting the MOU amount at no more than $150,000, with any additional funding requests to be brought forward separately.

“The TRC averages 225 unique individuals accessing care each month and 165 admissions to our Stabilization unit each month,” Watkins said. ” … When you do something new and are the first to do it, there are always going to be growing pains and an evolving understanding of how to operate it. We are committed to this mission and doing everything we can to ensure the TRC continues to be a valuable treatment resource for our community for many more years.”

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Consider approving the 2026 legislative statement – which is the commissioners’ set of priorities and recommendations for the Kansas Legislature. The priorities outline preserving local home rule authority along with improving community health, economic security, and infrastructure. Commissioners are also prioritizing expanded behavioral health and addiction services, affordable housing, and support for vulnerable populations, alongside sustainable growth, renewable energy, and climate resilience among other things.

• Consider waiving the formal bidding process for contracts valued over $100,000 to allow the Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center to receive part-time nursing services from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and authorize Pam Weigand, director of criminal justice services, to negotiate a five-year contract with LDCPH totaling an estimated $150,000.

A memo in the agenda said the Juvenile Detention Center requires part-time registered nursing services for state-mandated assessments, tuberculosis testing, and other medical needs, typically 12 hours per week. Historically, LDCPH provided these services, but ended their support in February 2023. VitalCore Health Strategies assumed services in March 2023, with a contract running through December 31, 2025.

Efforts to renew this contract were unsuccessful, as VitalCore declined to renew a contract unless the Juvenile Detention Center services were accepted as part of a proposal to provide services to the Douglas County Correctional Facility as well. LDCPH proposed services for approximately $30,000 a year, including physician services as needed.

• Consider allocating $62,500 from the commissioners’ contingency line of the 2026 budget to go to the Center for Supportive Communities to continue elementary and middle school truancy services for the period of Jan. 1 through May 31, 2026 to finish out the school year.

A memo in the agenda said commissioners, the Center for Supportive Communities has been providing student truancy services since 2023 for $150,000 per year. County commissioners set aside this funding for 2026 in the commissioners’ funding contingency line to explore transitioning truancy services to the Youth Services division of Criminal Justice Services.

Since then, Youth Services staff have been developing a framework for providing these services, consulting with local schools, community partners, other state programs, and attending the National Dropout Conference to inform their planning, the memo said. To ensure a smooth transition, staff recommend that the Center for Supportive Communities continue providing services through the Spring 2026 semester, rather than ending mid-school year, to maintain continuity for students.

• Consider approving an agreement with U.S. Engineering to allow access for grading and other necessary dirt work for a new 110,000-square-foot production facility at 2925 VenturePark Drive in Lawrence Venture Park. The company currently operates a 150,000-square-foot production center in Venture Park employing more than 160 pipefitters and sheetmetal workers. The new facility is expected to create approximately 30 jobs in its first year, growing to about 50 employees. Construction is estimated at $25 million, with completion anticipated by July 2026.

To prepare the site, U.S. Engineering is requesting access to the neighboring parcel at 2925 VenturePark Drive, jointly owned by the City of Lawrence and Douglas County, to complete grading and dirt work.

• Consider awarding a contract to Bettis Asphalt & Construction Inc. for a mill and overlay project on Route 5, from Route 1039 to Route 442, in a total project amount of $2,835,042 and authorize the county engineer to approve change orders totaling up to 5% of the bid amount.

According to a memo in the agenda, the county’s 2026 budget allocates $1.7 million for road maintenance contracts, with an additional $500,000 per year from the Capital Improvement Plan for asphalt improvement work. Combined, these funds provide $2.2 million annually for pavement maintenance, supplementing mill and overlay projects to extend pavement life. Public Works proposes completing the full project in 2026 using additional CIP funds.

The County Commission’s business meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.