photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Douglas County commissioners this week will consider a request from Kansas Suicide Prevention Headquarters to revise the Douglas County Crisis Line’s budget for 2023.

At their meeting on Wednesday, commissioners will consider the revision based on the first nine months of the crisis line project, which KSPHQ has overseen since April of 2022. According to a letter from KSPHQ to the county, the revised budget doesn’t request more funding, but instead asks for some line-item revisions that move where the county’s funding support is allocated and reflect the evolution of the agency’s staffing model and scope of service since the agency first took on the crisis line last year.

In part, the project’s scope has increased because of the successful launch of Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center’s mobile crisis response team in September 2022. On top of providing 24/7 crisis line coverage for Douglas County residents, the crisis line also handles dispatch and referrals for the mobile response team during its hours of operation.

“The initial months of the program show great promise and initial data indicates the two projects are working together in order to divert callers from high levels of restrictive care,” the letter from KSPHQ reads. “However, KSPHQ has needed to adjust the program composition including changes in staff in order to complete the project deliverables found in the initial funding agreement.”

The total authorized agreement was originally approved at a cost not to exceed $280,000 for nine months of payment in the 2022 fiscal year. The proposed revisions for the 2023 budget reflect the cost for a full fiscal year, which is listed for the county as not to exceed $326,020. Douglas County supports a little less than half, or 49%, of the crisis line’s funding for 2023. State funds cover another significant chunk of program costs at about 44%. The remaining 7% in costs associated with the program for the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years will be covered by KSPHQ through avenues like grant awards, donations and fundraising efforts.

Specific line-item changes pertain to position salaries and responsibilities. For example, the top position in the original funding agreement, a crisis line program coordinator, is changed to a crisis line director in the amended agreement. Call-takers in the original agreement were referred to as call specialists, but in the revised agreement they will be shift supervisors instead.

In other business, the commission will consider two rezoning requests.

One request, submitted by BG Consultants on behalf of Garber Enterprises Inc., asks to rezone about 11 acres adjacent to Kansas Highway 10 just north of Lawrence from “clustered preservation” to “light industrial.”

As the Journal-World previously reported, that zoning would allow for about six mini-warehouse-style buildings totaling about 100,000 square feet to be constructed on vacant land next to the South Lawrence Trafficway.

The other request, this one from property owners Jay and Mary Bessey, seeks to rezone approximately 10 acres at 316 East 900 Road east of Baldwin City along U.S. Highway 56 from “transitional agricultural” to “general business.”

The property in question contains the former Marion Springs Elementary School, a structure listed with the National Register of Historic Places. The applicant is intending to operate a rural “business incubator” on the property, including a small manufacturing business; have a machine shop in the school’s gymnasium; and lease office spaces in the school’s classrooms. Those changes to the structure would be subject to review and approval by the Kansas Historical Society, though.

Wednesday’s business meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available by Zoom. For meeting information, visit the county’s website: dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings.