Agenda 11-18-2025; 8-a - Minutes for October 21, 2025 Business Meeting

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22 1 pediatric facility be included, but she also didn't think that perfection should be the enemy of the 2 good. She said if the county can help with mental health, they are also helping keep their housing, 3 which is another major concern. She said that she is supportive of Options B1 or C. 4 Vice-Chair Hamilton referred to slide #17. She asked about what is currently budgeted 5 for the crisis diversion facility and the current tax impact for the project. 6 Travis Myren said it would be $22 million of $900 million in the ten-year CIP, and $900 7 million is about 9 cents. He said that the tax increase for the facility would probably be small. 8 Vice-Chair Hamilton said that anything that they add has a tax increase impact. She said 9 all the changes would not have a huge tax impact on a $400,000 home. She said some of the 10 savings that the county may see are for emergency services and law enforcement, but it will be 11 harder to see impacts at the county level. She said that emergency departments are not a good 12 environment for someone struggling. She said she supports the project, but she recognizes they 13 might have to not do something else in order to pay for the project. She said patients will still 14 need support outside of the facility in the community, which is largely not there. She said they 15 may end up seeing some of the same people over and over. 16 Commissioner Greene asked about Option A2 and why it was not selected. 17 Travis Myren said A2 did not include the full number of BHUC bays. 18 Commissioner Greene said she understands the need for dual entry. She said that the 19 subcommittee has worked hard around this issue and given that, she supports their 20 recommendation of design option C. 21 Commissioner McKee said he thinks of a conversation that he had with a couple of judges 22 years prior that, when it comes to mental health and substance abuse, "you pay now, or you pay 23 later." He said when talking to law enforcement, many of the people who would be in treatment 24 might otherwise be in jail. He said when someone is incarcerated, they risk losing theirjobs, their 25 families may have to receive public assistance, and families can break up, and those are costs to 26 the community. He said regarding the design of the facility, the advice he's getting is that they are 27 building too small. He said for that reason he supports Option C. 28 Commissioner Carter said she was glad that the county is supporting sequential intercept 29 mapping to look at the needs of youth. She said understanding that more will help inform short- 30 and long-term actions. She asked if land banking could be considered as the county continues 31 to analyze the issue. She asked if the county has spent $3.2 million in the design phase of the 32 facility. 33 Travis Myren said yes, either spent or encumbered. 34 Commissioner Carter asked if after the decision at the meeting, the county would be done 35 with the design phase. 36 Travis Myren said that with a final design, they would move into seeking the GMP. 37 Commissioner Carter said she supported options that provide the full bed count. She 38 asked about the differences between the original design and Option C. 39 Travis Myren said the design would be simplified and squared up. 40 Commissioner Carter said they would not lose functionality, but would lose some 41 architectural features. 42 Travis Myren agreed and said functionality would be preserved with Option C. 43 Commissioner Carter said she supported having a healing space that is visually 44 representative of the services someone would receive. She said Option C would save on the cost 45 of design and construction. She said that it's hard to quantify the architectural changes with the 46 impact to the tax rate, which is approximately 40 cents for a $400,000 property tax bill. She said 47 she supports whatever the majority decides, including the original design. 48 Chair Bedford said agreed on the dual entries for patient needs as well as emergency 49 services turnaround times. She said it is important for a facility to have a care team to meet to 50 discuss patient needs. She said supports Option C for the discharge and community space. She 51 said she supports sequential mapping to determine the needs for youth in the community and that