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Human Services reorganizes community‑justice functions and highlights behavioral‑health wins
Summary
Director Eileen Smith described a new Community Justice division that will combine juvenile detention and pretrial/probation resources, outlined behavioral‑health expansions including a parent‑child interaction therapy clinic and Pathway Center work, and asked for modest position adjustments to manage caseloads.
Eileen Smith, director of Human Services, told council the department will reorganize to create a new Community Justice division that brings juvenile detention center and pretrial/probation staff under a single deputy director to better align operations and funding. "What we found... is the alignment makes more sense to provide that support to them," Smith said.
Smith outlined the department’s FY26 highlights across four divisions: Behavioral Health & Developmental Services (BHDS), Social Services, Community Justice (new) and Administration. On BHDS she noted the launch of a parent‑child interaction therapy (PCIT) clinic and expanded intensive‑outpatient treatment and peer support services: "We have a peer drop in center... serving up to about 150 individuals a month." Pathway Center renovations were completed and a new intensive outpatient program began in July 2024.
Smith said the department plans to increase fee revenue by approximately $1.2 million through expanded Medicaid‑billable services (adding capacity in day programs and intensive outpatient slots) to offset a lower budget target. She also asked for two city family‑services specialist positions in Adult Protective Services to reduce high caseloads and one additional juvenile detention counselor partially funded by the state.
Councilors asked about crisis intervention training and the mobile co‑responder program; Smith said emergency services staff support CIT training for police and the mobile co‑responder team, and that the department continues to coordinate opioid‑abatement and youth‑peer initiatives funded with recent grants.
