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Southeast Kansas Mental Health center board members brief commissioners; county pauses budget discussion
Summary
Board members for the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center described regional services — including school-based therapists and integrated care work — and offered to return with answers; the commission agreed to pause detailed budget discussion until a multi-county meeting of commissioners occurs.
Two board members for the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center described the agency’s recent work in Bourbon County on April 7 and fielded commissioners’ questions, while the Bourbon County Commission agreed to delay a detailed budget discussion until after a planned multi-county meeting.
Jeff, identified in the meeting as a Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center board member, told commissioners he has served on the center’s board for about eight years and said the center has been a stabilizing force as local health-care providers have reorganized. “I would be happy to come back next week with maybe answers to specific questions and to be a little more prepared to provide accurate, truthful information,” Jeff said, offering his contact information to commissioners.
Marty DeWitt, also a board member and a pastor in the area, described the center’s school-based work: he said therapists and case managers have been placed in about 15 schools and that those staff have connected students to care that otherwise might not have been available. “We now have, I believe, 15 schools that have that integrated [service],” Marty DeWitt said, and added from his experience as a case manager that the model “has been able to reach people that we weren’t reaching before.”
Why it matters: commissioners repeatedly raised questions about the center’s budget and leadership decisions; at least one commissioner asked about funding sources and a repayment noted in materials the commissioners had reviewed. The commission decided to remove the Southeast Kansas Mental Health budget discussion from the April 7 agenda and defer it to a later meeting after the planned multi-county session.
Next steps: commissioners said Allen County has organized a meeting of county commissioners from the region to discuss Southeast Kansas Mental Health issues; the Bourbon County commission said it would wait for that meeting’s outcome before returning the budget discussion to the agenda. Board members offered to return with more detailed answers and contact information to follow up with commissioners.
No formal budget or contractual action occurred at the April 7 meeting; commissioners tabled the item for later review.
