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County buys new OMH navigator funding, creates grant‑funded substance‑use coordinator and reports jail, EMR and parking changes
Summary
The Legislature accepted state Office of Mental Health funding for court-based mental health navigators, created a grant-funded coordinator for substance-use initiatives and heard mental-health staff describe a May go‑live for a new EMR, improved jail mental-health workflows and continued parking problems for clinic clients.
Lauren Walsh, director of mental health services for Cayuga County, presented two committee resolutions and a departmental report that the committee approved and discussed.
The committee accepted a New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) state-aid allocation to fund court‑based mental-health navigators (HA6). Walsh said the program connects people involved in the criminal-justice system who have mental-health disorders with initial screening, referrals and community services; navigators can be nonlicensed case-management staff and the county plans to contract out the service via RFP rather than hire new county employees. The resolution passed on a committee voice vote.
Walsh also proposed and the committee approved creation and filling of a full‑time coordinator of substance-use initiatives position (HA7). Walsh said the role evolved from a former project-manager title tied to opioid-settlement and other grants; the position is 100% grant funded and the resolution explicitly states the job will be eliminated when grant funding expires. Committee discussion confirmed the salary/range packet item (recruiting and classification details were in the materials) and that the position will supervise four contract staff who now support the county’s substance‑use work.
In her department report, Walsh outlined internal compliance audits for clinic billing and said two small Medicaid retractions were identified in the last quarter (about $1,000), while quarterly revenue for the period was roughly $280,000. She said the county’s new electronic medical record (EMR) has a targeted go‑live date of May 5 and that the new system will prevent billing when required documentation is missing.
Walsh described major changes in jail mental‑health care: added supervision and staffing changes, a part‑time social worker for the jail, rotating nurse practitioner coverage (on weekly rotations with scheduled clinic blocks), and weekly interagency meetings to prioritize jail referrals. She said grievances tied to jail mental‑health care have dropped markedly since the changes.
Walsh also raised a persistent operational issue: clinic parking. She said clients have missed appointments because of limited parking and asked the committee to keep the issue in view as facilities and nearby hospital parking plans evolve. The committee approved both resolutions (HA6 and HA7) on voice votes; no opposition was recorded in the transcript.
