Advisory council weighs emergency reserve, readies shelter RFP and approves jail safety upgrades

The Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council on an undated special meeting reviewed draft financial procedures that would set aside 10%–25% of community grant funding for emergent needs, heard plans to release an RFP for a non-congregate shelter, and recommended two budget amendments to improve safety in the county jail.

Marita, director of the Behavioral Health Coordination Department, told the council the behavioral health urgent care program has notified the county it will not seek renewal of county funding for 2025, and that change is likely to “free up about $700,750,000 for 2025,” a figure she stated on the record and did not further clarify. She said freed funds would stay in the same budget line as other contracted services and “would be able to go towards community projects this year.”

The draft financial procedures presented by Marita would reserve a portion of community grant funds each year as a pool for emergent needs; she recommended setting a range of 10%–25% of the annual community-projects budget as that reserve. “When the budget is made for community funds made available through the mental health and public safety fund, that 10 to 25% of those funds get specifically reserved for emergency procedures,” Marita said.

Members asked for clearer definitions and decision rules. Cassie (role not specified) cautioned the term “emergent” can be “a bit squishy” and urged language that captures both true emergencies and time-sensitive opportunities—such as match-funded projects or unforeseen events—that arise after priorities are set. One council member suggested examples to guide the definition, including disasters, public-health emergencies, local traumatic events, or opportunities that were unknown at the time priorities were set.

Marita said the percentage would be set during the annual budget process for the Behavioral Health Coordination budget; she gave an example that, if a hypothetical budget were $1,500,000, a 10%–25% holdback would be $150,000–$375,000. She said unused holdback dollars would likely remain in reserves and be available for future emergent needs but that the department and administration would try not to accumulate an unnecessarily large unspent reserve.

On planned community spending, Marita said current work-group recommendations point to a large share of 2025 community-project allocations going to a non-congregate shelter project. She said she plans to release an RFP for that project “sometime this month,” with a public posting period of three to four weeks and the aim of bringing a recommended contract to the county board in March or April, depending on timing.

Marita reviewed the procurement and review process: contracts expected to exceed $30,000 must go through competitive procurement per county policy; she said the department would convene a panel of three to five evaluators, “including an effort to include someone who is not a professional who would have experience receiving those types of services,” and evaluators would score proposals before the county’s executive committee and county board approve final contracts.

Marita also said the department will create a longer-term pool of evaluators with varied experience to speed future procurements and that she expects to ask members of the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council and community partners to recommend potential evaluators.

Council members asked about projected allocation detail: Marita showed a pie chart of projected 2025 allocations but acknowledged the chart distributed to members lacked numeric labels; she offered to provide the detailed numbers after the meeting.

Votes at a glance

- $5,585 budget amendment to install a glass partition in jail medical: recommended by the advisory council (motion moved by Member Johnson; seconded by Kevin McCarthy). The council approved the recommendation by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

- $52,347 budget amendment to retrofit booking cell door food slots and add removable contactless trays: recommended by the advisory council (mover not specified; second not specified). The council approved the recommendation by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

Sheriff Matt Lane explained both jail requests were safety-driven: the glass partition is intended to protect medical staff from thrown objects and to create a barrier between nurses and inmates, and the booking-area food-slot retrofit is intended to create a one-way pass-through to prevent hands or arms reaching through slots and reduce staff injuries.

The council clarified funding “buckets”: jail-related services are tracked under criminal-justice-focused funds and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council has distinct priorities; the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council handles community-focused funding. Marita said the advisory council makes recommendations for both areas but that procurement and contract approvals follow standard county procedures.

Why it matters: The draft reserve policy would change how much funding is immediately available for community projects versus held for emergent needs; the RFP for a non-congregate shelter would commit a substantial portion of 2025 project dollars and move a large capital/service project toward procurement. The two approved jail-safety amendments total $57,932 and will proceed to county procurement/contracting steps.

Next steps: Marita will supply numeric details behind the pie-chart projections, release the shelter RFP, and work with administration on longer-term budget projections and an evaluator pool for future procurements.