Committee authorizes $7 million for county's proposed behavioral health crisis center; officials outline opioid settlement funding and timeline

Cuyahoga County's Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee on July 15 approved Resolution 20250241 authorizing a contract with the Centers for Families and Children in an amount not to exceed $7,000,000 for capital funding toward construction of a new comprehensive behavioral health crisis center.

Committee members treated the vote as part of a broader briefing on the county's opioid settlement fund and a multi-agency plan for an integrated crisis site. Brandy Carney, Director of Public Safety and Justice for Cuyahoga County, presented the request and outlined the settlement-fund history, how the county has used past awards and the anticipated next fiscal steps. "We received $124,000,000" in initial bellwether litigation funds, Carney said, and noted the total has grown to about $136,700,000 after investment earnings and additional federal settlement checks.

Carney and partners said the county has been using settlement dollars for prevention, harm reduction, treatment and capital investments. She told the committee the county invested roughly $60,000,000 of settlement funds externally to earn higher interest and has earned about $9,000,000 in interest; the county also…