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 received approximately $3,200,000 in federal opioid litigation settlement checks to date. Carney said the county expects additional state-directed funds over time and that an Adams board ARPA capital award of about $6,800,000 helped position the project.

Scott Osicki, chief executive officer of the Adams Board, described the Adams Board's role in planning and funding crisis-system expansion; Scott said the board secured about $6.8 million in ARPA capital grant funds to help the project. Eric Morse, chief executive officer of the Centers for Families and Children, described plans for the facility and said the Centers would operate the site. Dr. Elena Gantra, chief of psychiatry at the Centers, also addressed clinical and community needs.

Officials described the planned single-site center as a 24/7 crisis-receiving and recovery center with multiple components: a First Floor crisis-receiving area and behavioral health urgent care; a Second Floor with a psychiatric stabilization residential unit and a detox unit; and a Third Floor clinic to house expanded primary-care and psychiatric outpatient services. Presenters said the First Floor receiving unit would have capacity for about 40 people across two units and that about 80% of patients at similar centers nationally stabilize within 23 hours. The Second Floor would include a residential stabilization unit (short-term stays, typically five to seven days) and a detox area; presenters said the plan includes 13 detox beds on-site. Officials estimated total capital expenses of roughly $30,000,000, with current revenue identified at about $25.6 million (including the requested $7,000,000) and a capital gap of about $5,320,000 to be closed by additional fundraising and partner contributions.

Committee members asked about staffing, licensing, transfer agreements with hospitals and how the new site would affect the county's existing diversion center. Presenters said the Centers will carry liability insurance for the site and that the operation would employ more than 100 full-time equivalent staff when fully staffed. Carney said the county plans to limit duplication and transition services: the intention is not to keep both the diversion center and the new crisis site permanently open; staff set aside funding in case both must operate concurrently for up to a year during transition. Orianna House, which currently operates the diversion center, has been engaged in committee discussions and staff said transition planning will proceed with Orianna House and other stakeholders.

Council members raised concerns about sustainability once one-time opioid settlement dollars are expended; Carney and other presenters said the crisis center's operating model will combine multiple funding streams, including Adams Board support, Medicaid reimbursement and other partners. Committee members also sought a transition plan; staff agreed to provide the requested written transition plan from the diversion center to the proposed crisis center. Presenters said the building's interior build-out had started and that having the capital allocation in place before September would allow the Centers to continue construction work.

The committee approved Resolution 20250241 under second-reading suspension and forwarded it to the full council. Presenters said additional fiscal agenda items related to operations and neighborhood projects will come before council in the months ahead, including a projected operating ask for the crisis center and other opioid-fund requests for neighborhood programming and jail-based services.