Sullivan County health officials report drop in shelter census, staffing progress and opioid-settlement funding allocations

During the committee’s commissioner’s report, Sullivan County Health and Human Services staff gave multiple operational updates covering shelter census, housing supports, opioid settlement funding, behavioral health staffing and the adult care center.

Shelter and housing assistance

County staff reported the emergency shelter census listed in the monthly report as 284 is down to 262 as of the prior week. Department staff said the county has fully committed its state rental supplement allocation for the year, assisting 64 households with those state funds; county-authorized dollars have helped 16 households so far. Staff said they will request continued county funding in the next budget cycle and will continue applying available funds to move people from hotels into permanent housing.

Opioid settlement funds and crisis response

Staff said changes to opioid-settlement allocations are coming through the executive office and that the county expects to sustain at least five years of programming with the currently allocated settlement money. The committee was told the county will modestly increase funding to Sullivan 180 for school-based prevention work and reduce funding to the Corona self-help center to make the latter program more sustainable over a longer term. County staff said they plan to expand quick-response teams and hope to add Monticello Police Department to existing partnerships that already include Liberty and Fallsburg police departments.

Behavioral health and staffing

The department reported progress filling long-standing social-work vacancies and expected to be fully staffed by June. Staff credited open-access scheduling with reducing the behavioral-health appointment waitlist from about four weeks to two weeks and said open-access walk-in hours are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon. The department also announced the hiring of Joseph Maxwell as an addictions counselor; Maxwell is described in the meeting as a recent program participant who completed required training.

Adult care center operations

Officials reported the adult care center’s administrator resigned and that the county has hired a replacement who will start on June 30. Department staff said the facility’s elevator has been repaired and that the county is pursuing replacement of an aging dishwashing machine and a three-bay sink package. The county described those capital repairs as operational priorities.

Unite Us social care network and Medicaid waiver

Staff said they negotiated a lower county cost for the Unite Us social care network contract, allowing more county clients to be served through Unite Us at no direct county cost under a Medicaid LM 15 waiver program and regional social-care coalition participation. Staff clarified the Medicaid waiver covers referrals into certain health and human services departments and that county grant funds are being used to keep additional offices (including aging and veterans’ services) connected to the network.

Context and next steps

Committee members thanked staff for the updates and asked for continued reporting; staff said opioid-settlement resolutions will be routed through the executive and that specific budget requests will appear in the next county budget process. No new appropriations or formal policy changes were adopted in committee during these verbal updates.