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Regional mental-health planning updates; commissioners approve county opioid-grant application and a higher pay step for a Mental Health Court caseworker
Summary
Charlie Campisi of Hill Country Mental Health gave a regional update on diversion center planning and provider capacity; the court authorized staff to submit an opioid recovery grant application and approved a salary exemption to hire a licensed-caseworker for the county mental-health court.
Charlie Campisi, a long-time Hays County resident and member of the Hill Country Mental Health Developmental Disability board, briefed the court on regional mental-health developments and diversion-center planning at the May 20 meeting.
Campisi’s presentation: Campisi described regional planning work after the Uvalde shootings, noting a large increase in local service demand in Uvalde (hundreds of new weekly clients at regional clinics) and the ongoing construction of a 32-bed long-term mental-health facility near Uvalde. He reported that the behavioral advisory team (BAT) supports Hays County’s needs assessment and noted Hill Country MHDD’s interest in operating a future Hays County facility. He also described mobile-service units and short-term stabilization options in neighboring counties, and he credited local planning efforts — including a county contract to HOK for site definition and programming — as the next steps for a Hays County diversion center.
County actions tied to mental-health services: The Commissioners Court authorized submission of an application to the Texas Comptroller’s opioid-abatement fund (community-based opioid recovery efforts program) for $250,000 to fund two positions and local recovery services (G21). Roll call was recorded and the application was authorized. Separately, the court approved a salary exemption for the Mental Health Court to hire a caseworker at Grade 116, Step 5, after HR confirmed the candidate’s education and experience justified the higher step (K19). That motion passed on the recorded roll call.
Why it matters: Campisi said the region’s needs assessment, stakeholder coordination and design work aim to produce a diversion center that reduces reliance on jails and emergency rooms and strengthens county-level behavioral-health infrastructure. Meanwhile, county actions — an opioid recovery grant application and a strengthened mental-health court caseworker hire — target service capacity and case management in the short term.
Next steps: Regional stakeholders (the BAT, Hill Country MHDD, the county and HOK) will continue facility-definition work; the county will seek opioid-recovery funding and proceed with the approved caseworker hire. The court asked staff to continue coordination and report back on grant outcomes and design progress.
