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Lucas County Guardianship Services seeks $30,000 and office space to add case manager and expand capacity
Summary
Margaret Taleb Desale, director and legal counsel for Lucas County Guardianship Services, requested $30,000 from the general fund and in-kind office space to hire a fourth case manager and restore intake capacity for mental-health referrals.
Margaret Taleb Desale, executive director and legal counsel for the Lucas County Guardianship Services Board, asked commissioners for $30,000 from the general fund and suitable in-kind office space to hire a fourth case manager so the board can accept additional mental-health referrals.
Desale described the board—s origin in a 2019 study and said the agency serves adults adjudicated incompetent by the Lucas County Probate Court who meet eligibility criteria: age 18 or older, Lucas County residents, severe mental illness, substance-use disorder and/or developmental disability, and indigence (assets under $25,000 under probate-court standards). She said the agency serves person-only guardianship cases, not financial conservatorships.
Desale said the board currently has about 184 active filings and 180 appointments with 4 pending, and that the agency is serving about 102 individuals with serious mental illness and 75 with developmental disabilities. She said the agency is funded through multiple sources: Mental Health Recovery Services Board ($335,000), Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities ($275,000) and the probate court ($50,000), and receives small referral-fee revenue from Job and Family Services agreements. Desale said the board has been forced to pause new mental-health referrals since February because current caseloads exceed funded capacity; one additional case manager would open roughly 10 referral spaces.
Desale gave case examples in which public guardianship helped connect individuals to housing and treatment and reduced repeated jail stays and emergency services use. Commissioners asked about other potential revenue sources such as hospitals, additional probate-court funds or other community partners; Desale said outreach is ongoing and that some referral streams are already funded by the mental-health recovery board.
The board took the request under advisement; commissioners did not vote on a funding allocation during this meeting.
Why it matters: Funding and office space for public guardianship affects care for adults with severe mental illness or developmental disabilities, and can reduce repeated use of emergency services and incarceration when effective community supports are in place.
