The Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 to adopt the Douglas County Crisis Response Coalition charter, creating a formal advisory and operations structure to guide the county's behavioral-health crisis response system.

Bob Transky, director of behavioral health projects for the county, presented the charter with Sonia Beza, deputy director of the Emergency Communications Center. Transky told the commission the coalition grew from a year of work with city and county leaders, first responders and outside consultants. "The goal of a crisis system is not to eliminate police intervention," Transky said. "The goal is to work hand in hand with police so that person gets to the right place, so they can get the right care in the right setting every time."

Transky and Beza described the coalition's structure as threefold: a crisis system operations team (CSOT) for day-to-day problem solving, an executive committee, and an expanded community advisory group that will fold TRC (Treatment and Recovery Center) advisory members into broader system oversight. The presenters said the operations team has evolved from the previous CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Council and now meets frequently; smaller work groups address niche problems such as alternative 911 responses, transportation, and familiar-faces coordination.

Presenters highlighted three priority workstreams for the coming year: analyzing 988/local crisis-line call volumes and how many callers are repeat utilizers; mapping flow through the system (from TRC to LMH and back) including transportation and ambulance costs; and reviewing intersections between behavioral health and the justice system, including involuntary petitioning and assisted outpatient treatment.

The presenters cited system-level results they said show progress: emergency-department behavioral-health visits have declined over recent years — a figure presenters described roughly as a 27% change on a chart — and monthly referrals from Douglas County to Osawatomie State Hospital have declined by more than 65% over several years. Transky emphasized coordination and data sharing as central to those improvements and said the coalition can make data-driven recommendations to the county commission, city commission, KDADS, or state hospital but does not itself have authority to change systems unilaterally.

Commissioners asked about membership, bylaws, and short-term milestones. Presenters said the TRC advisory panel has lost members over time and that five seats need filling; they expect community advisory members to participate directly in work groups. On bylaws, presenters recommended documentation and study sessions for items the coalition elevates rather than immediate strict bylaws, while also tying coalition milestones to the county's Community Health Improvement Plan.

Before the vote, public comment on the item was closed. Commissioner comments focused on ensuring transparent documentation of participants and recommendations; presenters agreed to provide minutes or study-session briefings when the coalition elevates items to the commission. The motion to adopt the charter passed 4-0.

What happens next: The operations team will continue to meet and produce work-group outputs; county staff and coalition leaders said they will share documentation and, when ready, present recommendations or items for study sessions to the commission.