Douglas County proclaims Peace Officers Memorial, Mental Health Awareness Month and recognizes Corrections Week

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved resolutions May 5 recognizing Peace Officers Memorial Week and Day, declaring May 2026 Mental Health Awareness Month and designating a week as Corrections Week.

Commissioner Friend introduced the Peace Officers resolution, which notes that Peace Officers Memorial Day is observed May 15 and recognizes the service and sacrifice of federal, state and local officers. Commissioner Borgeson presented the Mental Health Awareness Month resolution, citing statistics about prevalence of mental illness and substance use disorders and noting that the Douglas County Mental Health Center provides inpatient, outpatient and partial-day programs and also supports services inside the county corrections facility. "I did see I left out the detox services that we also provide," Borgeson said, adding that the resolution should reflect those services.

Michael Myers, Director of Corrections, thanked the board for support and credited the board with helping maintain staffing and making infrastructure improvements that have improved facility safety. "Very few (jail) systems in the country are fully staffed or anywhere close to being fully staffed," Myers said, and he thanked the commissioners for their support.

Each resolution passed by voice vote, 6-0.

Next steps: the proclamations are ceremonial recognitions; staff indicated ongoing county work on behavioral-health services and corrections staffing but no new funding or policy changes were approved at this meeting.