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Mental Health Services asks Clark County for one-year bridge funding as state grant ends
Summary
Kelly Rigger, CEO of Mental Health Services for Clark and Madison Counties, told the commissioners the agency is losing State Opiate and Stimulant Grant funding after Sept. 2025 and requested short-term county support (they had applied for $500,000 and expected $300,000) while pursuing Federally Qualified Health Center look-alike status and expanding 24/7 mobile crisis response accessed via 988.
Kelly Rigger, CEO of Mental Health Services for Clark and Madison Counties, told the Board of Clark County Commissioners on Nov. 19 that the agency is losing a State Opiate and Stimulant Grant that funded full-time primary care services and asked the county to consider bridge funding for calendar year 2026.
"We had applied for $500,000, but we would have been receiving $300,000," Rigger said, asking whether the county could provide temporary support while MHS pursues Federally Qualified Health Center look-alike status.
Rigger outlined services MHS operates in Clark County, including walk-in crisis at 474 N. Yellow Springs Street (adult and youth open access, therapy, psychiatry, case management and substance-use treatment), community-based case management at 2501 E. High Street, an Assertive Community Treatment Team, an on-site pharmacy and phlebotomy, and therapists embedded at Clark County DJFS and several local schools.
She said mobile crisis teams are a new service line and that state and federal attention is pushing for wider mobile crisis coverage. "The way to access is by calling 988," Rigger said, adding that the goal is 24/7 mobile-response and stabilization services and that some pilots are testing models for regional coverage. She also said Springfield Police will have an embedded clinician for crisis calls and noted other counties are embedding clinicians with sheriff and EMS offices.
Commissioners asked about funding and public awareness. Commissioner Charles A. Patterson urged greater community outreach about 988; Commissioner Melanie F. Wilt and Commissioner Sasha L. Rittenhouse pressed for details on funding needs and timelines. Rigger said the SOS grant ran until September 2025 and that the requested county funding would be temporary while the agency seeks look-alike status.
Rigger also said MHS is considering a name change to better reflect its services and to differentiate from the Mental Health Recovery Board.
The commissioners did not commit to a funding amount in the Nov. 19 regular session; staff indicated budget hearings are ongoing and that county support would need to be weighed against other priorities during the 2026 budget process. The matter may return in future budget deliberations.
