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San Juan County updates council on navigation center and plans for a 24/7 crisis triage center
Summary
San Juan County officials told the Farmington council the navigation center served 5,378 clients in 2025 and that a county-backed crisis triage center has $7 million in capital outlay and preliminary site work under way; officials said the center would be a 24/7 facility with up to 14-day stays and that Presbyterian Medical Services is expected to operate it.
San Juan County officials updated the Farmington City Council on the navigation center's services and provided an update on a planned crisis triage center intended to give an alternative to emergency rooms or detention for individuals in behavioral-health crisis.
"My name is Megan Cullop, community health and social services director for San Juan County," said Cullop, who described the navigation center as a central hub for case management, resource connection and public education. She said the center uses certified peer-support "navigators" with lived experience to help clients access housing assistance, medical referrals, bus passes and other basic services.
Cullop told the council that 5,378 clients used navigation-center services in 2025 and that case-management software added in late 2022 improved tracking and produced a visible jump in recorded case numbers. "Housing assistance is number one," she said, and listed barriers such as insufficient low-income inventory and the administrative limits of some rental-assistance programs.
Steven Saavedra, deputy county manager, presented an update on a county-funded crisis triage center (CTC). He said a 2024 feasibility study supported a 24/7 facility that can hold individuals up to 14 days under state statute, and that the legislature and governor's office had allocated approximately $7,000,000 in capital outlay for a roughly 9,000-square-foot site on a campus that would also host other behavioral-health services. Saavedra said engineers have been hired for soil samples, Presbyterian Medical Services has indicated willingness to operate the center, and architects will complete designs for community-development review.
"We're looking at a one-stop shop for behavioral health," Saavedra said, describing collaboration among county, city, hospital and provider partners and noting the goal of reducing law-enforcement and EMS reliance on emergency rooms for mental-health crises.
Councilors asked about staffing, whether navigation services are county employees (Cullop said they are county employees funded through a mix of grants and general-fund dollars) and how the navigation center might co-locate with the CTC. County officials said the navigation office may be co-housed at the triage center but that the decision will follow architect renderings and further planning.
Officials described an affordable-housing planning process under way at the county level (target completion in August) to identify infrastructure and density measures needed to increase housing inventory. Saavedra noted county work to identify wastewater and other infrastructure gaps that affect development capacity.
The update was informational. County and city officials said next steps include finalizing architect renderings, submitting plans to community development for review and continuing grant and infrastructure work tied to affordable housing and behavioral-health services.
