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Committee weighs First Call Cuyahoga co‑response pilot but officials question city capacity
Summary
Council President Mary Gorjanc described a county grant opportunity to expand social‑worker co‑response for mental‑health and substance‑use calls; Fire Chief Robert Chegan and Police leadership cautioned North Royalton may lack call volume and sustainable county funding and requested more data before joining a consortium.
Council President Mary Gorjanc presented information about First Call Cuyahoga, a program that pairs social workers with first responders to co‑respond to mental‑health, substance‑use, juvenile and elderly‑care calls. She said the county is offering a 2–3 year grant and that a small community would likely join a consortium of neighboring cities to participate.
Fire Chief Robert Chegan said he would compile and send the city’s mental‑health call data but expressed reservations about the program’s fit for North Royalton. "I do not believe that the city has the numbers for this program, and it would hold Police or Fire on a call to wait for them to respond," Chegan said, adding that similar county and nonprofit efforts have failed to sustain operations after grant periods ended. He noted the county recently signaled funding shortfalls for a facility project and cautioned about program sustainability.
Gorjanc said she had spoken with the social worker who started the Shaker Heights pilot and that the model has expanded to neighboring communities. "It seems worth talking about," she said; officials agreed to compare 2024 and 2025 data to identify calls amenable to co‑response.
Why it matters: co‑response teams can reduce unnecessary ER transports and better match services to behavioral‑health needs, but participation requires reliable funding, interagency coordination and sufficient local call volumes to justify staffing commitments.
Next steps: Chief Chegan will provide the requested data for 2024–25 mental‑health and related calls so council can evaluate whether to pursue the county grant and a multi‑community consortium model.
