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County approves therapeutic court case manager position with review clause if state funds lapse
Summary
The Franklin County commissioners approved Resolution 2026-217 to set a starting salary for a district court therapeutic court case manager with a veterans emphasis, amending the draft to require the board to reevaluate the position if state funding is not renewed. Auditors reported a mental-health fund balance of about $8.3 million.
The Franklin County Board of County Commissioners on July 1 approved Resolution 2026-217, establishing a starting salary for a district court therapeutic court case manager focused on veterans and adding a provision that the board will reevaluate the role if state funding ends.
Auditor staff reported the county—urrently has $8,300,000 in the mental-health sales-tax fund, after paying a total of $5.5 million to the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery. "We're bringing in considerably more than what we're spending," said Tim from the auditor's office, explaining the fund's revenue and recurring-expenditure numbers.
Commissioners debated two draft options in the resolution. One draft (option A) said the position would be terminated if no other funding source was available; several commissioners said that automatic termination could harm service continuity. "We don't want to offer somebody a position, have them leave their current position, and then have to terminate them in a year," said Judge Orozco, urging the board to avoid short-term hires that would disrupt services.
After discussion, the board agreed to strike the clause mandating termination and replace it with language that the position would be brought back before the board for reevaluation and determination if the state funding was not available. A motion to approve Resolution 2026-217 as amended passed by voice vote.
Supporters at the meeting cited the therapeutic-court model and wraparound services for veterans and others with mental-health or substance-use disorders. Opponents and some commissioners raised accounting and long-term-prioritization concerns: commissioners asked that departments keep adequate time and expenditure records to demonstrate that restricted mental-health funds are used appropriately and that grant funds repaying county advances be returned to their original source.
The resolution passed with the amended language; the board directed staff to update the final text to reflect the new review requirement and to bring it forward for signature.
