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Commissioners weigh behavioral-health funding, pause eviction-defense funding and approve limited one-time items
Summary
Commissioners reviewed behavioral-health fund transfers, agreed to one-time HSE Financial Empowerment funding of $20,000, expressed concern about a $40,000 eviction-defense pilot and asked for more outcome data, and debated adding community health worker funding and software platform funding.
At the Douglas County Commission budget hearing staff reported that, after proposed transfers into the behavioral-health fund, the county would have about $953,776 in ongoing capacity. Commissioners used that figure to vet several program requests tied to behavioral health and related services.
HSE Financial Empowerment: staff noted differing notations across commissioners’ worksheets about the HSE Financial Empowerment pilot. Commissioners agreed to fund $20,000 as a one-time allocation rather than ongoing support, after discussion about prior intent and spreadsheet entries.
Eviction-defense pilot: two commissioners recommended pausing or eliminating county funding for the tenant eviction defense pilot until grant- and program-outcome data are available. One commissioner noted Holistic Defenders is already working on eviction clients with an $85,000 private grant and questioned whether a county $40,000 pilot would duplicate existing services; commissioners asked staff to require clearer outcomes and data reporting before committing further funds.
Community health worker request: two commissioners supported funding a community health worker position at Heartland Community Health and suggested placing the role in the behavioral-health fund; other commissioners declined to fund a single ongoing position without a broader strategy or braided funding plan.
Platform and data tools: staff discussed a social health access/referral platform to replace MyRC. Commissioners expressed concern that the record presented a platform name (variously called “Gelada” or “Gelato” in the meeting) in a way that suggested the choice was already made; several said they preferred wider stakeholder agreement before committing county funds, while others supported onetime reserve funding to keep options open.
Next steps: staff will clarify fund-source lines, request clearer outcome and data collection from pilots, and hold some requests as onetime reserves pending additional stakeholder work and more complete outcome data.
